Stuttgart rip 5 wins in a row

By: Pete | Add Comments

Another derby, another win. That’s five in a row for those counting at home and quite an ascent up the table. This was a pretty wild affair; could’ve easily been 4 or 5 more goals.

Miscellaneous thoughts about the game in no particular order:

-It was an unchanged XI from last match and the positive results keep coming.

-It’s going to be sad whenever Khedira ends up leaving, he really is a joy to watch. Is there any way we can keep him? Unless there’s another outrageous offer similar to Gomez’s I say do whatever it takes to keep him. But the set up to that first goal was really something to watch; he has fantastic vision.

-It seems that everyone seems to be clicking as of late. Other than a hiccup or two in the backline and some missed opportunities/missed calls (hello handball x 2) this could’ve been a very comfortable result.

-I thoroughly enjoy Gross’ celebrations on the sideline after every goal

-I really don’t see any major changes from the club now and when Babbel was in control other than a massive mental edge. All the credit to Gross for that. The talent was always there

-It’s curious while watching I thought Lehmann could’ve/should’ve stopped Nuremburg’s goal. After the match here’s what he said:

“We had some good chances today. FC Nürnberg also put in a great deal of effort and created some good openings for themselves too. I think, in the end, we deserved to win based on the fact that we had the better chances. I really thought I could prevent the goal we conceded but the ball dropped wickedly. It’s getting ever more difficult for goalkeepers to judge the flight of the new balls.”

It’s not the first time players have complained about the new balls, they really are causing some problems.

-In related news Stuttgart seem close to signing Hertha Berlin keeper Jaroslav Drobny on a free transfer at the end of the year. As much as I hate to see Jens go, it’s an inevitability at this point. Good to see them trying to cover their bases early.

-It seems to be becoming the rule rather than the exception: Stuttgart trip up in the fall, then breeze through the table making an epic return at or near the top. While I’d like some semblance of consistency throughout the year (and keep a manager for a couple, too) enjoy the 2nd half ride folks.

They’re on fire and no signs of slowing down. Makes for an interesting leadup to the epic clash with Barcelona (hey gives me a little more hope anyway)

In detail video highlights below:

A transfer window in review

By: Pete | 2 Comments

The transfer window is officially closed and it’s time to take a look at the comings and (mostly) goings of Stuttgart.

In:

Christian Molinaro, defender – Juventus

Out:

Ludovic Magnin, defender – FC Zurich
Jan Simak, midfield – Mainz
Yildiray Bastürk, midfield – Blackburn
Elson, midfield – Hannover
Thomas Hitzlsperger, midfield – Lazio

In another time, another season, some of these may seem like fairly substantial moves. The likes of Magnin and Hitzlsperger, once stalwarts of the starting XI, had seen their roles substantially diminished over the course of the year.

Going into the transfer window given the team’s place in the standings hovering around the drop zone one would think that there needed to be a ton of additions to right the ship. But as evidenced over the past month (9 pts out of 9 possible) clearly it was a case of a talented but underachieving squad with coaching and tactical issues. Since Gross’ arrival Stuttgart have “only” qualified for the knock-out stages of the Champions League and won their last 4 domestic league games coupled with a draw to start out his tenure.

With that in mind I can say I’m more or less happy with the window results. I’m glad management didn’t make any panic moves that could’ve potentially damaged this year’s chances or affected the club’s bright future but rather let Gross work with the squad a bit and see what happens. Their sole addition (Molinaro) made sense given Boka’s absence due to the African Cup of Nations and overall average at best defense over the year. While there’s a well documented number of doubters to Molinaro’s talent it’s a harmless loan move; if it doesn’t work out he heads back to Italy plain and simple. And given his contract runs out at the end of the year if the player and club are a match he can then join on a free transfer.

As far as squad departures, while there’s a bit of sadness and nostalgia surrounding nearly all those leaving, for the most part it’s all been on good terms. Nobody that left was a key component of the current in-form squad and they all wanted more playing time. It may hurt our overall depth in the meantime but if there’s a major injury crisis we’d be in trouble anyways. I think it was a classy (and smart) move to let these guys move on for more playing time and it unclutters a midfield with many people already vying for more time.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts and opinions. Nothing spectacular to report one way or the other, but in this case I think that’s a good thing.

