Things are not going well at VfL Wolfsburg – Mark van Bommel’s team suffered five test game defeats. Ridle Baku speaks about the changes under the new coach.
Ridle Baku: “We have to be there” despite the difficult preparation.
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Five test bankruptcies in a row are also a new experience for Ridle Baku, but the right wing player at VfL Wolfsburg does not panic. After all, there are plenty of reasons why the results in the preparation were not yet correct. “We have a new coach, a completely new game idea, only now are all the players back in training. It shouldn’t be an excuse, but under these conditions the preparation wasn’t that easy,” explains the 23-year-old in kicker (Thursday edition). With a view to the upcoming cup game, he emphasizes: “If it counts, then we have to be there.”
However, with a different style of play. While ex-coach Oliver Glasner still attached great importance to working against the ball, his successor Mark van Bommel has focused on the Wolfsburg game with the ball in the past few weeks of preparation. Baku calls it “the Dutch school”. “We do everything with the ball, practicing passing in almost every unit. That is a change to start with.”
“One way or another, I act extremely aggressively”
A change that takes time. Time that VfL hardly has, after all, the Bundesliga begins in a week and the Champions League in a month. Isn’t it risky to partially abandon the path that was last successful? “There is always risk in football,” said Baku, who, however, is convinced of the new direction. “We have the quality, we have intelligent players. I am sure that we can implement the idea.”
It is not yet entirely clear what role the U-21 European champions will play in this. And for Baku, who impressed defensively and offensively on the right wing last season, not that decisive either. “Because either way I’m extremely aggressive.” But what role does he want? “If you made me commit to one position now, it would probably be right-back.”
In the kicker interview (Thursday edition, from Wednesday evening also as eMagazine) Baku also reports on his previous contact with new national coach Hansi Flick and says on which topic he would not contradict Jupp Heynckes. The 23-year-old also asks himself whether he would trust the Bavarians who had his sights on him a year ago.
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