FM10: Vfl Wolsburg Thread - Die Wölfe

[jonahno6]

Welcome to the FM10 Vfl Wolfsburg thread.

Link to the original thread made by Sned.

A brief history;

Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH, usually referred to as VfL Wolfsburg is a German professional football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. They are the current Bundesliga champions, after winning their first ever league title in the 2008-09 season. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg and is 100% owned by Volkswagen Group.

Wolfsburg remained a second division fixture over the next dozen years with their best performance being a second place finish in 1970. That finish earned the club entry to the promotion round playoffs for the Bundesliga where they performed poorly and were unable to advance. From the mid-70's through to the early 90's Die Wölfe played as a third division side in the Amateur Oberliga Nord. Consecutive first place finishes in 1991 and 1992, followed by success in the promotion playoffs saw the club advance to the2. Bundesliga for the 1992–93 season. VfL continued to enjoy some success through the 90's. The team advanced to the final of the German in 1995 where they were beaten 0–3 by Borussia Mochengladbach, but then went on to the top flight on the strength of a second place league finish in 1997.

Early predictions were that the club would immediately be sent back down, but instead, the Wolves developed into a mid-table Bundesliga side. In the 1998–99 season, Wolfsburg under Wolfgang Wolf, was holding the fifth place in the 33rd fixture, and they had hopes to reach the 4th place, and the UEFA Champions League participation. Losing 6-1 away to Duisburg in the final fixture, the Wolves finished in the 6th place with 55 points, and qualified to the UEFA Cup. They qualified for the Intertoto Cup in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005, enjoying their best run in 2003 by reaching the final where they lost to Italian side AC Perugia. Recently, there was little success for the club, with two 15th place finishes only narrowly avoiding relegation.

For the 2007-08 Season the club hired former Bayern Munich manager Felix Magath, with whom they managed to finish an astonishing 5th place at the end of the season, the highest finish for the club at the time. This also enabled the Wolves to qualify for the UEFA Cup, only for the second time in their history.

In the 2008-09 Season, under Magath, Wolfsburg claimed their biggest success by winning their first Bundesliga title after defeating Werder Bremen 5-1 on 23 May 2009. During this campaign, Wolfsburg equalled the longest winning streak in one Bundesliga season with 10 successive victories after the winter break. They also became the only team in the Bundesliga to have had two strikers to score more than 20 goals each in one season with Brazilian Grafite and Bosnian Edin Dzeko achieving this feat in their title-winning season, scoring 28 and 26 respectively. As a result of their title win, Wolfsburg qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.

Football Manager Info

Nation - Germany

Year Founded - 1945

Status - Professional

Reputation - National

Chairman Status - Enjoying life at the club

Legends – Diego Klimowicz, Roy Prager

Icons – None

Favoured Personnel – Claus Thomsen, Claus Reitmaier, Charles Akonnor, Frank Grenier, Bruno Akrapovic, Marin Petrov, Diego Benaglio

Fierce Rivals - Hannover

Other Rivals - Eintract Braunschweig

Finances - Okay

Average Ticket Price - £24.30

Average Season Ticket Price - £261

Season Ticket Holders - 21500

Estimated Value - £44.5 Million

Continental Competition - Champions League

Media Prediction - 2nd

Training Facilities - Good training facilities

Youth Facilities - Average youth facilities + Youth academy

Transfer Budget - Title Challenge - £6m Winner - £6.7m

Stadium - Volswagen-Arena, 30,000 capacity (22,000 seated)

Squad

Goalkeepers

GK: Andre Lenz

GK - Diego Benaglio

Defenders

DR- Peter Pekarik

DR, DM, MC - Sascha Riether

DC - Ricardo Costa

DC - Alexander Madlung

DC - Jan Simunek

DC - Andrea Barzagli

D/WBL - Rodrigo Alvim

D/WBL - Marcel Schafer

D(L)/MRL - Fabian Johnson

Midfielders

DM, MC - Makoto Hasebe

DM, MC - Jonathan Santana

DM, MC - Josue

DM, MC - Sebastian Schindzielorz

DM, MC - Rudiger Ziehl

ML - Alexander Laas

AMR/L - Ashkan Dejagah

AMRC (AMC) - Karim Ziani

AMRC (MR) - Daniel Baier

AMRLC (MC) - Christian Gentner

AMR, ST - Philipp Kreuels

AMLC (AMC) - Thomas Kahlenberg

AML - Vlad Munteanu

AMC - Zvjezdan Misimovic

Strikers

FC - Edin Dzeko

ST - Grafite

ST - Obafemi Martins

ST - Mahir (Out on loan)

Squad Analysis

Goalkeeper

Here you have Benaglio, a top quality keeper for this league. One of the best in the Bundesliga. Keep him, and look for someone to replace him in the long run, as you certainly don't need a new number 1.