Stuttgart loan Elson to Hannover

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Elson will spend the remainder of the season at Hannover trying to keep them from getting relegated. Another fringe player gone (at least for a while.) Didn’t do too much this season, but I’ll remember this for a while:

Hitz moves on to Lazio

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Thomas Hitzlsperger has finally made the anticipated move to Lazio. It’s with mixed emotions that he’s sent off to Italy. On the one hand he’s been such an essential cog for years now since his move from Aston Villa in 2005 making his way up the ranks to team captain and national team appearances. He had all the leadership characteristics you could ask for in a captain; inspiring on and off the pitch and a class act all around. Even when he was stripped of the captaincy earlier this year he took it in stride and even supported Babbel’s decision if it was for the good of the team. Roll that together with a championship winning side and a World Cup appearance in his time here and overall it’s been a great run and we’ll be forever grateful for all he’s done for the club.

I think it’s as amicable split as one could ask for. Hitz clearly wasn’t in Gross’ plans in the near future or the long term. He had started to fade away at the end of Babbel’s run and it’s only continued into Gross’ reign. He was basically pushed out of a starting job by Khedira and Kuzmanovic. If he’s to have any chance of playing in South Africa this summer he needs consistent first team playing time and Jogi Löw as much as anyone else encouraged him to get playing time even it meant playing elsewhere. While maybe it thins our midfield roster options a little bit for the remainder of the year I think it was a fair move by us and a good move for Hitz to try and get that playing time. At 27 he’s certainly still going to be a viable asset for someone in the future and it’s good he’s given an opportunity now rather than wasting away on the bench here for the rest of the year.

And while there’s been some rumors going around that we were going to let Hleb go I doubt that’ll happen now that Hitz is gone. It would just seem a touch risky to thin out the midfield anymore.

So there we have it folks, it’s been a good run. Buona fortuna. In bocca al lupo. Danke.

Stuttgart clicking on all cylinders, down BVB

By: Pete | 3 Comments

OK maybe not “clicking on all cylinders” in a game-dominating sort of way, but more in the grand scheme of grabbing another 3 points, the only thing that matters at the end of the day. No, this was a most peculiar game with dubious goals of all sorts. Own goals, possible handballs, missed offsides, free-kick deflections and just plain shoddy defense accounted for the brunt of the goals. Luckily we happened to be on the side of more breaks going in our direction. I do apologize for sort of disappearing this week; I was in the process of a buying a new car and it’s way more of a hassle than I could’ve anticipated. But I digress-

Stuttgart are now firmly in the mid-table pack, sitting in 10th place on goal differential along with Hoffenheim (9th,) Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach. There’s currently a 7 point gap between the qualifying teams of Europe and everybody else; rather large if you ask me. But there’s still enough time left in the season for Stuttgart to pull off another patented late season run.

I think by and large Stuttgart deserved to win this game. They put themselves in position for a lot of the breaks they got. I think that was an own goal; I don’t think Pogrebnyak’s hand touched it. But the ball crossed in the middle caused those problems and that was to Stuttgart’s credit. If you eliminate what I thought was a pretty obvious offsides goal then this would’ve seemed a much more one sided affair especially considering the missed penalty. To have it come down so late to the wire only added to the drama but by and large this was Stuttgart’s to win. Once Kuz’s free kick went in Borussia kinda shut off a bit with that horrible defensive blunder to put the game away for Marica.

All in all a good win and another step in the right direction of fixing this season. Good to see Lehmann back in net, though I did like what I saw from Ulreich in his absence. I’m sorry this post is short, but the next topic warrants its own post and it’s worth moving on to it. Here’s the video highlights for those who missed the match:

Friday Night Lights match preview: SC Freiburg v VfB Stuttgart

By: Pete | 4 Comments

Stuttgart look to keep up their positive momentum Friday night away against SC Freiburg. Stuttgart face a desperate side in the thick of the relegation battle, only 1 point clear of the drop zone. Stuttgart (currently 12th) look to continue their recent run of good form taking 6 out of their last possible 6 points against two good clubs in Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg.

Freiburg made a couple of changes over the break, most notably adding French Ligue 2 player Papiss Demba Cisse to step in for striker Mohamdou Idrissou who is with Cameroon for the ACN. They also picked up French Ligue 1 midfielder Hamed Namouchi but he’s currently battling injury and may not be available. Stuttgart have their fair share of knocks but nothing since the last game. It sounds like Ulreich should be ready to go after having fully participated in practice. The same also goes for Sebastian Rudy and Matthieu Delpierre. Cacau (groin) is still uncertain and Hitz as well.

