VfB Stuttgart 07/08 Thread [R]

[Fussballer76]

any highlights?

[BlinderPassagier]

It was a good 1st half, and an unlucky second IMO. There were some defensive mistakes, but in general the team played well, and were taking their chances. Wish they could've been more accurate in the shots though :rolleyes:! Wasn't really expecting even a draw out of this so I'm content. We still have a shot at the UEFA cup spot, if everything goes well.

[squidward123]

Stuttgart has nothing to be ashamed of. They fought hard and had their chances. I think they were really just unlucky tonight.

Heads up guys!

To add to this comment...in the first half i thought both teams had the same amount of clever, incisive passing and goal chances in the final third (and same number of good keeper saves), but barcelona had more possession around the halfway line, with stuttgart happy to sit back and defend everything that didn't get through as mentioned above.

2nd half, everything was more even, and only in the last 10-15 mins did barcelona begin to dominate possession.

2 very unlucky goals as both could easily have been saved by schaefer.

It was a close game overall and stuttgart really missed hitzelsperger, but overall barcelona deserved to win on play, by a little.

when the heck is hitz coming back??

[Borussia]

Pity for Stuttgart, since this defeat against the top favourite could have been avoided with more cleverness.

Now it's gonna be almost impossible to pass the group after Ranger's surprising away win in Lyon...

[Fußballgott]

To add to this comment...in the first half i thought both teams had the same amount of clever, incisive passing and goal chances in the final third (and same number of good keeper saves), but barcelona had more possession around the halfway line, with stuttgart happy to sit back and defend everything that didn't get through as mentioned above.

But that's the way we became champion. Possesion often just means lacking ideas upfront (in Stuttgart's case not Barca's). In last games I often hoped VfB would less try to imitade spanish football with slow buildup and skillfull tricks which lead nowhere.


2nd half, everything was more even, and only in the last 10-15 mins did barcelona begin to dominate possession.

2 very unlucky goals as both could easily have been saved by schaefer.

It was a close game overall and stuttgart really missed hitzelsperger, but overall barcelona deserved to win on play, by a little.

when the heck is hitz coming back??

I wouldn't call the game close as we not only lacked cleverness but also the ability to step up the game second half, another thing we lost since last session.
No idea when hitz comes back, our docs seem to avoid making bets since the Bastürk desaster. Hope he comes back soon and Hilbert is not injured as these 2 are our complete offensive midfield this session. Maybe Farnerud can improve when finally getting some games now. Atleast Delpierre is said to come back in 2 weeks, will give some much needed organisation in defense.

Edit: don't think Schäfer had much chance to save the goals thanks to deflections


Now it's gonna be almost impossible to pass the group after Ranger's surprising away win in Lyon...

What nonsense after only 4 games in the group have been played. Rangers will still face a challenger for 2nd place. Who that will be will decide the next 2 games against Lyon.

[footyfan1]

Now it's gonna be almost impossible to pass the group after Ranger's surprising away win in Lyon...

What nonsense after only 4 games in the group have been played. Rangers will still face a challenger for 2nd place. Who that will be will decide the next 2 games against Lyon.


Agree with "Fussballgott" here. This thing is far from settled.....

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well...what can i say, obviously i am dissapointed. Losing to Barca is ok and im not really pissed at the team for it, it's understandable. Keeping that in mind however, we could have gotten more out of it yesterday. We were for a great length of time Barca's equal and even their superior, especially in the end of the first half. We could have and perhaps SHOULD have scored alteast once in that period.

However we did still generally have the game under control until that big error by Schaefer handed Barca the lead. After that i didn't believe we would come back as Barca are not the sort of side to needlessly give away leads, and i was right, the 2-0 just confirmed it.

Altogether we played quite well and we have nothing to be ashamed of, it's just a shame since there was more in this game for us than what we made out of it in the end. Barca showed just why they are such a great team by taking those chances when they got them, while we went about squandering quite a few(almost as many as we did in Rostock). A shame for us, but credit for Barcelona, who will probably be qualified from this group with two games to spare.

The were a couple of players who i have to single out for their good performance and a couple for their bad performance. Pardo commanded the midfield superbly in my opinion and was often just as good as all of Barca's main stars yesterday. Cacau was also very good, playing bravely and intelligently, that post he hit was a real cracker and would have deserved a goal. Credit to him. Gomez, playing his favourite team, also moved around well, just a shame who couldn't find the net on this occasion. In terms of the not-so-good players, Farnerud was very actively but really should have scored. He also lost too many balls. For me he remains a highly talented player who still has many faults in his play, which will hopefully go away with time. If they do, he can still be a very good player, but yesterday he was not. Schaefer has to take a large piece of the blame for the loss as well. He made a brilliant save in the first half, but that counts for nothing when you spill a ball as stupidly as he did to cause the 1-0. It's too bad, without that mistake the whole match could've been different, and let's not forget it was his second terrible game in a row. He was useless against Rostock as well. Every keeper can have an off day so it is no tragedy, but i still hope Schaefer improves in the next games. Some of the more hot-headed fans on the VfB Forum are already requesting to put Langer between the posts in the coming games. I'm not one of them, but Schaefer will find himself under a bit of pressure in the next matches. Meira and Tasci played much better than recently however still looked at odds on the two Barca goals. I can only say this again: We need Delpierre back.