Potential Buys - Siliviu Jung jr

Youth Option - Alphonse Areola

Full Backs

Schafer and Riether are both good full backs, and these are the two you should look to be using. Ricardo Alvim is good back up too, retrain him to DR, and then you have cover for both sides. Fabian Johnson is the only other cover you have, so you could bring in some one else.

Potential Buys - There is a lack of good full backs tbh, so look to loan in some like Rafael, or Fabio from Manchester United

Youth Option -

Centre Backs

Good area of the team. Barazgli, Costa, Simunek and Madlung are all good enough. However I believe you can do better. Jorge Andrade is available on a free, Nicolas Otamendi can be bought for £3 Million, who is a must imo. So I recommend letting Ricardo Costa go.

Defensive Midfielder/Centre Midfielder

Josue, the captain is the star on the midfield. He should be the defensive of the top midfielders you use, unless, of course you use two defensive midfielders (like me). Santana is also a good midfielder. You have good back up in Hasebe. You also have Ziehl, but tried to offload him if you can. Anthony Annan is a great option, so get him if you can.

Potential Buys - Anthony Annan, Stephen Appiah

Youth Option - Also Annan as he is 23, so has time to develop.

Attacking Midfielder

Zvjezdan Misimovic, is the best player here. The Bosnian is a great player, with creativity needed to rip apart teams. Also has a cracking shot. Thomas Kahlenberg is great back up to him. He can be used at AMC/L. You can also use Vlad Munteanu here.

Potential Buys - None needed

Youth Option -

Wingers

A area of the squad with alot of options. Gentner is good, versatile player who can play on both wings, as can Ashkan Dejagah, who is pacy and good dribbler. There is also people like Ziani, and Kreuels. However I believe you can much better. Angel Di Maria, and Vincente are both available really cheaply given there quality.

Potential Buys - Angel Di Maria, Vincente

Youth Option - Angel Di Maria

Strikers

Arguably the strongest area of the squad. It contains star man Edin Dzeko. Keep him at all costs. He will score goals in almost any role. Whether it be Target Man, Advanced Forward or Complete Forward. You also have Brazilian Grafite, really good finisher and great penalty taker. Great back up if you play on using 1 up front and a good partner for Dzeko if use 2 up top. Next is the pacey Obafemi Martins, a different player to Dzeko and Grafite, he's really fast and energetic, a great option of the bench.

Potential Buys - Ronaldo

Youth Option - Vaclav Kadlec

Key Player

Edin Dzeko

The big Bosnian, Edin Dzeko is the player that you should build you team around. He's great as lone striker or in a front two. Keep him at all costs. He is worth money to the team than any club could offer. He is vital to winning the Bundesliga, and going far in the Champions League. He should get ten years of service from him, as he is only 23!

Formation

4-4-2, 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 are the best formations for Vfl Wolfsburg, set up like so;

4-4-2

     GK
DR DC DC DL

MR MC MC ML

  ST  ST

4-3-3

GK
DR DC DC DL

MC MC MC

RW ST LW

4-2-3-1

     GK
DR DC DC DL

 DMC DMC

AMR AMC AML
   ST

*Just to mention that I'm only making this thread due to Sned being banned, feel sorry for him. But I'm making this thread and continuing the Wolfsburg support

[jonahno6]

reserved .

[jonahno6]

reserved for future patch analysis.

[www2]

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=154184

[jonahno6]

I know, see the 'your club needs you' thread.

[www2]

OK.....but why couldnt you just continue posting in that thread :confused:

[jonahno6]

Because the idea of the club thread, is to have the OP around to answer questions. That's what the mods want, so I'm doing that.

[Purefun]

Good one jonah.

[www2]

Rgr....get it....KUTGW

[jonahno6]

Quick update on my game.

