Wolfsburg vs Bayer Leverkusen preview - Hecking: We need to bounce back

Posted Saturday, September 20, 2014 by PA

Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking is counting on his side to bounce straight back from their heavy defeat to Everton on Thursday when they host Bayer Leverkusen.

The Wolves made a bad start to their Europa League group with a 4-1 defeat at Goodison Park.

Their league form has not been much better either with only two points from their first three games, and Hecking says now the time has come for things to change.

"Our aim has got to be to level out this negative experience as quickly as possible," he said at a press conference. "We need to force a change, and that can happen even with a scrappy 1-0 win."

Like Wolfsburg, Leverkusen also suffered disappointment in Europe this week, going down 1-0 at Monaco in the Champions League.

"Fortunately in football you often get the chance to put the last game behind you quickly and now we have in Wolfsburg the next big test," said midfielder Gonzalo Castro on his club's website.

"We've got to do things better if we want to win there."

In particular, Castro means they need to be more incisive in front of goal after wasting chance after chance in the principality on Tuesday, and getting their comeuppance in the second half.

"The fact we wasted so many chances in Monaco has nothing to do with arrogance," said coach Roger Schmidt.

"Everybody desperately wanted the ball to go in, but when you don't win a game like that and the disappointment sinks in, then that kind of experience can certainly be useful."

Leverkusen will be without injured defender Omer Toprak, whose place could go to Stefan Reinartz.

Josuha Guilavogui is suspended for the hosts, but Ivan Perisic is back in training and could be an option on Sunday.