In terms of how i see us faring in the group:
The 3-0 win for rangers was a very bad result for us, not only because Rangers won but because of the goal difference. Right now we basically would have to win both Lyon matches and the home game to Rangers and hope Rangers don't get a win in their next 4 games. Which is possible, but still against the odds. At this point to be honest i'm already aiming for 3rd spot to continue into the uefa cup. We'll see how the two games against Lyon go, with their bad goal difference i'd be satisfied with 3 points from the two games, 4 would be good, 6 would be brilliant and give us some hope of qualifying. 2 would be alright since we have a better goal difference for 3rd spot. 0-1 points would pretty much resign us to last place.

We can still dream of qualifying, but for now we have to come down to earth and realize that our goal should be to finish in the top 3 and avoid dropping out of Europe completely.

[Fußballgott]

When having the same points in the groupstage points and goals between the teams are first tiebreaks not overall goals.

[Fußballgott]

Schaefer has to take a large piece of the blame for the loss as well. He made a brilliant save in the first half, but that counts for nothing when you spill a ball as stupidly as he did to cause the 1-0. It's too bad, without that mistake the whole match could've been different, and let's not forget it was his second terrible game in a row. He was useless against Rostock as well. Every keeper can have an off day so it is no tragedy, but i still hope Schaefer improves in the next games. Some of the more hot-headed fans on the VfB Forum are already requesting to put Langer between the posts in the coming games. I'm not one of them, but Schaefer will find himself under a bit of pressure in the next matches.


I quess Schäfer was told to expect a lot of harsh critisism so I doubt he will
be bothered at all.
Anyway the goals (safeable?):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ruPvz91RMNo&mode=related&search=

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3487a_all-goals-vfb-stuttgart-vs-fc-barce_sport

Regarding the goals we should have that's clearly 3 points against Hannover,
very important match coming up to restart our session.

[footyfan1]

Messi: Stuttgart "Our Most Difficult Game So Far" (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=afp-fbleurc1gerespstuttgartbarcelona&prov=afp&type=lgns)

This kid was also nice enough to speak on Premiere after the match. He was very respectful of VfB. Showed real class.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Here comes now the game at home to Hannover.

It's an important game for us, we don't have much to gain and a lot to lose. We have been one of the best BL sides so far at home this season and another win would keep us there, however our problems have come away from home. We must win today if we do not want to lose EVEN MORE ground on the leaders, and i believe a loss or even a draw would throw us into an official crisis, whereas if we win it'll be a small step forward but it will not ultimately have solved the problem that has dogged our season so far: the away games.

Nevertheless a win would still be very nice. i admit i have a bad feeling since i'm not all too confident in this side at the moment, but at the same time i still believe we'll get the three points. Hopefully i'm right.

How to line up?
Schaefer, despite what a minority of fans want, will most certainly still be in goal and i hope he can show his better side today. Expect Boka to get the nod over Magnin at leftback, Delpierre is STILL injured which means that our so far rocky partnership of Meira and Tasci will remain in central defense.
Khedira and Farnerud were both terrible midweek but with injuries to Hitzlsperger and Basturk(obviously) i doubt either of them will be replaced, but we'll see. Gomez and Cacau should remain the strikers.
So:
Schaefer
Osorio, Meira, Tasci, Boka
Pardo
Hilbert, Khedira
Farnerud
Cacau, Gomez

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Can't believe how ********ing stupid Meira is :mad::mad:

8 minutes into the game, 1-0 down, 1 man down, and i already think we have almost no chance of winning.

Well done ********ing idiot.

[footyfan1]

Can't believe how ********ing stupid Meira is :mad::mad:

8 minutes into the game, 1-0 down, 1 man down, and i already think we have almost no chance of winning.

Well done ********ing idiot.


If we did it, you can too.......

Hang in there man!

[THOMA GOL]

Yeah, so I'm preparing my breakfast, hoping to watch an enjoyable bit of Schwaben-ball. My wife calls me to the screen and I see the red card, then later a goal. WTF is going on? I was hoping the team could use this game to regroup and get some kind of motivation to turn things around. But nooooooooooooooo.:mad: VFB better have some nuts and guts if they want to win!:mad:

[THOMA GOL]

Well, what can I say? Down 2-0 down a man. I'm with Veh, my hands are on my face is anguish. Cherondolo.........

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

The crisis is official.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Im so relieved not to be in Stuttgart right now...

[THOMA GOL]

The crisis is official.

And as much as one can reflect on how last year VfB came back and rose to champions, this year is going to be tougher to do that with Schalke and Bayern playing the way they are right now. Stuttgart needs to have a bonafide transfer acquisition.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

We have the right players, just something, i don't really know what, is simply screwed up at the moment.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

We're gonna need the two week break soooooo bad...