“Of course I also take the blame”

Niko Kovac addressed Wolfsburg’s poor league form at a press conference on Monday.

Wolfsburg suffered their fifth defeat in their last seven league games with a disappointing 3-1 loss to Bochum at the weekend.

Die Wölfe’s recent poor form has seen them drop to 11th in the table, with questions increasingly being asked about head coach Niko Kovac.

Despite this, Kovac said at a press conference ahead of Tuesday’s DFB-Pokal round of 16 clash with Borussia Mönchengladbach that he remains “relatively calm”.

“I hope that tomorrow’s game will help us regain our confidence,” the Wolfsburg coach said.

“Every human being lives on hope and faith. If we do not believe that tomorrow will be better, we do not need to live. I am a realist, never a pessimist.

“Of course I also take the blame. I’m not running away from it,” Kovac said, adding that he doesn’t feel any special pressure.

“I have experienced too much in my life. There are always ups and downs, but at some point it goes in the right direction, which is up,” he said.

In order to bounce back against Gladbach, Kovac said his players “have to take the battles and win them”.

“The boys know what they have to do, they have to put it on the field, then we can win games,” he stressed.

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