Wolfsburg must move on. So is the way of modern football, it's not a crime and is illegal for smaller teams to keep a hold of their star players. Maybe these teams should ask these starlets to vary their performances, to make the bigger clubs think twice before coming in for a bid. Or UEFA creating a rule that prevents smaller teams being pillaged. Whatever, what's done is done. Wolfsburg now have to keep ploughing on and change their identity. Tonight against Bayern, this will be a great test to see where they stand without De Bruyne and how the new players can contribute to the team.
You can already see the Hell Gladbach are going through without their top man, Kruse, who is now at Wolfburg. He's not a guy who I rate as a great striker and the heir apparent to Klose for Germany, but it gives Hecking something different to think about tactically. Although De Bruyne was a great, as he was a winger who could stretch the play and was instrumental in pimping Bayern last season, Kruse and Dost could form the classic big and small strike partnership, if they can get it to work it could cause Bayern a few problems. Dost is a really good target man but can also strike from far whilst Kruse can run with the ball and can get through spaces with good runs due to his sharpness.
I don't expect Wolfsburg to really challenge for the title. They should finish in the top four, but De Bruyne was just too important for them. The defensive partnership of Naldo and Dante could hopefully help them in keeping more clean sheets, but the latter player can be prone to costly mistakes. We all know about 7-1. Beyond that, there is a good team at Wolfsburg and Hecking is a really good coach. Caliguri and Vierinho are two players who I really like, and if Hecking can get them more involved and really try and influence the game at a greater level, then who knows what can happen.
Wolfsburg just have to keep themselves in the game against Bayern. The first thing is to NOT concede early, and to maintain the concentration. Then knowing how Bayern like to throw players forward, Wolfsburg just have to counter effectively and use the runs of Kruse to good effect. As for Schurrle, he may have fallen of since leaving Chelsea but he's a player who I still believe in. He could be even more important to Wolfsburg than De Bruyne was because Schurrle is just a much better attacking weapon and of a higher footballing level. That's where Hecking comes in to restore that confidence back to him so that he can play with the attacking freedom that can really hurt teams.
