Wolfsburg Wonderful Season
From perspective, the 14/15 season was one that produced many headlines; the birth of MSN, Mourinho’s last championship winning squad, and the liquidation of Parma, but one topic lost in the shuffle was the surprise package of the season, VFL Wolfsburg. Not only was this a superb season by the northern German club but it was also the breakout season for a certain Kevin De Bruyne.
In the previous campaign, Wolfsburg finished on a humble 60 point tally that achieved them a 5th place finish. The expectations of the club for the 14/15 season were to challenge for the top 4 places as they failed to do so last year. The thing is, no one expected the season that Wolfsburg were going to have.
Football is a team sport but if you could summarize the season that Wolfsburg had in three words, it would be “one man team”. If it wasn’t for the performances of one, Kevin De Bruyne (KDB) the season would have possibly have been a carbon copy of the 13/14 season. This season showed just a glimpse behind what the Belgian maestro was capable of producing. In the previous campaign he only contributed a total of 9 goals and assists in the league, so to see his jump from the year before to 14/15 is one for any football purest to enjoy. To get the basic understanding of why KDB’s season is one to marvel we would have to understand just how KDB ended up in a place like Wolfsburg.
Kevin De Bruyne started his footballing career at his hometown club of Drongen and found his way to one of Belgium’s biggest clubs, in Genk in 2005. In just three years and at the age of 17 he was called up to the first team, in which he played another four years at senior level. During his last full season at Genk he played as a left winger and an attacking midfielder and was also a contributing factor to their league title. In those three years, he was able to provide 53 goals and assists in just 113 matches and was a coveted prospect around Europe and in the winter of 2012 he got his big move. Chelsea came calling, and with their bid of £7 million the Genk club accepted their bid and KDB got his first chance to show what he could do in top competition.
With this move to Chelsea, KDB also got the opportunity to work with one of the world’s greatest managers, Jose Mourinho. Problem is though, Mourinho was never the manager with entrusting youth and especially at the level Mourinho was trying to compete at. So they loaned him back to Genk for the remainder of the 2011/2012 season and immediately sent him out on loan again the next to Werder Bremen.
In that season at Werder Bremen showed a potential on what Jose Mourinho could have in his team for the future. KDB finished his loan spell with 10 goals and 9 assists in just 33 matches. With this dazzling season and a position for him to compete at it was expected for him to start a few games. Instead though, Mourinho being Mourinho, entrusted Oscar to play in that number 10 role the remaining time the KDB was at Chelsea. Under Mourinho, KDB only had 3 appearances under his belt and was itching for a move where he could show off his talents. And just like a dream coming true that move came in January of 2014.
During the winter 2014 transfer window, the German club Wolfsburg came calling for the services of one KDB and an £18 million offer was accepted. In his first half season there it wasn’t anything to write home about but was still a very good season for the Belgian. He finished his first season there with 3 goals and 6 assists in just 16 appearances. But that’s nothing compared to the year he was about to have.
Here it is, 14/15, the year I’ve been hyping up and the year Kevin De Bruyne finally made a name for himself. Wolfsburg were looking to compete for the Champions League places this season, only missing out by one point the previous year. This was the first full year KDB could show the Wolfsburg crowd what he was all about.
The first 3 games of the season were slow ones coming out of the gate. One win in the first 5 games of the season including a 2-1 loss to defending champions Bayern Munich but that all changed in their second win of the season, a 2-1 win against KDB’s former club Werder Bremen. After this tough start to the season Wolfsburg would then only pick up 3 more losses on their way to finishing 2nd on 69 points, a 8 point differential compared to last season.
It was a slow start for KDB as it was for Wolfsburg. Only managing one goal and one assists in his opening 5 games of the season, but after this KDB began to play the way the Manchester City KDB would play, providing assists and contributing to goals on the important occasion.
During this season, KDB mostly played in the 10, or the attacking midfield position, of a 4-2-3-1 formation playing as the provider and assist king. Nobody in the Bundesliga this season or in the Bundesliga’s whole history provided more assists than Kevin De Bruyne this season. His staggering 20 assists was only matched by Thomas Mueller in the 19/20 campaign. This just goes to show how impressive KDB was this season. But not only that he was also able to provide 10 goals from midfield, only being bested by Bas Dost 16 in the team. If it wasn’t for KDB, this season would have been plagued by mediocrity.
For a better understanding of KDB and this Wolfsburg team we can look at two separate matches which defined their season, their match against Bayern Munich and the DFB Pokal Final against Borussia Dortmund. In both of these matches they played their trusted 4-2-3-1 formation which had brought them success throughout the season. They also used Kevin De Bruyne in his best position, at the 10, in between the lines, and being the focal point of Wolfsburg attack.
Not only did they use the same formation, they also played the same way, an efficient and deadly countering attacking style of play. In the Bayern game they only had 32% possession the entire game, understandable though when playing a Pep Guardiola side but they also had 13 shots with 6 of them on target. If you look at Bayern they only mustered 16 shots with 7 on target but holding 68% possession. Though the numbers look more favourable to Bayern, Wolfsburg demolished them in a final score of 4-1 with KDB being the “starboy” of the match with 2 goals and 1 assists in the game. It was KDB who assisted the first goal against Bayern. The goal came in a trademark counter attack and all KDB had to do was square the ball to Bas Dost for a tidy finish in the left corner. KDB’s two goals came in the second half, with his first again coming from a counter attack and a tidy finish to Neuer’s right hand side. The second was a carbon copy of his first a long ball on the break and another tidy finish to the right hand side. There were no ifs, ands, or buts this game, it was domination. If you want to beat a Pep Guardiola team, you have to be perfect and on that day Wolfsburg were just that.
Their final game of the season was the DFB Pokal final, the domestic cup competition in Germany, against Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund themselves were going through a tough time but under their manager at the time, Jurgen Klopp, still made them a dangerous team at any point in time. In this game, like the one against Bayern, they also had less possession with only 45% but had more shots and shots on target with 16 and 8 respectively. This game was one by margins even if the score line says otherwise, each team had their chances but it was Wolfsburg that found themselves at the end lifting the DFB Pokal up thanks to goals from Luiz Gustavo, Bas Dost and of course Kevin De Bruyne. Just to understand how margin of error determined this game it was Luiz Gustavo who tied the game up with the goal coming from a keeper mistake. It was also a misplaced pass by Dortmund that led to KDB’s long range goal, a trademark of his today. With this win in the Pokal, it was Wolfsburg’s first trophy since their 08/09 Bundesliga title win and their second trophy ever in their history.
Wolfsburg’s way of playing football in this season structures on the counter attack and pouncing on the defensive mistake at any time. It also focuses on all aspects of KDB's abilities, his vision for a pass, his buildup play and his ability to find the back of the net. There is no sport in the world that focuses on the entire team but this season, this breakout season, was one where Kevin De Bruyne was the whole team.
Don’t believe me, at the end of the 14/15 season, with his now redeemed reputation Kevin De Bruyne found his way to Manchester City, through a club record £55 million pound deal. In the season after he left Wolfsburg finished in 8th place with a total of 45 points, 24 points worse than last season’s tally. Their highest position that Wolfsburg have made since his departure has been 6th with a points tally of 55. In the meantime Kevin De Bruyne has found himself in Manchester City’s most successful period in time, winning two Premiere League titles, which in one season they won all trophies that could be won in England and has become the Premier League’s Player of the year. So when I say that Wolfsburg were a one man team that year, yeah you believe me on that.