VfB Stuttgart 07/08 Thread [R]

[Wappy]

I really hope VfB show that they are an emerging force in the European stage by qualifying from this tough group (Schalke as well - but this is not the most suitable thread)
If VfB succeeded, the whole Germany will be behind this team.
Hopefully they'll follow the footsteps of Sevilla and Werder Bremen, developing into a considerable European force step by step.

And I really like to see VfB fend off Barca, just like what they did to ManU in 2003 (VfB's best game I've seen to date)
Lyon may not have a great season start, but neither has been VfB and they remain one of most respected teams in Europe.
I don't know much about Rangers but I really think Ibrox can prove a difficult task for the VfB boys.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

All our games will be tough. I guess it would be reasonable to expect two home wins out of the three matches, then if we could perhaps win one of our three away games, and then draw 1 of the 3 remaining games, we'd have 10 points, which isn't great, but it should be enough for qualification. so the chances are there.

[Fußballgott]

Definitely a very hard draw. One thing I like is having Rangers in the group as I think their style suites us.Also looking at the schedule the homegame against us will be the one they'll think to be favorites to win which will put them under pressure in the first game. A very interesting and tough game at Iprox, but tough for evreyone.
Hope someone at VfB spends some time practicing freekicks in training. Compared to Barca:Ronaldinho, Lyon:Juninho (and Rangers:Ferguson?) freekicks put us at a clear disadvantage.

[cdmphy]

It's not as bad as it looks. Lyon is a mess right now between the board not being totally sure of the new manager Pappin and the long range injuries. Plus they have lost a ton of talent in the past two years. And Kieta is no Malouda

Barca seem to be in the same duldrums as they finished the campaign with last year. I think the players may have lost faith in Rijkaard and he's having to deal with too many first choices. Barca will still be massive, but I see Stuttgart getting by Lyon and with a little luck could nik Barca for first.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

http://forum.fc-saarbruecken.de/images/smiles/karlsruhersc.gif

[benztown]

It's not as bad as it looks. Lyon is a mess right now between the board not being totally sure of the new manager Pappin and the long range injuries. Plus they have lost a ton of talent in the past two years. And Kieta is no Malouda

Barca seem to be in the same duldrums as they finished the campaign with last year. I think the players may have lost faith in Rijkaard and he's having to deal with too many first choices. Barca will still be massive, but I see Stuttgart getting by Lyon and with a little luck could nik Barca for first.

On a lucky day, Stuttgart can beat both, Barca and Lyon. But right now, we're not really on top of our game as well. So we'll need to improve our game fast if we want to have any chance to advance into the next round. However, if we can find our form of last season, we can definitely do it (and theoretically we should even be better with the newly signed players).

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

2 hours to the derby... today the guys have got to show what they're made of. We're 14th if we lose, we could be as high as 2nd if we win, so this game is crucial regardless of the fact that we have to win just to beat ScheissKSC.

Aufgeht's Stuttgart kaempfen und siegen!

[kaiser kraut]

I think I'm going to be ill... my only comfort is that we got off to a rough start last year. I hope to God our form improves very quickly or it is going to be a very very long and difficult season.

[Proud_Pink_Cow]

I think I'm going to be sick.

[VfBOmaha]

Yeah...really few postives to take from that match. We looked absolutely lost in attack, and the chances we did have, we wasted. I feel the need to single out Ewerthon for poor finishing. He had two shots, the second being on a nearly empty net, that sailed over the top of the bar. That is unacceptable for an attacking player. Overall, a very poor performance against a team which comes nowhere near to matching our talent and potential.:mad:

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

You single out Ewerthon? I would've singled out Marica, this guy just can't put the ball in the net it seems. 4 games he's started now and no goal yet. Once Cacau is fit, Marica should get comfortable on the bench for now.

Not much that i want to say really, i've been miserable ever since the game ended and i don't see my mood improving anytime soon. We are now 15th: our season-start has now officially been a failure. Although the palyers are the same, the team looks to be no more than a ghost of last season. I'm very dissappointed in them. They did try hard today, but if you can't put the ball in the ********ing net, you can't win matches.

We're gonna need this 2 week break to sort things out: if things continue like this, we will not even manage to qualify for the uefa cup and we'll finish dead last in the Champions League group. The way the boys are playing now is not tolerable, especially knowing what they are capable of.

The defense needs Delpierre back, the strikers need to score more goals. Our 4 strikers have scored 1 goal all together in the 4 matches so far this season.

and KSC has won the derby. Terrible day. That's all.

[BlinderPassagier]

I think I'm going to be sick.

Yup, I think the feeling's pretty mutual these days! :(

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

My Ratings:

Raphael Schaefer: KSC had prettty much one big chance in the whole game, and they scored it. Also, Schaefer committed mini-bloopers by handballing otside his box and almost causing another goal by standing too far in front of his goal. Not a safe performance. My Rating: 4.5
Kicker Rating: 3(Avg. 2.75)

Ludovic Magnin: Played quite well in the first half, with some crucial tackles. Ultimately got worse in the second half, perhaps because of the minor injury he picked up and played worse, even being slightly at fault for the goal. My Rating: 4
Kicker Rating: 3(Avg. 3.67)

Fernando Meira: Was under his ability and not worthy of a captain's performance in a derby. I've been let down by Fernando so far this year. My Rating: 4.5
Kicker Rating: 3(Avg. 3.75)

