Wolfsburg’s Daniel Bauer answers questions on job security, player scuffle, and Vinicius Souza start after latest Bundesliga defeat | OneFootball

All eyes were on Wolfsburg head coach Daniel Bauer on Saturday afternoon as the under-fire trainer conducted his press conference after yet another Bundesliga defeat. Bauer’s Wölfe – having lost three straight league fixtures – remain in the automatic relegation zone. Wolfsburg’s statically worst campaign in nearly three decades of Bundesliga football continues. 

After last week’s loss to Stuttgart left both Bauer and his captain Yannick Gerhardt in shambles, rumors began to surface that the company club was preparing to sack Bauer and bring in former head coach Dieter Hecking to stop the bleeding. Wolfsburg quickly put such rumors to rest on Monday, publicly committing to both Bauer and embattled sporting director Peter Christiansen. 

Daniel Bauer’s initial press conference statements

“That was a perfectly normal tussle in the box,” Bauer said of the second HSV penalty awarded in the 57th-minute. “Both players [Luka Vuskovic and Jonas Adjetey] were pushing one another. That was clever from Vuskovic to draw that penalty. He’s an awesome player and I don’t mean to harp on him. That was just clever how he went down. They converted the penalty and won 1-2.“

“Yes, that was well summarized,” Bauer answered when Michael Theuerkauf from the Wolfsburger Nachrichten pointed out that the intensity Bauer had recently been calling for from the team was, in fact, delivered this time while the requisite luck failed. “We couldn’t get what we needed out of this [relegation] six pointer and couldn’t even equalize to salvage a point that would have done us good.

“One has to make one’s own luck,” Bauer continued, quoting Theuerkauf’s question directly. “I just have to repeat myself. The team I’ve seen over the last few weeks in games and on the training pitch is investing quite a lot to make its own luck. As Rudi Völler always said in the introductory coach licensing module, ‘All head coaches need a little luck here and there’.”

“Yes we spoke about the game and the scenes [afterwards],” Bauer responded when Kicker’s Thomas Hiete asked him if the club bosses had guaranteed his job for another week. “Tomorrow morning at 11 o’clock we’ll have our substitute and regeneration training session. I currently have 0.0 percent thoughts about my future after this game. I’m just thinking about the training session.

“The disappointment over today’s result is incomprehensibly great,” Bauer continued. “I think we took measure to address our deficiencies this week and it still wasn’t good enough for a win today. The starters and subs through everything they had at it. We invested a lot. As banal as it sounds, we just didn’t have the luck today. Period.“

Bauer on Vinicius Souza

“Vinnie absolutely did his job,” Bauer said of the summer transfer flop who earned just his third Bundesliga start under his watch. “I was reading something this week about whether or not he’d work after I ‘undercut’ him. I have a lot of trust in my players. When a player is benched, we talk about it and explain why and what it’s all about. We then work with the player on points we’re not satisfied with. 

“And I’ve been praising Vinnie over the last few weeks both privately and publicly,” Bauer continued. “He’s delivered what I expect from a professional. He’s always gone full throttle, he never got negative, and he remained himself in the locker room both personally and athletically. In a 5-3-2, working as a solo six, he did well in his best position. He won tackles and did well tactically.

“He’ll be important in the coming weeks,” Bauer concluded.

Bauer on the post-match scuffle

“I don’t want to further fan the flames,” Bauer said of the post-match ruckus between the players and the accompanying fan protest that saw flares thrown onto the pitch. “It was an intense northern derby and it tensions ran high on the pitch and between the dugouts. I think everyone saw the scenes. I’ll bring up the fact that one of our players [Michael Müller] saw a red card while one of theirs didn’t. That’s all I have to say about that.“

GGFN | Peter Weis