1.FC Nürnberg - VfL Wolfsburg

After Verbeek stands on the sideline for Nürnberg he got only one Point from three matches and fall down to the bottom of the table with his team. It looks like that nothing has chanced so far, really? This is not correct so far, if you watch the last two matches you can see a big difference in tactic and style of play from Nürnberg. They use a much more offensive system as in past matches / weeks / years. This is the new style from Coach Verbeek, this is exactly he wants to play in the future. Nevertheless he has not much time because with the fall down to the end of the table he need immediately results to come out of the red zone. Despite the last two defeats to Freiburg 0-3 and Gladbach 1-3 Nürnberg played quit good and they should have received much more than nothing. In both matches they were the better side and they created a lot of good opportunities but it has long been a weakness of Nürnberg to score goals. Additional a clear goal was not counted against Gladbach and therefore it is very hard for them to win matches. Nevertheless the offensive play from them was very good and not even Freiburg or Gladbach had an idea how to play against them. They press from beginning on, both defensive line and midfield row plays very high and let the opponent not much space and time to open their game. This system is very intense and powerful and therefore they were always tired after 70 minutes and both recent opponents took advantage of this. If Coach Verbeek finds the right balance in his system it is very good and Nürnberg looks very good. Even if they can use only a few of their good chances it is also better and the last 20 minutes not such a problem overall. But they are on the right way, despite no wins so far.

On fire, of course Wolfsburg is the team with a great run from 4 winning matches in a row. Only Bayern Munich has the same stats but they are by far the best team in BL. Therefore it is very interesting how Coach Hecking can build a good and balanced team who plays better as last season. More than 4 wins in a row had they only in their best season where they won the title in the end. But if you take a look in their stats it looks like that it has changed only a bit. Last season they were terrible at home and had better matches on the road, also result wise. This season it is more at home where they collected their points and made better matches as on the road. Nevertheless they are in form before the national break but now after the break, could they hold their form? No one knows !!! But overall they have a great squad and they should be able to fight for the fourth place this season with teams from Gladbach and Schalke. This match can be very friendly as with Hecking, Pogatetz, Hasebe, Esswein, Klose and Polak meets some player his former club. But in some interviews it is already mentioned that for the 90 minutes there will be no friendship. Wolfsburg wants the win here but the record is not the best above all to Nürnberg where they had a lot of problems in the past. From 22 matches between these two sides could Wolfsburg win only 5 !!! Maybe some count on Heckings knowledge he had from Nürnberg but the style of Nürnbergs play is much different now after Verbeek arrived. So no advantage at all. Not many changes expected, the winning team from the match against Dortmund should get the next chance here, only Diego is back from injury. For him Caligiuri must on bench but only if he is 100% ready.

Yes I know, all are for Wolfsburg here but I am not so sure about. Nürnberg played really great in their recent two matches and they were in both the better side. Additional they had a lot of bad luck and also were not able to use the good opportunities they had. Sooner or later they get rewarded for their effort they do. Maybe this Wolfsburg who is in great form comes to the right time here, they beat Dortmund but after this match two weeks break what maybe cost them their form. Logical is sure Wolfsburg win here but I doubt and the stats are not in their favor here as well. Therefore Nürnberg is my choice here.

Recommend Bet: 1.FC Nürnberg AHC +0,25 @ 2,02 (3 Units)