Florian Kohfeldt actually finds a clever answer to almost everything that has to do with football.

On this bleak Wednesday evening, however, the new head coach of VfL Wolfsburg was astonishingly taciturn.

Question: Did his team really try and give everything in the effort to reach the last 16 of the Champions League?

“I would have liked it,” was Kohfeldt's sober answer.

The rest of it was silence, frustration and perplexity.

Because one of the supposedly most important home games in the Wolfsburg club's history had become a 3-1 defeat against French champions OSC Lille.

Everything about this game had felt terrifyingly lifeless.

Even the eloquent Kohfeldt couldn't gloss over it.

Just seven months ago, when Oliver Glasner was still VfL coach, the Wolfsburg team knew how to storm into the Champions League with great enthusiasm and intelligent unity.

Glasner was replaced by Mark van Bommel, who in turn was replaced by Kohfeldt.

These castling in the coaching chair are accompanied by great uncertainty on the part of the team with a tendency to inactivity.

Against Lille, VfL had to run after an early deficit, as is so often the case.

Burak Yilmaz's goal to make it 1-0 was not followed by a Wolfsburg riot, but a decision by goals from Jonathan David and Angel Gomes.

“We get the 0: 1 out of nowhere.

Then you run after the music, ”said midfielder Luca Waldschmidt.

However, no reasonable effort could be seen on the Wolfsburg side.

Embarrassing scenery, unworthy events

Some of the things that affect VfL's performance and mood can be explained with the help of the scenes right after the game. 6544 spectators were a rather embarrassing backdrop, which basically cannot inspire. When the departure of VfL Wolfsburg and the missing of a consolation task in the Europa League were sealed, Kohfeldt congratulated his coaching colleague and immediately disappeared in the basement of the home stadium.

First striker Wout Weghorst tried a half-hearted lap through the stadium. The rest of the team followed him in a listless manner that cannot please any viewer in the world at temperatures close to zero. The end of a VfL performance on Europe's stage for sophisticated football art turned out to be an unworthy event. And it raises the question of why Kohfeldt did not succeed in wresting at least more commitment and courage from his team with motivating instructions, an unmistakable outburst of anger or similar aids.

It was shortly after midnight when Kohfeldt began to attempt an explanation. In the stadium on the banks of the Mittelland Canal, hard-working helpers were already busy rolling up the many high-gloss banners that are required by the European Football Union for Champions League games. It remains to be seen whether and when these advertising messages can be rolled out again in Wolfsburg. On the way to the home stretch of 2021, the Bundesliga has home games against VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Köln. At the moment, the professionals at VfL do not give the impression that they could distract their everyday duties from the unsuccessful freestyle.

Experienced Maximilian Arnold thinks that the team is lacking luck.

His professional colleague Gomes had shown how to force the necessary luck with vigor.

The only 1.68 meter tall substitute player at Lille ran like crazy after being substituted on in the closing stages.

He had tricked, hit and cheered wonderfully.

His will and dynamism alone were enough to overshadow an entire Wolfsburg team.

A success against the French would have meant reaching the knockout phase.

But it was only enough for a consolation goal that Renato Steffen scored.

"We have to", announced Kohfeldt, "force certain things until Christmas." He lacks stability in defense, dynamism in pressing, virtuosity in attack and courage in general.

Quite a long list of shortcomings.

“I wouldn't speak of a crisis,” said Kohfeldt, referring to the overall situation.

The enthusiasm he initially generated about taking office at the end of October has long since vanished.

Benjamin André, central midfielder at Lille, proudly said that making it to the last sixteen of the Champions League "is something extraordinary for our city and our club".

He sums up in a single sentence what should be embarrassing for the Wolfsburg players, their coach and their fans.