Pre-Season Fun In The Sun

By: Anna | August 2nd, 2008

So, I suppose you already noticed that I’m back from my two day trip to Stuttgart for the season opening, the renaming ceremony of the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion to the Mercedes-Benz-Arena, and the test match against Arsenal London.

The season opening itself was mostly, well, family entertainment: Some football games for the kids, a football table and a stage on which the audience could see a Puma fashion show, two bands, our annoying mascot letting itself be celebrated, cheerleaders that were borrowed from a local American Football team, and an interview with Horst Heldt, which was about the only interesting thing about the afternoon.

As opposed to the previous years, the team presentation wouldn’t happen until later, in the stadium, and the more or less traditional autograph session had been completely cancelled (this is the point where I have to admit that I really was hoping to get a few signatures on my VfB jersey, right?).

Once we got into the stadium/arena, we saw the signs with the new name, which were supposed to be un-covered during the ceremony, half-visible already. The three men responsible for the re-naming (Stuttgart mayor Dr. W. Schuster, VfB President Erwin Staudt and Dr. Klaus Maier, whose job description I had to copy/paste from a website: Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing Mercedes-Benz Cars) each held a short speech.
Then eight hundred children ran into the stadium with plates in their hand. Apparently the plan was that they first should show the city’s crest, the VfB logo and the Mercedes star and then turn them around to show the new name: Mercedes Benz Arena.
I say “apparently” because somehow, that didn’t work out at all, and we just got to see a white space with nothing written on it. In the newspaper the next day it was blamed on the heat.

After some “entertainment” – a band from a local radio station and those cheerleaders again – the team and coaching staff was presented to the fans.

A special moment was when Danijel Ljuboja wasn’t announced like the other players, but got handed the microphone instead, and apologised for what he had done two years ago. A few boos were heard, but soon became inaudible within the applause. Later, when he played in the second half of the match, some fans even started chanting his name.

Finally, after more than two hours of sitting around in our newly-named arena (I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to hang on with that), the match started.
And it was a quite good match, especially the first half.

The thing I remember mostly is how well the back four worked together. I was expecting things to fall apart more or less after the departure of Meira and as Delpierre and Tasci were once again playing fullbacks, I had already prepared to watch the usual disaster. But, no:
Instead of disappearing, like they so often did when together, they worked out just fine. Delpierre especially seems to grow on the added responsibility instead of being put under pressure.

Next surprise was Boulahrouz as a rightback – I always figured he’d be the man next to Delpierre and only jump in at the right position if necessary, but he played there amazingly well. And even Arthur Boka was having a couple of really bright moments.

So, even though there were quite a few more scenes in Stuttgart’s penalty area than I usually like to see in a match, it was a relieving sight, because they were able to clear almost every dangerous situation. And if Arsenal nevertheless got a chance to shoot at the goal, Lehmann was there.

Yes, our new goalkeeper did some quite nice saves during the first half. It was reassuring to see that he’s still in top shape and if he continues to play the way he did, we might end up conceding a lot less goals than last season.

So, while the defense and the midfield worked out quite nicely during the first half, we didn’t get to finish. There were a handful of well-executed free kicks and even some chances from play, but the final bit seemed to miss. Mario ended up in Arsenal’s offside trap over and over again and came a tad too late on other occasions.

It’s not something I like to see, mostly because of that idea that he might just have scored from that position before the Euro. Or maybe Arsenal were defending rather well, I don’t know; Even though the Arsenal fan next to me said “oh, look, our defense is just as crappy as yours!” (Hi David, if you’re reading this! *waves*)

The major difference between first and second half can be assigned to two changes: Khedira came for Pardo and Simak left the pitch and was replaced by Bastürk. After that, the playing was a lot more forward, more offensive, but also a bit riskier. At first it seemed to pay off, as Bastürk scored a couple of minutes into the second half, but soon they were back at the old habit of losing the ball too quickly.

It’s something that happened before with Bastürk, which is why I prefer seeing Simak on the pitch. Even though one has to admit that Yildiray is always one to surprise both audience and the opponent with a quick trick and has some great ideas in offensive play – there must be a way to benefit from that without the ball ending up with the opponent over and over again.

There were more goal chances, though, and they got the ball to the height of the penalty area quite often, but then it seemed the team lacked the idea of what to do with it then. And even if there had been a possibility to cross to someone near the goal – somehow our strikers failed to show up in the penalty box, especially after Gomez left in minute 63.

The speed of the match had increased; a lot of the players seemed eager to prove themselves, like Hilbert, who was pacing up and down like I seldomly saw it before, but the actions were a little too hectical. I suppose he really wants to succeed in the league and is hoping to get back to the national team, after being left out for the Euro.

Same goes for Ljuboja, who of course had been hoping for that chance quite a long time, or Matthias Morys, a young striker who was hoping to leave a good impression for the first team. All in all it was a combination of a few players trying too hard and a lack of fine-tuning and adjustment along the players, who of course don’t yet know each other well enough.

So, that’s what was responsible for Stuttart then conceding three goals in the second half, along with some problems in the defense – the stable back four from the first half had been completely replaced, except for Boulahrouz, and with one player who is actually a midfielder and one who played his first match with that team ever, one can’t expect too much of a defense.

All in all, it was a good match, though, and Stuttgart played very decently against such a big club. Now if our strikers get their shit together (it’s really amazing how little I’m worried about our defense and how good it feels to have an existing midfield), the next season can come ahead.

To finish the evening, we saw (or rather, didn’t see as we were on the wrong side of the arena) a firework. Despite some lapses in organisation (the opening), planning (the re-naming) and ability to score (the match), it was a good day, and I don’t even want to hear speculations about how much money I might have spent in the fan shop.

Stuttgart will play FC St. Pauli at the Millerntor later today in a match that I, of course, won’t be able to see. It’s almost beginning to turn into a tradition, isn’t it? The team is in good shape, even though I don’t quite know what’s going with Cacau, who seems to have muscular problems and wasn’t even on the bench for the Arsenal match.