(R) VfB Stuttgart Thread 08/09

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Hey guys, first time in a while i've got internet.

Well, first things first, i'm so relieved we got past Ramenskoje :D

It was tough, but we were there better team overall, and just when hope was starting to fade, Simak scored that absolutely brilliant freekick to keep us in the game. In extra time, MARICA of all people hit twice to put us through. He now needs one more goal to equal his grand total of last season. :D Seriously though i'm really happy for him, I certainly hope this is a sign for the better and that he will finally be able to at least come close to live up to the billing of being VfB's most expensive signing ever. The match against Arsenal, while irrelevant in my eyes, at least showed more of Marica's potential as he was imo our best player in that game as well. So who knows, maybe things are finally gonna work for him. And more importantly, he took us through, and being a Hungarian, I can tell you that our next opponent who we've just drawn 20 minutes ago, ETO Gyor, is not gonna be nearly as much of a task as this Russian side was.

player ratings:

Alexander Stolz: KR: 4
MR: 3

Ricardo Osorio: KR: 4.5
MR: 4.5

Matthieu Delpierre: KR: 3
MR: 3

Serdar Tasci: KR: 3
MR: 3

Ludovic Magnin: KR: 4.5
MR: 4

Pavel Pardo: KR: 3
MR: 3.5

Roberto Hilbert: KR: 3.5
MR: 2.5

Yildiray Basturk: KR: 5
MR: 5

Arthur Boka: KR: 4
MR: 4

Jan Simak: KR: 4
MR: 2.5

Ciprian Marica: KR: 3
MR: 2

SUBS:

Sami Khedira: KR: 4
MR: 3

Manuel Fischer: KR: 4
MR: 4

Martin Lanig: KR: 4.5
MR: 4


Overall, first of all thanks to Alexander Stolz, who was a safe keeper in both qualifying legs. The defensive pairing of Delpierre and Tasci was much better in this game, mainly cause they had less to do. Osorio was very dissappointing and I hope he improves, but this level of play is one of the reasons why I was dissappointed we let go of Beck, our other natural RB. However, he bright part was that Hilbert could return to his best position, where he did indeed put in a good performance. Arthur Boka was alright, though I don't see him as a midfielder: it'll be between him and Magnin for the leftback spot. Simak wasn't great but his freekick was what kept us in it, and that's all that matters. Basturk was, well, terrible again. I wasn't surprised, however what I was surprised about was his good performance against Arsenal - i'm hoping that game signals something of a return to form, as he was clearly our WORST player in both legs against Ramenskoje. Of the subs, I though Khedira did the best job. Fischer succeeded in making our attack more dangerous, however he himself did not play brilliantly. As for Lanig, I think Kicker rated him a little harshly.

[footyfan1]

And being a Hungarian, I can tell you that our next opponent who we've just drawn 20 minutes ago, ETO Gyor, is not gonna be nearly as much of a task as this Russian side was.



I was just going to post that you guys drew ETO Gyor and ask if you know anything about them.

First leg in Stuttgart on August 14th, Second leg at their place on August 28th.

[kaiser kraut]

There is an article on www.soccernet.com stating that Gomez is staying put in Stuttgart for this season with a couple quotes from him. Not sure how recent their news is, but I only saw the article this morning.

[Rainer24]

There is an article on www.soccernet.com (http://www.soccernet.com) stating that Gomez is staying put in Stuttgart for this season with a couple quotes from him. Not sure how recent their news is, but I only saw the article this morning.



Here is the source article from Kicker:


http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/vereine/artikel/381326

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

A bit of old news, but haven't had internet, and so here's a summary of the St. Pauli friendly we had about a week ago.

It was a positive game on the whole I would say. We went down 1-0 in the first half but then played an excellent second half. Gomez hit the equaliser, his first goal since returning from the summer break, then Marica, who is really on fire at the moment, hit twice. Finally, our young defender Schuster also got a goal and even Ljuboja scored after coming in as a substitute. St. Pauli scored a late consolation, but we still won 5-2 in the end, and a 3 goal away win for me against a competent second division side is a perfectly satisfactory result as far as friendlies go.

The side that played:
Lehmann - Hilbert, Boulahrouz(Tasci 26.), Delpierre(Schuster 46.), Magnin(Boka 46.) - Basturk(Lanig 66.), Khedira, Simak(Pardo 46.), Hitzlsperger(Morys 76.) - Marica(Ljuboja 66.), Gomez(Fischer)

Defense:
Was alright, though some downsides. Lehmann seems to have been integrated into the side quite easily, which is definitely good news. However, Hilbert again played at RB, this time for the entire 90 minutes, which i'm still not a supporter of. The worst news though was that Boulahrouz had to go off injured in the 26th minute. I don't know what was wrong and whether it was a bad injury, but I don't believe it was too serious. Delpierre seems to be practically certain to start in the center of defense come the start of the season, the question seems to be whether it'll be Boulahrouz or Tasci partnering him, there was even a Kicker article last week on this subject. Tasci has played a strong pre-season overall, but for me Boulahrouz, if he's fit, would still be the obvious choice to start alongside Matthieu. Schuster did surprisingly well in his second half appearance, so he might be someone to keep an eye out for. Also open to debate is whether it'll be Magnin or Boka starting at leftback. Both played 45 minutes in this friendly and it's hard to decide between the two.

