Wolfsburg head coach Niko Kovač has openly criticised his team after their 2-0 loss to Union Berlin last weekend. As per the report via Kicker, the Croatian coach was quite frank when discussing issues regarding his team.
“We’re just not ready to show the basics that you need in football, the passion, the camaraderie, the mentality, the sacrifice. I miss that,” said the 50-year-old. He continued: “Football is not just heel, tip, one, two, three. Football is work, especially when you have deficits in other things and are more limited.”
Last weekend’s loss meant that Wolfsburg would spend the international break in the relegation zone having only secured 5 points from the opening 7 matches. It’s a team that would not have expected to be in this position. For that reason, Kovač warned: “I’ve never seen a team that was down and playfully got out of this situation. You can’t win a game like that.”
It’s rare to see a head coach distance himself from the squad and put them in the firing line. However, it’s clear that Kovač is frustrated with his players. The club’s managing director Jörg Schmadtke seemed to put any notion of sacking the head coach behind as he explained: “We don’t question the coach and we don’t put him in the wind.” He finished by saying: “We have to come out of it as a unit.”
This is something that Wolfsburg and Kovač are going to have to work on if they’re to keep their Bundesliga status.
GGFN
