Schäfer backs Kovac to remain in charge while VfL trainer and captain lament poor luck
In his post match comments following Saturday's defeat, VfL Wolfsburg sporting CEO Marcel Schäfer reiterated his support for trainer Niko Kovac.
Kovac himself, along with squad captain Maximilian Arnold, lamented the fact that luck simply doesn't appear to be shining on the team at the moment.
VfL Wolfsburg boss Marcel Schäfer was significantly more cautious with his words after the German Wolves suffered their latest set-back in the league. A few weeks after openly questioning the personnel decisions of trainer Niko Kovac, Schäfer insisted that the 52-year-old had his backing following the latest league defeat.
Kovac himself, along with squad captain Maximilian Arnold, lamented the fact that luck simply doesn't appear to be shining on the team at the moment.
"No," Schäfer glibly responded whether Kovac's job was under threat, "I stand by my [previous] statements. We're going through a brutally difficult phase. I don't want to paint too rosy a picture, but I have the feeling that we'll get through it together."
"The better [scoring] chances belonged to us," Schäfer continued, "One could discern commitment and will. We had chances to turn the tables in our favor, but didn't use them. Then we conceded an avoidable goal when luck wasn't on our side."
Kovac also cited luck as a factor in SCF striker Michael Gregoritsch's match-winning-tally. So too did his squad captain Maximilian Arnold. After criticizing a non-penalty call from match official Marco Fritz, Kovac lamented the fact that simply nothing was breaking his team's way.
"At the moment, football has turned its back on us," Kovac told the Sky microphones, "The team is investing a lot and doing a lot, but still being punished for the little things. We're not getting the results, but the team's performance has been good. We're just a bit jinxed."
"It's like a bad spell," Arnold argued, "We can't get the ball in. It's not as if we're not fighting and throwing everything onto the table. Little things are just going against us."
Schäfer did leave himself some room for a reversal when discussing the coaching situation. The 39-year-old former Wolfsburg professional made it clear that he would keep all options open as a means of forcing the team out of its current slump.
"Sooner or later, we have to somehow force our way out of this phase," Schäfer stressed, "The criticism that is being leveled at us is justified to a certain extent. We're not making any headway at all and are still on 16 points. That's not what we set out to do and that's not our ambition."