Serdar Tasci: Like the rest of the defense, was completely outplayed for the 1-0. Otherwise made no huge mistakes, playing ok if not well enough. My Rating: 3.5
Kicker Rating: 3(Avg. 3.63)

Ricardo Osorio: Did too little going forward, but defensively he was undoubtedly very strong, winning 74% of his one-on-ones. That's a good statistic, better than anyone else yesterday i think. My Rating: 3.5
Kicker rating: 3.5(Avg. 3)

Pavel Pardo: Did not do enough yesterday, i wish he would've been more active in the game. Didn't control things the way he is capable of doing. My Rating: 4
Kicker Rating: 2.5(!!!)(Avg. 3)

Roberto Hilbert: The only played who i really felt gave his best yesterday. He ran huge amounts, tried to bring the team into situations and tried his best, though unsuccessfully, something that can't be said of the whole team. My Rating: 3.5
Kicker rating: 3.5(Avg. 3)

Thomas Hitzlsperger: Didn't do enough, caused many of the false passes, and didn't do asmuch for the attack as he could/should've. My Rating: 4.5
Kicker Rating: 4(Avg. 3.63)

Sami Khedira: Although not completely fit, he still tried to play well for the team. Had a few nice moments, though not enough of them. My Rating: 4
Kicker Rating: 3.5(Avg. 3)

Mario Gomez: No goal for him yesterday, and the few chances he did have he didn't take. All strikers have off-days, so it's ok, just too bad his off-day was yesterday. My rating: 4.5
Kicker rating: 4.5(Avg. 4)

Ciprian Marica: Slowly i'm losing patience with this guy never scoring. Two huge chances yesterday, but no goal. Also lost innumerous balls to KSC, and did more damage to the attack than aid. I'm unimpressed. My Rating: 5
Kicker Rating: 5(Avg. 4.13)

SUBS:
Ewerthon: Came in and played better than Marica. Helped the attack a little more i feel, but the open goal he missed in the last minute is inexcusable. My Rating: 4

Boka and Farnerud didn't play enough to get rated.

[footyfan1]

Ewerthon: Came in and played better than Marica. Helped the attack a little more i feel, but the open goal he missed in the last minute is inexcusable. My Rating: 4

Remember this posting from me?

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12179445&postcount=100

I should have added "and misses the occassional open goal.", but this is what I meant....

The one big knock Ewerthon had at BVB is that he just is not cool in front of open goals.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

He could've been the hero and saved us a point yesterday, but didn't manage to kick the ball into the empty net. Just a shame, really.

[footyfan1]

He could've been the hero and saved us a point yesterday, but didn't manage to kick the ball into the empty net. Just a shame, really.

Same old Ewerthon. I can recall him scoring for us once when it really counted. The winning goal against Bremen on the final day of the 2001-2002 season to secure our last title.

Other than that, while he will score goals, be prepared for him to miss open nets and hit posts and crossbars when you think there is no earthly way to do so.

[nanni]

last season started alot like this one i remember feeling good about the team despite its one loss at the start and this one is just the same we have a good team im sure we will do good who knows about being champions tho but :o we have what it takes to dream right?;) RIGHT!!:cool:

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

I'm following our points compared to last season (as if that shows something) and at this point we had 2 points more last season, but if we win the next game against Cottbus, which we should, then we'll be back on last season's place :D

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

a question to throw out to you guys: what do you think of the new buys so far?

I know it's early to ask this after the fourth game, but the signs at this point are not promising i have to admit.

in defense:
I still think Hildebrand was better than Schaefer, but Raphael is still probably the only new guy who is doing a solid job. He hasn't committed any huge errors and has played a couple of good games and has been solid overall.

Gledson, i know, was bought as an extra so it's hard to say much on him, but the few times he has played he hasn't done well: he played terribly in the liga-pokal against Bayern and he got sent off in the DFB-Pokal against Wehen. Not impressive.

In midfield:
Sadly, as footyfan suggested, it seems Basturk may after all be an overpriced invalid: so far he has not played a single competitve match for us as he has been injured the whole time. Not surprising, but there you go. I still have hope that we'll see him in the near future.

In attack:
Marica has palyed in all 4 BL games and has so far failed to score a goal. If we add up the matches he has had atleast 5 100% chances that he has failed to take. His playing abilities also haven't impressed me. He may be young, but he isn't living up to the hopes of a VfB-Record-Transfer so far.
Ewerthon is apparently not fit enough. He also hasn't scored. He played the whole game against Hertha and really, really sucked. He looked mch better in the minutes he got against Duisburg and Karlsruhe but he really should've gotten us a point at the death in the derby but missed the open net.
As far as attackers go, i personally can't wait for Cacau to be fit again so the Gomez-Cacau partnership can be revived, the new players haven't sold themselves well enough so far.

So my conclusion:
Only Schaefer is living up to expectations. Marica and Ewerthon must improve dramatically or they'll face a LOT of bench time, and Gledson will have to do better from now on whenever he gets a chance. As for Basturk, we simply have to hope that he eventually gets fit and will be able to be of some use to the squad, and hopefully, that we'll even see the talent that we bought him for.

[benztown]

I think you're a little harsh on Marica. I mean he hasn't had a lot of time to practice with the team and at least he's gotten us a crucial penalty against Schalke. From what I've seen so far, he looks very promising. But of course, he finally needs to find the net.

Apart from that, I can agree with everything you said.