Stuttgart currently reside in a cramped area of the table. They may be in 12th place but are only 2 pts better than Hannover who sit in the relegation zone. A win would do a lot of good to ease relegation pressure. And while they’ll continue to take the “one game at a time” approach if they can make a little more separation from the drop zone teams maybe we can start looking ahead to mid-table teams. Still a long way off (12pts) from Europa league teams but it’s realistic to at least set our sights on the middle of the table for now.

That being said this is still a classic trap game; struggling club battling injuries versus a side that is beginning to heat up. I wouldn’t underestimate the derby aspect of the match; those always tend to be a challenge. I don’t see it being easy but I like our chances.

Prediction: SC Freiburg 0 Stuttgart 2

I’ll be watching the game and hope to post before/during/after the match; would love to hear from everyone if they’re able to catch it too-

Unrelated news and notes

- Jan Simak will no longer be available, making a move to Mainz (undisclosed fee.) Always handled himself like a professional even when he wasn’t seeing much action so I’m happy for him and okay with the move from Stuttgart’s side as well.

-Die Mannschaft will be in Stuttgart from Jan 24 – Jan 27 for fitness tests and other PR events. Of the 30 roster invitations 5 were sent to VfB players: Thomas Hitzlsperger, Sami Khedira, Serdar Tasci, Christian Träsch and Cacau. That’s not to say it guarantees any of them a World Cup roster spot but they’ve all been participants in the National Team in one way or another for the past couple of months. We’ll see what happens-

Strong start to 2nd half: Stuttgart 3 Wolfsburg 1

By: Pete | 2 Comments

Die Schwaben opened the 2nd half of the season with a big win over Wolfsburg 3-1 in Stuttgart and for once I had a prediction that was actually correct (more or less.) A game with a bunch of scoring chances and a series of small heart attacks at the closing stages ultimately ended in a deserved victory.

Stuttgart opened the game with a strong first half. Other than a defensive blunder which Ulreich was able to step up and save the team blushes the best scoring chances were mostly Stuttgart’s. Pogrebnyak did his best to squander as many chances as he could before finally giving in to score the insurance goal (58′.)

The second half was mostly Wolfsburg’s and I’m still not sure how they didn’t equalize late. Hit posts, blown opportunities and defensive assignments missed it easily could’ve been a draw before Gebhart (somewhat selfishly but I’ll take it) put the game out of reach. Dzeko’s goal from 22 yds out is worth another look (video highlight of the match posted below.) Overall I’m pretty happy with the performance. There’s still a definite weakness in the defense and closing out games in general, but at least they’ve put themselves in a position lately to even have the discussion of how to close a game out (aka even being ahead to have the opportunity to HOLD a lead.)

Call this a very non-scientific observation but it seems there’s also been a bit of luck in the past couple of matches that definitely wasn’t on the team’s side when Babbel was in charge. I just feel like we’ve gotten a couple of breaks tha could’ve gone either way and fell in our favor; something that near the end never happened for Babbel, which is a shame but true nonetheless. And I get the thing about making your own luck yadda yadda but just a very non-scientific observation.

A couple of notes from the game and another rumor brewing:

-Ulreich managed to finish the match but suffered a concussion from the collision with Grafite around the 83rd minute of the game. He’s been released from the hospital and it sounds like he’ll just need to rest for the next couple of days, but it’s unclear if he’ll be available for the next match against Freiburg on the 22nd (that’s a Friday folks.)

-The newest rumor (that I can find anyway) has us linked to young Schalke defensive stud Benedikt Hoewedes. Stuttgart, along with Bayern, Hamburg, and Wolfsburg are all interested in the 21 year old’s services. The rumored asking price by Schalke is around €10 million. If we’re able to snatch him without getting in a bidding war I can only see this as a good addition, though I can’t imagine us shelling out too much dough for him either.

Sorry I missed the liveblog that Jan put on. In the meantime I’ll try and update whatever rumors are still floating out there during the week. Highlights below:

You callin’ the Wolf? That’s all you had to say-

By: Pete | 4 Comments

What better way to kick off the 2nd half of the campaign than to meet the current Bundesliga title holders? An early test and win home against Wolfsburg could be exactly what the Schwaben need to kick it into high gear, and a chance to exact a bit of revenge for an opening season defeat to them would be all the sweeter.

Like many of Germany’s successful teams of last year, Wolfsburg have also had a somewhat disappointing first half so far. Currently residing in 8th place (6 wins, 6 draws, 5 losses) it’s been a struggle from the get go. On top of bumpy domestic form, Wolfsburg appeared all but through to the knockout stages of the Champions League before flaming out against CSKA Moscow after blowing a one goal lead and losing to an already through Manchester United side courtesy of a 3 goal performance from Michael Owen.

