All things being equal, Wolfsburg played a solid season under new coach Oliver Glasner despite finishing 7th, that is, one position lower than last season. They thus reached their target of making it to the European Cup spots.
Wolfsburg seemed off to a good start as they remained unbeaten for the first seven games. Their great record was carried by a stable defence that performed strongly throughout most of the season: Wolfsburg is among the 6 sides that conceded the least goals after 34 rounds.
Yet after their streak broke, Wolfsburg struggled with consistency. Only once did they manage to win more than one game in a row. Wolfsburg had problems in particular playing at home. They failed to win against any of the bottom four teams of the table at home.
A major factor was that Wolfsburg’s attacking game remained weak throughout the season. They only scored 48 goals overall, that is, fewer goals than any other top-7 side. A third of the goals were scored by top scorer Wout Weghorst, which shows their dependence on individual players.
At least, Wolfsburg could always count on key midfielder Maximilian Arnold who provided 8 assists: joint ninth-best provider of the Bundesliga.
Glasner, who has only worked in Austria before, obviously needed time to adapt to the circumstances in one of Europe’s top divisions. Given that, he delivered a respectable result.
Wolfsburg will be hoping to build on this foundation next season. They have a sufficiently solid squad with promising players such as Mbabu and Schlager to improve their game and consistency.