Transfers in:

Jorge Andrade - Free

Angel Di Maria - Benfica - £2.8 Million

Nicolas Otamendi - Velez - £5 Million

Anthony Annan - Rosenberg - £2.4 Million

Vicente - Valencia - £3.2 Million

Siliviu Lung jr - U Craiova - £575k

Transfers Out:

Jan Simunek - Stuttgart - £2.8 Million

Peter Pekarik - Koln - £1.8 Million

Ricardo Costa - Porto - £3.5 Million

Daniel Baier - Koln - £1 Million

Fabian Johnson - Bochum - Ln fee £170k

Really happy with my transfers, could of got a bit more cash from the sales, but I needed the money to bring in the players I wanted, so was happy to let them go. This leaves the team like so;

GK: Benaglio

DL: Schafer

DR: Riether

DC: Otamendi

DC: Barzagli

DMC: Josue

DMC: Annan

AMR: Vincente

AML: Di Maria

AMC: Misimovic

ST: Dzeko

Results so far;

v Lotte - Cup - 2-0 - Dzeko, Kahlenberg

v Freiburg - League - 3-0 - Dzeko, Josue, Dejagah

v Hertha - League - 2-1 - Josue, Dzeko

v Mainz - League - 1-0 - Dzeko

v Koln - League - 3-0 - Dzeko (3)

As you can see Dzeko is on fire.

Champions League Group

Sevilla

Juventus

Olympiakos

Wolfsburg

Tough group, but I hope to qualify.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Hmm, Déjà vu? You'll be fine jonahno6, I have faith you will qualify.

[jonahno6]

And qualify I did . 1 win, and 4 draws was enough to take me into the next round aloung with Sevilla, who were the team who beat me.

I'm some still unbeaten in the league, been a few times where I've been losing in the last 5 minutes. But snatch a equalizer late on. Benaglio has kept me in so many games this season. Top notch keeper.

Dzeko on fire, 18 in 21. Di Maria seems to be putting them on a plate for him .

[tameeris]

I just got Dzeko for my Porto save.

How do you play him?

[jonahno6]

As a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1, playing as a advanced forward (attack) .

[tameeris]

Thanks

Nice job in qualifying in the CL btw

[jonahno6]

Just knocked out Inter in the 1st knockout stage of the CL. Dzeko :*)

[jonahno6]

Quick update, finished the season.

We are champions, just. On the last day on the season, and were losing 1-0 to Frankfurt, meaning we'd finish 2nd by one point, when in the 85th Grafite drills the ball across goal straight to Dzeko to in, who in the process became the clubs all time top goal scorer, to win the title on goal difference . Scrappy, but I ain't complaing.

Table

Lost in the quarter final to Manchester United, 6-2 in aggregate in the end. Valiant effort though tbf.

Dzeko was the star man scoring 32 goals, Di Maria got 18 assists, most of them crosses to Dzeko. Oh and credit to Benaglio who was unbeatable at times.

For the new season, I want a striker to partner Dzeko (looking at Podolski or Chamakh), as I play to change to a 4-1-2-1-2. Also looking for a new RB/LB. Could do with a stadium expansion too, currently it only holds 30,000 which is very small compared to most teams in the Bundesliga.

[jonahno6]

Ha, ask the board to expand the stadium and they say no due to planning permission, and then 3 days later announce that they are adding 3500 seats to the ground.

[jonahno6]

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/3524/wolftran.jpg

Transfers out = £16 Million. A few transfers were done on 48 month deals.

Team now is

          Benaglio
Renan Barzagli Otamendi Emanuelson

           Sissoko
Dejagah    Misimovic     Di Maria

         Dzeko Podolski

[Lisandro Lopez]

Abit much on Podolski? Not seen how he looks in FM though, but still.

[bjoggi33]

Quick update, finished the season.

We are champions, just. On the last day on the season, and were losing 1-0 to Frankfurt, meaning we'd finish 2nd by one point, when in the 85th Grafite drills the ball across goal straight to Dzeko to in, who in the process became the clubs all time top goal scorer, to win the title on goal difference . Scrappy, but I ain't complaing.

Table

Lost in the quarter final to Manchester United, 6-2 in aggregate in the end. Valiant effort though tbf.

Dzeko was the star man scoring 32 goals, Di Maria got 18 assists, most of them crosses to Dzeko. Oh and credit to Benaglio who was unbeatable at times.

