VfB Stuttgart-Deutscher Meister 2007 Thread 07/08[R]

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

I gotta say it feels great to have won a game again :) - and against respectable opposition too!

Yesterday, I was satisfied with many players on the team. Schaefer had an excellent game in goal, gotta hand it to him, then in defense there was major improvement everywhere: Beck helped the side a lot, just like I said he would, and he scored the winning goal. I have been saying all along that this guy didnt deserve to be completely ignored in the last 18 months or so, at 20 he is a really big future talent and he deserves more playtime here! Im sure with his good performance yesterday he will be starter in the next 2-3 matches, though I think even when Boka/Magnin are fit he can challenge for a spot, and if not on the left, then on the right side! The center defense was secure again today for the first time in ages. Tasci had his first good game in quite a while, and big compliments to PISCHORN on a successful Bundesliga debut! He did much better than Pisot did on his debut last week and was, for a first game, very good in my opiniong. So respect to him. Finally at rightback Osorio had his first good game in quite a while, let us hope he will return to form now.

The midfield was much better too. The main reason for this was almost certainly Hitzlspergers return to the team. He brought security and some confidence back to the midfield and you could tell that it helped. Khedira had a very solid game in Pardo's position yesterday, and Basturk had probably his best game ever for us, though he still isn't at the stage I want him to be at. The only downside is that Hilbert got injured and will miss the next two weeks or so, but his replacement at halftime, Schuster, proved to also have a very impressive debut, and I gotta say he did really well. Another guy for the future for sure.

The attack still isn't quite where I want it. Gomez remains largely off form, though he "assisted" the 1-0, he really didnt have a good game. Cacau generally plyed well, but he must've score or assisted that chance in the 90th minute where he missed one-on-one with another free player to pass to.

So, the attack still isnt great, and there is no doubt that we can still improve in every single area, but still yesterday was an absolutely VITAL win and let s hope that we can now finally start looking upwards.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Our next game will be the DFB Pokal game at home to Paderborn. That should be an easy ticket into the next round, and hopefully it will allow us to continue building our confidence back up.

[schwabe13]

Our next game will be the DFB Pokal game at home to Paderborn. That should be an easy ticket into the next round, and hopefully it will allow us to continue building our confidence back up.

there are no "easy tickets" in the DFB Pokal ....

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

That may be true, but let's just say a home match(only our second in the last 5 years!) against an under-average 2. Liga side is about as good a draw as we can get.

[CanuckFan]

Does anybody have any news on an exhibition game played last week between VfB Stuttgart's U19's and a touring Vancouver Whitecaps Youth team. The game was played this past Saturday and ended in a 1-1 draw. I am most interested in the VfB Stuttgart lineup if available.

Here is the game report from the Whitecaps site:

Residency draw 1-1 with VfB Stuttgart
October 27, 2007
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency earned an impressive 1-1 draw with the U-19 Junior Bundesliga side from VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.

After playing three competitive games against U-19 Junior Bundesliga opposition during the week, Whitecaps Residency traveled west from their Bavarian base of Zwiesel on Friday to the state capital of Baden-Württemberg for Saturday morning’s friendly with Stuttgart.

It proved to be the group’s best performance of their German tour to date, with Thomas Niendorf’s youngsters looking solid and keeping a compact defensive shape in their 4-4-2 formation. Their Swabian hosts also employed a 4-4-2 line-up at Stadion des TuS Metzingen, as the contest was played with high technical and tactical quality.

Whitecaps Residency were a threat with their ball possession in the first half, and promptly took the lead on the half-hour mark. Randy Edwini-Bonsu played a well-timed through ball to striker partner Dever Orgill. The Jamaican U-17 international broke clear before finishing with a well-timed shot from inside the Stuttgart penalty box that nestled into the far corner of the net. In typical fashion, Orgill celebrated his goal with a back flip, as the Canadian visitors took a one-goal lead into halftime.

The goal prompted Stuttgart to make several changes for the start of the second half, as they looked to get back into the contest. Their efforts were rewarded with an equalizer on 55 minutes, as the referee awarded Stuttgart a penalty for what look to a be questionable hand ball decision.

Whitecaps Residency remained undeterred and battled their way to a well-deserved 1-1 result against a very good German youth side.

Niendorf’s squad will now return to Bavaria and prepare for two final matches on their German tour. They will play a combined U-19/U-23 side from 1860 Munich on Tuesday before completing their schedule with a friendly against amateur club SC Zwiesel of the Lower Bavaria Bezirksoberliga on Wednesday.

Whitecaps FC Residency - line-up v VfB Stuttgart
Simon Thomas; Antonio Rago, Adam Straith, Anthony DiNicolo, Navid Mashinchi; Kyle Porter (Devin Gunenc 70’), Ethan Gage, Gagandeep Dosanjh (Philippe Davies 70’), Alex Semenets; Randy Edwini-Bonsu, Dever Orgill (Marcus Johnstone 66’)

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Here are the kicker ratings for the Leverkusen match, I agree with all of them pretty much:

Raphael Schaefer: 2
(11 games started, 3.23 avg. rating)

Ricardo Osorio: 3.5
(9 games started, 4.00 avg. rating)

Marco Pischorn: 4, harsh imo
(1 game started, 4.00 avg. rating)

Serdar Tasci: 3.5
(11 games started, 3.95 avg. rating)

Andreas Beck: 2
(1 game started, 1 game subbed in, 2.00 avg. rating)

Sami Khedira: 3.5
(10 games started, 3.80 avg. rating)

Roberto Hilbert: 4
(11 games started, 3.68 avg. rating)

Thomas Hitzlsperger: 2, MOM
(5 games started, 3.30 avg. rating)

Yildiray Basturk: 3
(4 games started, 4.13 avg. rating)

Cacau: 3.5
(7 games started, 3.36 avg. rating)

Mario Gomez: 4.5
(8 games started, 1 game subbed in, 4.13 avg. rating)

SUBS:

Julian Schuster: 3.5
(0 games started, 1 game subbed in, 3.5 avg. rating)

Silvio Meissner: NR
(0 games started, 5 games subbed in, 3.75 avg. rating)

Peter Perchtold: NR
(0 games started, 2 games subbed in, 5.00 avg. rating)

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Does anybody have any news on an exhibition game played last week between VfB Stuttgart's U19's and a touring Vancouver Whitecaps Youth team. The game was played this past Saturday and ended in a 1-1 draw. I am most interested in the VfB Stuttgart lineup if available.


