From Mandzukic's injury in the national team game to his comeback, it didn't take too long. Although there are a lot of games in two months, for the Wolfsburg players who have been full of games and training, such a long time seems to be just a flick of the fingers, the Champions League group stage is not over, and just a third of the season has passed, Mandzukic has almost returned from injury, which is an unexpected surprise for the players.

Although the team doctor said that his injury was not serious and that it would take about two months to recover after the operation, the speed of the players' recovery is two different problems, both theoretically and practically.

Many players are said to be able to return soon after being injured, but in the process of recovering from injuries, it is easy to cause some unexpected trouble. Failure to pay attention to restorative training during the recovery period, or some old injuries caused by restorative training, or the treatment effect is not good enough, these will make the recovery of the injury and the time to return to the recovery indefinitely.

Such cases are not uncommon in football. There are not a few people who die a big death during the period of recuperation, and they get rid of themselves. Kaka back then, to some extent, was such a person, and the Premier League was even more problematic, and fans of some teams even complained that some of their players had not appeared on the pitch for several years - those people are a typical example of injuries that have been bad.

So, despite the fact that he would be able to recover in two months, the Wolfsburg players really didn't dare to expect him to recover so quickly – not that they were cursing their team-mates. It's this kind of thing, and there are too many negative examples.

But obviously. Mandzukic isn't that kind of player, and his physical recovery is a little surprisingly fast. He had a good result from his surgery. And in the recovery training, he didn't have any problems. He was back in training before November, and ahead of the second leg against St. Petersburg, the team doctor decided he was ready to play.

"There is no problem with his physical condition at all, and it can be said that he has recovered exactly the same as before. Now he's available to play for the team again, and our main centre-forward is back. ”

When Magath made the announcement in the dressing room, there was cheers and whistles from inside the dressing room: although they had been playing well all this time. After Olic replaced Mandzukic, they played well, but it was still a good thing to hear that their team-mates had returned from injury and that the team had added more reinforcements.

After all, Olich is 34 years old. A 34-year-old veteran player can support two months at the intensity of two games a week, but for a longer period of time, who knows what will go wrong.

Seeing Mandzukic come back. The players were all excited. However, although Mandzukic returned from injury, he was not immediately asked to play by Magath. At least, this time away from home. He was asked to stay at home.

"Against Zenit, we are still in the old line-up, temporary. We don't make any changes. ”

There is some truth in Magat's statement. After all. Away games are a bit demanding for players who have just recovered from injury. And places like St. Petersburg. It's a place where patients who have just recovered from an injury shouldn't go. For Mandzukic's physical sake, he stayed until the next game.

'For our players, I still have to think about how to protect them.

On the issue of not allowing Mandzukic to go away, Magath explained it this way. Although he claims to be the coach who likes to toss players the most in the entire Bundesliga, he has to admit that he has always paid attention to the grasp of the physical condition of the players. After all, the large training volume itself is based on the tolerance limit of the players, and he knows this very well.

But this explanation is difficult for the players to accept: these truths are indeed very simple, but ...... When did Magath become such a caring coach? This arrangement is not at all like his style.

Maybe he was a little depressed by the eyes of the players, and Magath could only wave his hand depressedly.

"And, I think, to play again in the game against Borussia Dortmund is good for our team as a whole."

Sure enough, Magath's consideration was not so simple. In addition to the physical condition of the players, he also thinks about the course of the game. He arranged Mandzukic to play against Borussia Dortmund, not only to protect Mandzukic, but also to get him back on that game.

Magath wanted him to be a surprise player in that game – an explanation that the players understood. Compared to the state of the players, it is easier for them to believe that Magath is worried about the team's game, after all, this week's game is really important for Wolfsburg.

For Wolfsburg, they have had a lot of tough battles this season, and if the last week was the toughest fixture for Manchester United and Bayern Munich in a row, then this week is the most important fixture of the season.

Manchester United lost at home to Wolfsburg in the Champions League, but they won all their other games. Although Moyes has been complained about a lot, his biggest problem is actually that it is difficult to win when leading Manchester United in a hard-fought battle, and against slightly weaker teams, the team under his command is still quite good, whether it is St. Petersburg or Marseille, it has not caused them too much trouble.

Therefore, although Wolfsburg won all three games in the Champions League, it is still not so safe to say that it wants to qualify as the first place in the group safely.

If Wolfsburg fail to win against St Petersburg, they could be overtaken by United in the final round of home games against Manchester United to finish second in the group.

It's not out of the question.

Against Manchester United, only the Wolfsburg players themselves knew how hard it was to win. David Moyes' side did not attack well, but they defended well. If Gao Shunyao's goal is not counted, then the whole game of Wolfsburg is simply a mess.

And at his home stadium, he can do everything he can to defend with all his might, and it is unrealistic to expect him to attack away from home. And if everyone continues to play like in the last game, whether Wolfsburg can score lucky goals this time is not so certain. And after Rooney's return, will Manchester United's attack still be so humiliating? It's also uncertain.

Although Rooney is considered by many to be overrated, no matter how you say it, he is still much higher than Welbeck and others. Although his strength is not a top player, he is still strong enough to be powerful against Wolfsburg.

And Wolfsburg knows very well that their team is not a strong team like Bayern, and even Bayern does not want to encounter too strong teams too early. Compared with those strong teams fighting in the round of 16 and qualifying first in the group, it seems that they are more likely to get better results.

Therefore, against the away game against St. Petersburg, they still need to try their best to win.

And if this is the only game that is crucial, it will not be the most important week for Wolfsburg. For them, this week is very important because in addition to the game against St. Petersburg, their match against Borussia Dortmund is also very important.

If the match with St. Petersburg is only related to whether they can successfully get a good position in the Champions League, even if they lose, at most it is only the possibility of losing the first place in the group, and it has little impact on their qualification, then the game against Dortmund is even more meaningful to Wolfsburg. Because the win or loss of this game is related to Wolfsburg's plan for this season.

In this season's league games, Wolfsburg has played far worse than last season. Compared with Bayern and Dortmund, they have also shown their lack of multi-front combat this season. The lack of squad is, after all, an insurmountable problem, and in the long-term race, Wolfsburg no longer has the same advantage as last season.

Wolfsburg is now 25 points, and the difference between Bayern at the top of the table is 4 points, and if they lose one more game, then their point difference will reach 7 points - 7 points after 12 rounds, such a score difference, Wolfsburg can really say goodbye to the champion in advance.

Of course, Wolves do not have the league title among their goals this season. They themselves know that with the strength of Wolfsburg, it is a little too reluctant to win the league championship for two consecutive years. But even if you don't want the title, it's still a nice situation to be competitive in the league. Regardless, it's sad to admit early on as the defending champions that they have no hope for the league – and there's nothing wrong with looking at the unlucky defending champions in the Premier League.

Both games were important and made Wolfsburg need to be very careful. If they don't play well, this week could be a turning point in their league. There was nothing wrong with Magath's arrangement. On the whole, Wolfsburg really needs to be arranged.

It's just that although it is a good thing to arrange the players to rest in turn, this kind of thing needs to be based on the strength of the team. When a team doesn't have enough quality to play like this, something is going to happen.

And it has to be that this season's Wolfsburg seems to have been unlucky. In the face of St. Petersburg, they also had problems. (To be continued.) )