For the new season, I want a striker to partner Dzeko (looking at Podolski or Chamakh), as I play to change to a 4-1-2-1-2. Also looking for a new RB/LB. Could do with a stadium expansion too, currently it only holds 30,000 which is very small compared to most teams in the Bundesliga.

What training do you have Dzeko on ? he looks amazing

[jonahno6]

Tugs training, you'll find it in the tactics and training forum.

[Suggy33]

Hi, I'm new here, but when I saw this page I thought I'd have a look. I didnt know people shared their team stories and it seems like a good idea, so heres how my Wolfsburg save has been going so far.

In the first transfer window I signed Jonathan Cristaldo, Nicolas Otamendi, Juan Angel Albin, David Jensen and Jano Ananidze. I sold Ricardo Costa, Hasebe and Munteanu.

By the time I got to January, I had used alot of different tactics but now a 4-1-2-1-2 seems to be working. I'm top of the league now and have got Real Madrid coming up in the Champions League.

Then I had also lined up Alejandro Dominguez, Jadson, Tore Reginiussen and Donny Neyra set up tp join on frees. This meant I had about 5 players competing for one attack midfield spot. I then sold Karim Ziani and Thomas Kahlenberg for £3.5m each.

Any ideas for season 2?

[Stano84]

Hi, I'm new here, but when I saw this page I thought I'd have a look. I didnt know people shared their team stories and it seems like a good idea, so heres how my Wolfsburg save has been going so far.

In the first transfer window I signed Jonathan Cristaldo, Nicolas Otamendi, Juan Angel Albin, David Jensen and Jano Ananidze. I sold Ricardo Costa, Hasebe and Munteanu.

By the time I got to January, I had used alot of different tactics but now a 4-1-3-1-2 seems to be working. I'm top of the league now and have got Real Madrid coming up in the Champions League.

Then I had also lined up Alejandro Dominguez, Jadson, Tore Reginiussen and Donny Neyra set up tp join on frees. This meant I had about 5 players competing for one attack midfield spot. I then sold Karim Ziani and Thomas Kahlenberg for £3.5m each.

Any ideas for season 2?

You could start playing with a proper formation;)

[Suggy33]

People are so picky nowadays.

[jonahno6]

Who plays up front for you? and how much did you get to spend?

[megafan2005]

Just started a game with them hopefully the game that gets me going in 10 with a lot of failed Arsenal attempts

Transfers In

Nicolas Otamendi

Anthony Annan

Rafael Van Der Vaart

Formation is a 4-1-2-1-2

GK: Benaglio

DL: Schafer

DR: Riether

DC: Otamendi

DC: Barzagli

DMC: Josue

MC: Annan

MC: Genter

AMC: VDV

FC: Grafite

FC: Dzeko

Undefeated thus far but only on to second league game

[Suggy33]

Second season now for me. I won the Bundesliga by 2 points in my first season. My current line up is this.

GK: Benaglio

LB: Schafer

RB: Riether

DC: Otamendi

DC: Howedes

DMC: Josue

ML: Albin

MR: Dejagah

AMC: Jadson/Dominguez

ST: Dzeko

ST: Soldado

Ive still got Misimovic as well, just incase. Im thinking the fullback positions need to be strengthened, and possibly MR.

[jonahno6]

Nice team, for DR/MR, Diego Renan is a good option. How good is Dominguez?

Just agreed to sign Rakitic on free \o/.

[megafan2005]

First 6 League Games Review

Transfers

Chuffed with them all especially VDV

squad

You can see how impressive some players have been for me their with all the starting XI playing fantastically

Tactic

Works really well for Wolfsburg

fixtures

You can see some pretty good results particularly the first CL game

table

Its so close at the top despite are good start

Star Man

The key man for Die Wolfe this season with some impressive returns

[Suggy33]

Dominguez is pretty good, He can play AMC comfortably, MR, RW or ST so he's quite versatile. He plays well as a trequartista in the AMC role, but I feel Jadson has done better.

[--b--]

hey guys

any tips on who to sell at the start of the game?

seems like a bit of dead wood needs to be chopped?

also - ive tried selling a few players and get no offers? whats the best way to get these guys out?

[jonahno6]

I could only get rid of few players in the first season, some I couldn't get others. Just keep trying, a good tip is to loan them out with a fee and a future fee.

