Match preview: VfB Stuttgart v Hertha Berlin
By: Pete |
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After what seemed another ridiculously long international break we’re back once again, and facing an opponent that can hopefully kickstart the club with a positive domestic result. For all the troubles Stuttgart have had this year thus far Hertha have fallen even further (4th place last year, dead last this year.) But it’ll be good to be back, after a tragic break for Germany and a controversial break with WC qualifiers a bit of stability will be nice.
Perhaps the biggest news for the club coming out of the break is the shuffle of healthy comebacks and newly wounded (mostly the latter.) Cacau couldn’t have picked a better time to make his anticipated return given the injury blow to Schieber on international duty. Osorio, Tasci, and Khedira will similarly be unavailable. All these injuries couldn’t have come at a more crucial junction in the season. After this weekend’s match Stuttgart will clash in a huge matchup with Rangers away to effectively determine their Champions League fate.
Berlin have struggled to put the ball in the back of the net all year and I anticipate their struggles to continue on the road to a desperate Stuttgart side. Couple that with the suspensions of Raffael and Sascha Burchert Berlin will only have one true striker available: Artur Wichniarek. Stuttgart are banged up on their back line but should be able to hold Berlin down. I anticipate a close game but ultimately Stuttgart coming out on top, either 1-0 or 2-0. A 0-0 draw would, well, suck.
Happy 40th Jens, and other miscellaneous stuff
By: Pete | 2 Comments
A very happy 40th birthday wish to Jens Lehmann; enjoy the break.
After a spiritless 0-0 draw away to M’gladbach Stuttgart will have some time to recover from injuries and fatigue. The spotlight of glaring deficiencies seems to have shifted a bit from defensive lapses and now shines brightly on the current goal scoring drought. They’ve scored a whopping ONE goal in their last five Bundesliga matches (2 draws, 3 losses) and haven’t won since September 26th against Eintracht Frankfurt. Babbel will be away in Cologne this week working on getting his coaching license; hopefully the training session this week will involve getting your strikers to put the ball in the back of the net.
In international news several of Stuttgart’s young guns will be called away for international duty, including Sven Ulrich, Julian Schieber, and Sebastian Rudy for the Under-21 squad. Pogrebnyak will be the only real game of serious interest as Russia battle for a WC spot in the playoff against Slovenia in Moscow. Boka, Marica, Kuzmanovic, and Boulahrouz will all be playing for their respective countries in friendlies as well. Stay healthy men!
As for the rest of Stuttgart’s walking wounded, this is a welcome reprieve to recuperate.
Category: UncategorizedMatch preview: Borussia Monchengladbach v. VfB Stuttgart
By: Pete | 2 Comments
Lots to talk about after a frenzied CL midweek and now back to domestic action. The biggest squad news going into the weekend is the injury blow to Serdar Tasci. He picked up the same foot injury that Khedira has and is expected to be out the rest of the calendar year; ouch. In a defense that is questionable at best this blow cannot be understated, especially during this important juncture of the year. Time for somebody to step up. Delpierre apparently also broke his hand in the same match, though it shouldn’t prevent him from missing much time if any at all.
Borussia Monchengladbach sit two points ahead of Stuttgart in the table. Their form has also been shabby as of late but have picked it up the past 2 matches with a draw and a win. Borussia Monchengladbach are amongst the worst in conceding goals which is a welcome sign considering the trouble Stuttgart has had in finishing throughout the year.
Expect Babbel to once again shake up the lineup this weekend, juggling injuries and using the midweek clash as a barometer. Babbel has “strongly hinted” at starting Sebastian Rudy presumably over Roberto Hilbert. Babbel is also fully aware that his job is on the line and I’m sure will put out his finest XI to pick up a much needed win. Perhaps he realizes that another mediocre performance against a weaker team could do him in for good. News has leaked out that some journalists near the visitor’s locker room on Wednesday overheard Babbel’s spirited (read: pissed off) halftime speech with juicy excerpts like these coming out (taken from bild.de):
“We are absolutely scared stiff,
“But the only person here who has to have any fear is me. It is my job which is on the line.
“But I can tell you, I am not going to stick up for the team which I saw in the first half. That was catastrophic.”
He likened his rousing halftime speech to the way that sometimes a father has to yell at his children. It certainly struck a chord in Kuzmanovic who after scoring ran up and hugged Babbel, later citing the halftime speech as much needed upliftment to everyone on the club. I for one am thrilled to hear this. I’ll take the cornered animal fighting for his life any day; it’s all about survival. And if that means more rants and disowning your team if they are playing like crap at halftime then so be it.
