Marco Rose wasn’t the only manager to make the switch to the German Bundesliga from its Austrian equivalent last summer. Oliver Glasner made his way across the border with considerably less fanfare than Rose to join Wolfsburg as their Head Coach, and immediately there were obvious improvements for everyone to see. This was particularly so in the case of Wolfsburg’s defence, conceding just five goals in their first nine league games. Even up to this point they have only conceded more than one goal in four league games.
Despite sitting in ninth-place at the halfway point, Wolfsburg have the meanest defence in the league, along with Rose’s Borussia Mönchengladbach, having conceded just 18 goals. This tactical analysis and scout report looks at the tactics Glasner has used to create such an effective defence.
Their tactics at a glance
Glasner prefers to play a 3-4-3 formation, as he did so successfully in his tenure at LASK Linz. In doing so, his two wing-backs, William and Jérôme Roussillon give width in midfield to allow the front three to play closer to one another. As they defend the formation drops into a 5-4-1 with William and Roussillon making a defensive back five with the central defensive three, whilst the two wide forwards drop into midfield to create a midfield four once again.
A criticism of Glasner has been his lack of flexibility in formations, however, in the last three games of the Hinrunde he fielded a back four, with a 4-1-4-1 in two games, as Wolfsburg beat Mönchengladbach 2-1, and drew 1-1 with Schalke, both good results but particularly in the case of the former, and we may well see this more frequently in the second half of the season. He fielded a 4-3-3 in the 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich.
There are aspects of their defence which are consistent throughout, and although hardly groundbreaking, are done with such discipline and rigour, that they very much provide the backbone to Wolfsburg’s defence.
Firstly with the opposition inside their half, they will drop plenty of players back into a deep block, and although there is a slight variation in the depth of this block, there will always be one, if not two, central midfielders acting as a screen in front of the backline.
Secondly, they play with a great compactness most noticeably in regards to their width, whether they are playing a back four or a back three.