Sorry, I cannot find anything on this on the VfB site.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Interesting news on the VfB site is that the Regionalliga derby between VfB II and Stuttgarter Kickers that takes place in mid-November will be played in the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion as opposed to the tiny Robert Schlienz Stadion in which the amateurs normally play.

I think this is quite cool, hopefully if enough fans from both teams turn up (I could guess about 5000 fans from both sides will be there) then it could be quite a cool game. It's a shame i'm not in Stuttgart as I always enjoyed the city derbies and I would definitely have gone to this game :(

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, the game against Paderborn has started and............
..................Delpierre is back! :D

Awesome to have Matthieu fit and back in the starting side. We're playing like this tonight:
Schaefer
Osorio-Delpierre---Tasci---Beck
Pardo
Khedira---Hitzlsperger
Basturk
Ewerthon--Gomez


Looks a strong side on paper imo. Having thomas and Matthieu back is just great. Only real surprise beside Delpierre's return is that Ewerthon has gotten the nod ahead of Cacau.

It would be great if Basturk, Ewerthon or Gomez scored or were involved in a goal or two tonight, they really need a conficence boost.

But as I say this, it's 0-0 in the 25th minute, so let's just hope we won't have a slip-up and will progress to the next round as we expect to do.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, reporting again at halftime it seems we're cruising through.

2-0 already, both goals by The Hammer, both assists by Basturk.

Not bad :)

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, believe this, Paderborn scored two goals in 4 minutes and equalized. That's a complete embarrassment for our side, an absolute joke!

We did score a valid goal after that(entirely valid in fact), but once again, the refs make a bad call on us and don't give the 100% valid goal. No other side gets as many wrong calls against us as we do, it's ********ing incredible.

So now it's end of regular time 2-2.

We gotta push for the next 30 minutes, the Cup could end up being a savior for us this season, we must not allow ourselves to go out... but as it stands, we may go out 60% because of our stupidity, 40% because of the referees incompetence.

Let's hope this is not the case. But we must search for the winning goal - Schaefer hasn't held a single penalty in his professional career - we can't afford to gamble on PKs.

COME ON VfB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Mind you, if we do go through, this will still have been an embarrassment.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL GOMEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

118th minute!!!!!!!!!!

We're gonna head through!!!!!!!!!

Oh man i'm so relieved.

I'm gonna go get drunk now, for now i'm just really happy, i'll tear the team apart tomorrow. :D

[Borussia]

OMG, you were soooo close to a disgrace! :eek:;)

Congrats on the win.

[schwabe13]

thank God we got an easy ticket ...:cool:

[The Old Lady Hertha]

7500 attendance??!??! Gosh that makes Golfsburg look like a zuschauermagnet ;)

Heard on transfermarkt that Balakow is now in charge of Swiss side St. Gallen.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Yeah, that was our lowest attendance in any game in over 15 years I think.

Can't really blame anyone though, wasn't an attractive opposition, the tickets were more expensive than usual, it was freezing cold, everyone expected VfB to go through with no problems, and the team isn't in form. So i can't blame anyone. but if I was in Stuttgart right now, I would've definitely been there.

In the Bundesliga/Champions League though, we haven't had under 50000 in any game, so i'm pretty sure this was just a one-off.

[The Old Lady Hertha]

In the Bundesliga/Champions League though, we haven't had under 50000 in any game, so i'm pretty sure this was just a one-off.

Yea thats why it was so surprising to me, hopefully it is just a one-off.

Thanks for the explanantion.

[Borussia]

7500 attendance??!??!


That's really worth of a champion, isn't it? :p:D

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, I saw the highlights and here are the kicker ratings:

Raphael Schaefer: 3
Ricardo Osorio: 5
Serdar Tasci: 4
Matthieu Delpierre: 4
Andreas Beck: 3.5
Pavel Pardo: 4
Sami Khedira: 4
Thomas Hitzlsperger: 3
Yildiray Basturk: 2.5(MoM)
Ewerthon: 5
Mario Gomez: 4

I agree that giving Basturk the man of the match award was fair, he provided the assists to all three goals! That's pretty impressive, maybe Basturk is finally getting settled at VfB and hopefully he can emulate this performance in the Bundesliga and Champions League! I'm happy for him and hope this is a sign of things to come.

We could see how important Hitzlsperger is to the side, since returning this was also a good game by him, and his great shot provided us with two more goals.

Giving Gomez a 4 was harsh imo. He provided the winning goal and also had a goal cancelled out for offside though it arguably wasn't. He should've gotten a 3 imo. Ewerthon however seems to have been useless again. He's been terrible in every match he's played for us beside the Cottbus game. a big dissapointment so far.

The defense was back to bad ways though. Delpierre didn't have a good comeback, but after 5 months injured he can be excused, I just hope he's quick to return to his old form. Tasci was bad again, but not as bad as Osorio who is really off-form and should worry about his starting spot imo. Beck was the best for the second game in a row, though this time it wasn't saying much.