[Kyle Seddon]

Hmmm, playing a 4-4-2- formation but Dzeko just is'nt scoring. All my goals are coming from the defenders and the midfield. Any tips? Played 7 games and 1st in the league but only winning my games 1-0. Better than nothing but i'd love some tips.

Thanks.

[Kyle Seddon]

Got my team performing now, they just needed time to settle to the new tactic. Up to the winter break was undefeated, 4 games since, i've lost 1. So 21 games in, 3 draws, 1 loss. Not to bad if you ask me. Knocked out of Champs league, but in UEFA Cup. Updates at the end of the season with screenshots.

[One hell of a keeper]

jonahno6 - what are you using Dzeko in??? I'm using the tactic and formation as u said what type of fluid...etc??

[jonahno6]

Very late to answer, but Advanced forward in a 4-1-3-2.

Sorry for lack of activity, been sidetracked by MW2, back to help now .

[stuartM]

jonahno6, thinking about starting a game with Wolfsburg, you said you got lots of goals from di maria crossing in for dzeko, did you use drill crosses or float crosses, also did you use fluid or rigid. sorry as you can probably guess i'm not the best at tactics

[VeniVidiVicious]

WTF, selection for champions league, needs 4 players trained by Wolfsburg. I only have 3 in total, so there's no way I can progress.

[tameeris]

WTF, selection for champions league, needs 4 players trained by Wolfsburg. I only have 3 in total, so there's no way I can progress.

Also happened to me once. List only 24 players and you should be fine

[VeniVidiVicious]

You sir, are a genius.

[Cinnabon09]

i'd say that soldado is a great option in front with dzeko. he costs around 7-8 mill at the start of the game, but will easily top the scoring charts in any league. also, benaglio is super. becomes arguably the best all round keeper in the game. best starting player on the team along with dzeko. NEVER sell these 2

[jonahno6]

I looked at him when trying to find a partner, I settled on Podolski though, and VeniVidiVicious, cheers for sharing that tip. It's really helpful.

Oh and Stuart, I used a fluid style with floated crosses.

[VeniVidiVicious]

Would I be better off playing Grafite with Dzeko, because at the moment I'm playing Dzeko on his own, in a 4-2-3-1.

[jonahno6]

I would stick with that formation, I used it in the first season to great effect.

[Teezy.]

I just started as Wolfsburg and Bremen have offered me £2.7m and Aaron Hunt for Ricardo Costa. Seems like an incredible bid?

Accept or reject?

[Natedog17]

I just started as Wolfsburg and Bremen have offered me £2.7m and Aaron Hunt for Ricardo Costa. Seems like an incredible bid?

Accept or reject?

I hope you accepted !

[JOSEPH!]

Just started a Vfl save, going well! Some nice friendly results and what is, without a doubt, a quality team. Cant wait to manage Dzeko and surprised noone has offered for him yet! I took a lot of advice from Jonahno but its given my team strength in depth!

Transfers In

Jorge Andrade - Free

Nicolas Otamendi - 2.8m

Angel Di Maria - 4.4m

Annan Anthony - 2.5m

Transfers Out

Ricardo Costa - 3.5m

Will keep you guys posted

[JOSEPH!]

Im three competitive games in and won them all! First game is a German Cup game, second two were Bundesliga games. First two were Hannover and Bayern so its a difficult opener, considering I won the German Cup game 1 - 0 thanks to a martins strike in the 89th minute I was a bit dubious about these games, even though I dominated I was a bit shocked Grafite and Dzeko werent scoring. I kept with them though and here are the results:

So chuffed with that, as you can imagine! Dzeko, Grafite, Misimovic, Josue, Di Maria (to name a few) are all on fire! Really happy with the tactic, playing nice, efficient football that can cause goals from the wing/middle and in the air/on the ground!

[BoobyBlah]

Just started my own Wolfsburg game as I felt like playing in the Bundesliga.

I'm reasonably happy with my transfers.

IN:

Otamendi 5M (I checked and on my save he has 197pa :O )

Sandro 10M (2M upfront 8M over 48months)

Rausch Loan (875K upfront, option for 6.25M)

OUT:

Laas 250K

Santana (2M)

Ricardo Costa (2M)

Probably could have done better, but I don't mind. Now it's just going to be fun seeing how they go.