Anyways I like Stuttgart’s chances. I haven’t done a score prediction in a while (I think my cumulative record is somewhere around 0-37) but here goes:
Borussia M’gladbach 2 Vfb Stuttgart 3
Still alive
By: Pete | 2 Comments
Phew. CL Match day 4 came and went and Stuttgart have lived to talk about it. We saw a bit of everything in this game, much to discuss. I’m gonna take this one in bullet form as I wrote things down during the game.
-I’ve never seen a team collectively look so overwhelmed as Stuttgart did even before the game started. Men of mettle they were not.
-And it showed with some truly erroneous passing and horrendous defense. Sevilla’s goal was far too easy. At that point it seemed like this could be an ugly, ugly day.
-After finally withstanding all that pressure to start the game the men stopped shaking as badly in their booties and tried making things happen. I like to follow online gamecast commentary while I actually watch the game, and I couldn’t have summed up Pogrebniak’s first attempt on goal any better than UK’s Yahoo! did, “A great chance for Pogrebniak from the edge of the box but his left footed shot flies over. That looked like the finish of a man with just three goals in 16 games for his club.” Ouch.
-Boka and Hleb seemed the only two on the pitch for Stuttgart that weren’t a complete bundle of nerves in the first half. Boka’s driving runs forward, the great chance in this game, and throughout the year have been one of the very very few positive points to take away so far this year.
-Going into halftime, my voice was sore screaming at Boulahrouz and Hilbert. Hilbert especially looked totally out of place on the pitch. Late tackles, a step behind everyone, errant passes, completely frustrating to watch.
-So as one can imagine I was delighted by Babbel’s changes at halftime, taking off both of them. I didn’t even care who was put in at that point, just happy that Babbel was making some positive adjustments at halftime, which haven’t always been true this year.
-Not so surprisingly Stuttgart played much better the 2nd half. Probably a combination of better personnel on the pitch and a bit more comfortable with the atmosphere and the situation. They were lucky to be only a goal down and still in this match at halftime.
-After some encouraging play from Stuttgart (Pogrebnyak’s shot off the crossbar, etc) things settled in a bit for both sides.
-Every so often a team just needs a break, call it a lucky break or whatever. But Duscher’s injury after Sevilla had already used all their subs was what Stuttgart needed to turn the tide a bit.
-And heeere we go. Kuzmanovic’s goal was pure class; pretty much an unstoppable shot. And now I’m going to sound like a completely ungrateful or greedy fan, whatever you want to call it. But I wanted more, and I expected more from Stuttgart. There were roughly 15 minutes left once Stuttgart drew level. Sevilla is down a man, the crowd has just been taken back a bit, now’s the time to turn the screws. And it looked good for a little while; Schieber’s streaking effort that went just wide would’ve been as nice a goal as any. But after that there wasn’t much. Sevilla were down to 10 men but you wouldn’t know it if you just looked at time of possession for that final 15. It kind of reminded me of last year’s CL semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona. Chelsea were up a man and content to burn out the clock with a precarious 1-0 lead rather than put the game away. Barcelona dominated possession, down a man, IN LONDON, and got the one lucky break they needed to score and advance. Luckily that didn’t happen here today, and of course the circumstances weren’t nearly as dire but it felt reminiscent of that. And not only THAT, but it still took a touch of serious class to score that goal. It’s not like the chance was directly created from having an extra man. It was a shot from 25 yards out! Their defense wasn’t carved apart or anything of that nature. Maybe I just think we should have been able to do more with what we had.
At any rate what’s done is done and we’re still in this thing. Stuttgart sit in 3rd place 2 points behind Unirea and one point ahead of Rangers. With games against both we hold our fate in our hands. If we win out we’re through, simple as that.
CL preview: FC Sevilla v VfB Stuttgart
By: Pete | 10 Comments
Sevilla has an opportunity to officially wrap up 1st place in the group with a win home against Stuttgart, and they have to feel mighty good about their prospects having never lost a CL match at home. Die Schwaben will be looking to at least steal a point here if not all three. Much of Stuttgart’s fate actually lies more in the hands of Unirea than their own. Playing against Rangers tonight in Romania they have a chance to widen the gap against Stuttgart with a win. For Stuttgart to have a realistic (though fading) chance of qualifying Rangers need to step their game up and at least draw if not outright win. Then, you know, Stuttgart will have to win out and still hope Sevilla doesn’t mail it in.
