Wolfsburg and Greuther Furth vs Bayern: Who Would You Pick?

Grafite, the top scorer of the Bundesliga didn't win any awards at the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year Gala. He was however nominated for one: "The Best Goal of the Year" award among ten other nominees.

The goal was shown at the ceremony and the entire footballing world had a chance to take a look at it. Grafite went past the entire defence and back-heeled the ball cunningly over the line. Everyone was beaten, including Christian Lell, including "Die Roten." Bayern lost the game at the Volkswagon Arena against Wolfsburg 5-1 last season

So what has changed?

For one thing, Grafite is nowhere near the top of the scoring charts. Zvejdan Misimovic is nowhere near the top of the assists chart either. The only man who has actually been sort of consistent is Edin Dzeko. The Bosnian has nine goals and six assists to his name this season.

Wolfsburg may not occupy the top of the scoring charts; they do, however, occupy the top of the "most goals conceded" chart alongside Hertha Berlin and SC Freiburg, with 39 goals conceded in 20 matches. Their goal difference is -3 and they occupy 11th position in the table.

Wolfsburg however have a new manager in the form of interim manager and former assistant manager Lorenz-Gunther Kostner. Armin Veh was sacked towards the end of January. Kostner’s only game in charge so far led to a draw last week against Hamburg.

I frankly was not surprised when Veh was sacked . When the job was given to Veh at the beginning of the season after the departure of the evergreen Felix Magath, I had my doubts. Veh was manager of Stuttgart when they took the title home in 2007. He was sacked soon after as his championship winning side went on a slump. 

Kostner is probably the antidote that Wolfsburg need to get them going. Bayern have never had the best results in Wolfsburg and are winless at the Volkswagon Arena since March 2005. However, a lot has changed at FCB since last year. They are on a hot winning streak. They already thrashed Wolfsburg with an out of sorts team 3-0 this season.

Bayern have been attacking for fun since the Winter Break and missing countless chances. For a team which has conceded 39 goals, Bayern may spell "Disaster." Yet, Wolfsburg are still a decent attacking force and have scored 36 goals this season. Wolfsburg are really not a defensive side.

With a new manager however, Wolfsburg may plan to park the bus infront of the their reserve keeper Andre Lenz (Diego Benaglio is currently injured) and play on the counter. Bayen are very strong offensively and moderately defensively. They have conceded only 17 goals in 20 games which is the third best in the league (behind Schalke and Leverkusen) while they have scored 42 (second to Leverkusen with 45). They are second in the league table currently.

I still want to mention that defence is not extremely solid and have been bailed out by Hans-Jorg Butt at times. There is very little to suggest that Bayern will not win. Bayern also won their last Bundesliga title in Wolfsburg in 2008.

Prediction: Wolfsburg 2-3 Bayern

If Wolfsburg lose, they will be hoping that Greuther Furth can beat the Bavarian machine in the fourth round of the German Cup. Greuther Furth play in the second division and are based in Bavaria. Their main rivals are Nuremberg but they wouldn't surely mind a regional derby against an in-form FC Bayern...

Greuther Furth's manager is former Schalke interim manager, Mike Buskens. They have won their last three games by a combined score of 9-0. That will surely give them some confidence.

However, when Bayern want to turn on the style at the Allianz Arena, they usually do a brilliant job of it.

Prediction: Bayern 3-1 Greuther Furth

Bayern will have revenge on their minds against Wolfsburg. At the moment, Dieter Hoeness, younger brother of Uli Hoeness, works at Wolfsburg. He wouldn't mind getting one over his brother surely though.