Wolfsburg still pack a potent punch with the likes of in-form and highly sought after striker Edin Dzeko, along with Grafite and Zvjezdan Misimovic, good for 32 goals in their first 17 games. Unfortunately for them they’ve let in just as many, good for 3rd worst GA in the Bundesliga. With that in mind I’d expect an entertaining affair here with a ton of scoring chances for both sides. Stuttgart of course will be without the services of Boka in the back (African Cup of Nations) which could open the door up to Molinaro’s debut; but we shall see.

Should be an entertaining affair people, mark it down your calendar.

Prediction: Stuttgart 3, Wolfsburg 2

Bonus hot stove updates:

Here’s just a few quick updates on what’s going on in the transfer window, a rumor mill if you will:

-Stuttgart are shopping for a new goalkeeper in anticipation for Lehmann’s retirement. So far on the radar is 2. Bundesliga side Hansa Rostock keeper Alexander Walke. Currently 26 (young for a goalie) his contract runs through 2012 and had previously played for Werder Bremen, Freiburg and Wehen Wiesbaden.

-Also on the goalie watch list is Hannover keeper Florian Fromlowitz, first choice keeper since the death of Robert Enke. Tough to say at this stage in the game how serious either of these rumors are, but they’re out there nonetheless. I think it surprises 0% of the Stuttgart faithful that management is looking for Lehmann’s replacement already.

-A (hopefully) less believable rumor is Bayern Munich’s interest in Sami Khedira according to a report in the Stuttgarter Zeitung. With the increasing likelihood that Van Bommel is gone this summer they’re looking for someone to replace him. I personally don’t buy that Khedira is the man to replace Van Bommel. Vastly different styles, and I’d be surprised to see Bayern not go for a “bigger name” replacement than the relatively unknown Khedira on the world stage. That being said there’s apparent interest from Fiorentina and Inter Milan as well. I’d be very surprised if he were to actually go, given the importance he’s had at the club and the bright future that our midfield has ahead with him in the middle of it.

Stuttgart sign Christian Gentner on free transfer

By: Pete | 3 Comments

The wheeling and dealing continues. Christian Gentner will rejoin the fold at the end of the season on a free transfer from VfL Wolfsburg. Gentner left the Stuttgart youth program in 2007 and was a pivotal part in Wolfsburg’s title run last year.

Great pickup for Stuttgart. Relatively young (24) and should beef up a midfield that may look quite different next year depending on what happens with Hleb (loaner) and an uncertain contract situation with Hitzlsperger. Stuttgart and Hoffenheim were the two most interested parties in Gentner’s services and thankfully a positive youth experience here has tipped the scales in our favor. Gentner is excited for the move:

“I’ve had a great time at Wolfsburg and I’m still enjoying my stay at the club, but Stuttgart has always been in my heart. My love for the club made me decide to return to Stuttgart.”

Let’s hear your thoughts on the return of the Stuttgart youth product and German international-

Happy (belated) New Year, early transfer news

By: Pete | 9 Comments

Back in the saddle and ready to go for 2010. Sorry I haven’t posted at all since the Hoffenheim match (not even a post game commentary, and finally one we all would’ve been happy with) but ya’ll know how the holidays are. Anyways….

Stuttgart have made their first roster move of the January window by acquiring the services of Juventus defender Cristian Molinaro for 6 months. All of my Juve friends are thrilled about this move, meaning happy that he’s gone. Ferraro wasn’t happy with him and he was replaced by Grosso.

Originally it was rumored that both he and Tiago were to go to Atletico Madrid. Juve were looking to sell him and it was rumored that Atletico Madrid were offering 3.5 million Euros and Suttgart around 5 million. In that regard I think this is a nice move for Stuttgart getting him on loan. He isn’t cup tied so we’ll be able to play him in the Champions League (if need be) and he’s 26, which isn’t old. Maybe he just wasn’t cut out for Juventus. If he settles in here and the contract expires we can always pick him up on a free transfer. By all accounts it sounds like he’s a hard worker. Here’s an article on the Juventus Offside that talks about Molinaro a little bit (not in a good light.)

In related news Real Zaragoza is interested in Khalid Boulahrouz. Boulahrouz is unhappy with his lack of playing time here and would be keen on a move to Spain. I’ve never been a big fan of Khalid and would be perfectly happy to see him out the door.