But that’s much further down the road, friends. Let’s focus on tonight. One can never be sure what side Babbel will field, but with Cacau injured and Ciprian Marica picking up a slight knock over the weekend (groin) I’d be surprised to see anyone other than Schieber and Pogrebnyak up front. Osorio, Träsch, and Khedira will also be unavailable with injuries. Here’s what Babbel had to say ahead of the critical trip to Spain:
“The game against Bayern gave us a bit of a boost. We were solid at the back, didn’t allow them to create many chances and, at the same time, managed to forge some openings of our own. If we can play that way against Sevilla, and maybe repeat the sort of performance we put in during the home game against them two weeks ago, then we have the class needed to take something positive back to Stuttgart from Spain with us.”
Right on brotha. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was most encouraged by the backline play against Bayern more than anything else. If Stuttgart can put it all together, that kind of defense and the same attacking style they put in against Sevilla last time, we may have something here. Stuttgart’s biggest problems last time were man marking with set pieces and other balls sent into the box. They were beaten by two headers and a poor goalie blunder. Fabiano was essentially invisible last time around and it’s got to be the same today too.
I’d like to see a little more of this again too- comment before, during, and after the match. I’ll be around-
VfB Stuttgart 0 FC Bayern Munich 0
By: Pete | Add Comments
Not the most exciting match in the world but at least Stuttgart were able to come out with a point from it. After a spirited first 15 minutes or so from the home side things began to cool down a bit. Big props to Butt for making a bunch of big saves early on. Big props also to the fans as well. They never let up and were fantastic all night. I saw at least one “Babbel muss bleiben” (Babbel must stay) sign and the overall sentiment is full support for the troubled coach.
This was clearly an instance of Bayern weathering the storm for the first portion of the game and then try and impose their will and score. Though Stuttgart weren’t able to score early on I was overall very happy with the way the back four stepped up on defense. It was a competent and uplifting performance. Usually there’s at least 2 or 3 moments each game where there’s an uncleared cross or something along those lines but everyone stood their ground and there wasn’t ever any real cause for concern for most of the match. Müller was pretty much neutralized all match. Gomez had a chance here and there but I never felt like he was dominating at any point.
This wasn’t one of those re-energizing games by any stretch of the imagination but it was certainly encouraging in that they held their own against a top club and hopefully began to right the ship.
Look for a CL preview either later today or tomorrow-
Category: UncategorizedVfB Stuttgart. FC Bayern Munich. Saturday.
By: Pete | Add Comments
Saturday’s clash home against Bayern Munich is roughly the 1/3 mark of the season. With 6 losses already on the campaign it doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that if there’s any hope to qualify for CL or Europa next year the bleeding must stop now. When they won it all just a few seasons ago they had 6 losses total. 8 last year secured a CL spot. That’s not to say that a loss more or less is a shoo in; of course every year is different and varies depending on the competition up top. But it is a useful measuring stick.
Am I being naive in still dreaming of European qualification for next year? Perhaps. And maybe I sound like a broken Horst Heldt record here but I believe in this team and by and large the players available to win and make a run at it. While the higher ups continue to preach that Babbel’s job is safe everyone and their mother knows that just isn’t the case; it can’t be. With that in mind I see a spirited effort this weekend not only to right the ship in the domestic table but they’re also fighting for Babbel’s job. Yep, it’s pretty much against logic. Bayern have looked sharper as of late, smoking Eintracht Frankfurt during the week 4-0 in DFB-Pokal competition and also having won their last 2 in the Bundesliga. Stats be damned.
Anyways as always leave your comments here before, during, and after the match. Also, peep the Bayern Offside for a live blog; I’ll be jumping on there too.
Up Stuttgart-
And then there were 2
By: Pete | 1 Comment
Well, Stuttgart have officially flamed out of one competition already this year, falling to SpVgg Greuther Fürth 1-0 in the Pokal, with the other 2 in critical condition. Same story, different day. Threaten, but never score. Give up a goal early on during one of the limited attacks from a momentary lapse of the defense. Continue pressing, but never finish. We could make a VfB Stuttgart mad libs out of this. Sucks for anybody who actually watched the game; especially having it shown in America on ESPN360.
