A look at the team

By: Anna | August 13th, 2008

After two matches in the UI-Cup and one in the DFB-Cup, things are now getting even more serious for Stuttgart, with the UEFA-Cup qualification and the first league matches right ahead.

So I figured it’s time to have a look at the team and the possible starting line-up, though, as Armin Veh says, the only player with starting place guarantee is Jens Lehmann.

Goalkeepers: The question for the second goalkeeper is not that easily answered: 20 year old Sven Ulreich had the chance to prove himself in a couple of league matches last season, but Alexander Stolz currently seems to be ahead of him thanks to good training performances, as he was given the opportunity to play in both UI-Cup matches. The question who’s next is insignificant, though, as hopefully Lehmann is going to play for the whole season, and the goalkeeper discussion should be put to rest until next year.

Defence: Here Matthieu Delpierre seems to be set as a fullback. The other place in the central defence should go to either Khalid Boulahrouz or Serdar Tasci. Both of them are also able to play as a right back, but prefer the other position. I have to admit I’ve always been sceptical about Tasci and Delpierre playing together, but at least the Arsenal test match proved me wrong there. In the same match, Boulah also showed that he definitely is an alternative for the right defence, which he also played during the Euro, if I remember that correctly, though he actually sees himself as a fullback.
On the right side, he’d have to compete with Ricardo Osorio, who is the only ‘actual’ right back Stuttgart have at the moment (let’s hope Hilbert won’t have to jump in at that position again, he’s much better off at a more offensive position).
On the left side, we have a competition between Ludovic Magnin and Arthur Boka, which is more or less at eye level, as both players switch between great and abysmal performances (replace ‘Hilbert’ with Hitzlsperger and that’s exactly what I have to say about him as a leftback. It’s not something I want to see ever again, and I hope Jogi Löw has understood this, as well).

And then there are Marco Pischorn, currently injured, and Robin Schuster, actually listed for the second team but with a few performances for the A-squad, both young fullbacks who should be introduced to the first term on a mid-to-long-term basis.

Midfield: The ideal midfield line-up would probably include Pardo as the defensive midfielder, Hilbert on right, our new captain Hitzlsperger on the left wing and either Jan Simak or Yildiray Bastürk as the ten. Sami Khedira is a player for every midfield position and I hope he’ll get a few opportunities to prove his versatility this season.

As Bastürk was injured and Simak had a ban to serve, Martin Lanig already got a chance to prove that “the best player of the second league last season”, as the stadium announcer of Stuttgart called him, has the ability to replace either of them in the offensive midfield. The major competition will be Bastürk vs. Simak, though. Bastürk, who came last season and left Antonio da Silva no chance, might now find himself replaced by a new arrival. Both are good players, though Bastürk didn’t live up to his claim of being named next to the three great technical geniuses of the Bundesliga’s last season, Ribery, Diego and van der Vaart.

Still, he’s a player who is always good for some creative ideas in the attack, with his biggest flaw being that he loses the ball to often. Simak, on the other hand, may not be quite as creative, but guarantees for a more solid performance. Plus, he’s a guarantee for free kicks, something Stuttgart have sorely lacked the past years, despite Hitzlsperger’s ability with long-range shots.

Two talents to watch out for: Christian Träsch, who came from the TSV 1860 last year, is yet another “all-rounder” who can play defensive midfield as well as both wing positions, while Sebastian Rudy, yet another player from the own youth who just signed his first contract as a professional a few weeks ago (until 2010), is an option for the offensive midfield, or, who would’ve guessed, both wing positions (we do appreciate versatility, we really do).

And then there’s Georges Mandjeck, who I know hardly anything about, except that he’s currently playing for Cameroon at the Olympic games. He hasn’t played a single match last season and now returned to Stuttgart from a half-season loan deal at Kaiserslautern. I’m not sure how much of a chance he’s going to get in the first team, to be honest.

And just for fun, two more names one might want to remember: Patrick Funk, who joined the first team in the last training camp, and Clemens Walch, who came from Red Bull Salzburg this summer. Both might eventually get a chance to prove themselves for the first team, and if it’s just in test matches.

Attack: I don’t have to tell you who Mario Gomez is, right? Now that he’s on his way back to good shape, it’s going to be difficult for any other striker to compete with him for a place in the starting line up, which leaves one vacant spot. Cacau, in case he’s not injured, is a forward who catches attention especially when it comes to teamwork. Ciprian Marica seems to have remembered how to score goals, so he’s surely going to get a few chances as well.

Manuel Fischer, who has already been called the next Mario Gomez, is eager to follow the example of previous striker talents of the VfB and has already shown his goalscoring talents in the last match of last season, where he with one goal and one penalty helped saving the chance for an international competition.

Despite his apology and being welcomed back as ‘the lost son’, I doubt Danijel Ljuboja will get much of a chance and probably won’t be more than a substitute player. Matthias Morys is another young striker from Stuttgart’s own youth who sooner or later might get his chance.

So far, every position has at least two players able to play it, with the possible exception of the right back, where one of the fullbacks would have to jump in, and the defensive midfield, where a player to jump in for Pardo wouldn’t just have to replace his skills, but also his leading abilities.
It’s good to know we have a more solid squad than last season, but I hope this doesn’t mean that the young players won’t get a chance. Last season saw Andreas Beck and Christian Gentner leaving because they saw better opportunities in other places, and I hope we’ll be able to keep the other youngsters a little longer (especially Manuel Fischer doesn’t seem like he’ll be happy with spending the season on the bench).

To be more attractive to younger players, the youth department of the VfB has at least loosened the rules: Until last season, in the youth teams tattoos, long hair or jewellery weren’t accepted, but the club direction had to keep up with the times and is going to allow a more fashion-focused outfit in the future. Well, it’s not like the players cared about any of these rules as soon as they had their professional contracts, as one can see on the hair of Gomez or Khedira, or on Fischer and Morys, who have lately found a fancy in Cristiano Ronaldo like earrings. Well, as long as they keep playing football…

And to prove that the VfB Stuttgart isn’t only a club to care about its young players, but also their families, this little story: Rani Khedira, younger brother of Sami, has played for the U14 last season and is now probably going to play for the U15 this year, where his trainer should be the older brother of Christian Gentner, Michael. Football indeed seems to run in the family, in Stuttgart at least.