Listen, I don’t care who you want to blame, whether it’s the players, the coaches, the person putting the team together, whatever. But at the end of the day, somebody will be held accountable, and more often than not it’s the manager who gets axed. A team isn’t going to fire its entire squad, simple as that. You can make the argument that Stuttgart ALWAYS look threatening and the onus is on the players to finish the job off. I think the most telling sign that it’s not completely Babbel’s wrongdoing is that they still play hard for him. Once the team quits on its manager, that is really always the decisive end but that hasn’t been the case here so far.
But, as was pointed out in the comments section, something has to give soon, right? This schedule doesn’t get any easier, with a game this weekend home against Bayern and then away to Sevilla midweek. Let’s say worst case they crap the bed against those two teams, or even after that against Borussia Monchengladbach away, a relegation zone squad. Something has to give. They’ve lost against the good, mediocre, and bad teams in all sorts of ways.
Last thing. As far as the “bad luck” card that people are trying to play, whether it’s players or coaches or whoever, gimme a break. GOOD TEAMS MAKE THEIR OWN LUCK. Simple as that.
Drought much?
By: Pete | 2 Comments
Yeah, it’s officially been over a month since Stuttgart won any type of match in any competition. I guess I feel less bad about not blogging about this past Saturday’s match due to wedding obligations…or any sort of leadup to today’s Pokal match.
Stuttgart travel to play SpVgg Greuther Fürth in a sweet sixteen matchup against a long-term fixture of the 2nd Bundesliga. They are not to be underestimated, but Stuttgart did dispatch of them in the preseason.
Feel free to post here if you’re watching the match, before, during, or after.
Seriously, a win would be nice. It’s been way too damn long.
Category: DFB CupTough loss, encouraging signs
By: Pete | 3 Comments
Well, that kinda sucked. Can’t help but feel a bit empty after coming out with such a spirited effort and coming away with nothing. Make no mistake about it, Stuttgart were the better team on the pitch last night. They completely dominated possession and dictated the pace of the game, especially throughout the first half. They were unlucky to not have been at least level at halftime.
That being said, last night was yet another example of two of Stuttgart’s most glaring deficiencies all year: defensive lapses and lack of finishing. Credit Sevilla for taking advantage of what few chances they had. Boulahrouz was straight up beaten on that first goal, plain and simple, and there’s no good excuse for it. The second goal, the real back breaker, was a horrible combination of goalie blunder and shoddy clearance. I felt up until this point there was a real chance of not only leveling but still being able to snatch all 3 points given the way Stuttgart were playing. And perhaps a bit of the wind was taken out of their sails at that point, and things got a little sloppy. The set piece third goal is evidence of this and put the final nail in the coffin, if there was any doubt.
So many great chances were set up throughout the match it’s hard to figure out where to begin, but the moral of the story is they weren’t taken full advantage of. I can’t even remember when it was, but Schieber had a golden opportunity after Cacau (?) sent him through. One touch too many later, and a left footed shot into a defender rather than a right footed shot on net, another opportunity was squandered. That being said, keep playing the kid, he looks promising. This is the kind of game Gomez would’ve had 2 goals and we probably would’ve come out with all 3 points. Speculation of course, but one can dream can’t he?
At any rate, there are a ton of positives to come out with from this game. If they play like that this weekend there’s no doubt they’ll come back with 3 points away vs Hannover. And it was touched upon in the comments section of the rant box, but Unirea’s sound beating of Rangers makes the group a bit more interesting. I’d like to think Rangers play a bit better next time (EDIT), away, and hopefully beat Unirea giving both teams 4 points. A draw at Sevilla gives us 3; worst case we still are stuck on 2 going into the final two games vs Rangers away and Unirea at home. Those last two matches become must win. Let’s say we win them (seriously.) 12 pts for Sevilla, 8 for us. At this point in time Sevilla will be through and, as most teams do when there’s nothing on the line, will draw back a little. It’ll come down to if Unirea or more likely Rangers can poach points off of Sevilla. So yes, it’s speculation, but for the most part our destiny is still in our own hands. You know, assuming we beat both Rangers and Unirea, which as has been shown isn’t a guarantee.
Last little note on the match. Élson’s goal was naaaasty. If this was a Lampard or Ronaldo or someone else beating the wall and putting it in the top left corner of the net from 30 yards out, it’d be a Sportscenter top 10 nominee and whatever other highlight reels for the week. Enjoy the clip of it below.
That’s it. I’d love to hear comments/feedback or whatever else anybody has to say on the match.
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