Midfield:
Basturk provided an assist and seems to slowly be improving, though I'm not certain yet that he's convinced enough to have a starting spot. Simak I still believe has played a better pre-season overall, however he was used in a less attacking role, as more of a defensive midfielder, in this game, which in my opinion is not his ideal position. Pardo played a good second half, also getting an assist, which to me shows that he should remain the starter in defensive midfield going into the new season. At the moment however, Hitzlsperger and Hilbert, whether it is at RM or RB, are the only midfielders to have a guaranteed starting spot. Khedira was the only one in this game to play the full 90 minutes.

Attack:
Cacau has been injured for the last few weeks, which may well take him out of contention for a starting spot in attack for the first few weeks of the season. Gomez is the obvious starter, and he was very active against St. Pauli. However, he's still not on top form, he scored once but could've scored 3-4 times had he been on his top form. But this is understandable, considering Super Mario started training late and had a hectic summer with the poor Euro performances and all the transfer rumours surrounding ScheissBayern. So i'm not concerned. With regards to who should partner him, the answer seems to obviously be Marica, who's had a brilliant summer. After debuting with a hat-trick in the friendly against Augsburg, he then scored those two vital goals to take us through against Ramenskoje, was arguably our best player against Arsenal, and I think was also our best player in this game. He is by far the most improved player in the squad in comparison to last season, so far, and i'm really hoping he'll finally be able to live up to his price this season. Ljuboja hit a goal in this game, but I atleast am still not taking him too seriously. Fischer in the meanwhile hasn't had amazing form this summer so he'll remain back up for now.

Now, tomorrow we'll start our domestic season with the first round of the German cup away to Hansa Lueneburg, i'm obviously expecting us to begin the domestic year with a comfortable win in this cup game, maybe even get the chance to experiment a little more, and then on Thursday we'll have the first leg of our next Uefa qualifier, at home to Gyoer. As i said when we first drew them, they should not be a tough team to get past, so i'm really awaiting two easy wins in the next two matches before the BL starts.

And i'll be back in Stuttgart from my travels on Thursday, so i'll definitely be back in the stadion, ahem, oh sorry, the 'Arena', for this match and cannot wait! But first things first, let's get a safe win tomorrow!

[Rainer24]

Who is going to play RB if Bouhlarouz play in the center? I'd prefer him there with Tasci in the middle. That seems like it gets our best defenders on the field, all in positions that they can play well, so it's not like they would be out there simply to take up space.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, I guess the natural first choice for RB would be Osorio, but he's missed some of the friendlies due to minor injuries and fitness issues. I agree with your idea though of having Boulahrouz at RB, since I believe he's fairly competent in that position as well. Would be a good solution, but Armin Veh doesn't seem to be planning like that, since he's been opting to take Hilbert back to defense every time Osorio has been unavailable...

[Rainer24]

Well, if he can defend at all competently, Hilbert makes for a heck of an attacking threat from that position. More than most clubs would be able to offer.

[Etown United]

I'll be traveling to German this winter (Nov/Dec) and wanted to catch a VfB Stuttgart game while I'm staying in Stuttgart (Nov. 29).

I haven't had luck getting tickets through their website (ticket section only in German), any suggestions? Also, any recommendations for places to hang prior/after the game.

Thanks!

[gmonsoon43]

I'll be traveling to German this winter (Nov/Dec) and wanted to catch a VfB Stuttgart game while I'm staying in Stuttgart (Nov. 29).

I haven't had luck getting tickets through their website (ticket section only in German), any suggestions? Also, any recommendations for places to hang prior/after the game.

Thanks!

I was thinking of going to Stuttgart in the Spring, I had looked around and found some websites that you could buy tickets off of. But I think it was people reselling them so they were expensive.

[Rainer24]

You can get tickets at sports shops downtown or even at the stadium, provided you get there early enough.

[gmonsoon43]

We need to put in a good performance in the UEFA Cup tomorrow, so that we have a comfortable 2nd leg.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Hey guys, i'm back in time, but i'll have to make this short so that I can rush to the stadion as I haven't got tickets yet :)

Basically, Gyor are not a good side, i'm not nervous at all, and I expect us to win this one comfortably, hopefully comfortably enough that we'll be virtually qualified ahead of the second leg.

On the DFB Pokal game, well, obviously was a really easy win, as we could expect.

Congratulations to Martin Lanig on his first competitive goal for VfB, a nice strong header, hopefully it won't be his last :). Gomez missed three enormous chances but then made it up for them in the end with two goals. In the other goals, Hilbert scored a lucky goal from far out after a big goalkeeper flop, and Lueneburg hit an own goal as well. Also, Mad Jens made his competitive debut for VfB.

And in other news, Tasci has been nominated for the German NT :) - it's been a good summer for him in my opinion, and I expect him to start against Gyor and this weekend since Boulahrouz got that little injury against St. Pauli and may not be fit to start straight away. And even when he is fit, it could be a very competitive battle between him, Tasci and Delpierre for the two starting spots in central defense as all three are very strong defenders.

I don't know how the side will play today and don't really worry about that either, any semi-strong side should be able to beat Gyor, who incidentally are playing in Europe for the first time in 22 years. Hardly a club or major pedigree, even within Hungary, i'm hoping for a fun evening of European football and fully expect us to be a step closer towards achieving our aim of qualifying for the Uefa Cup by the end of these 90 minutes.

Admittedly though, I do already have one eye on the game away to Gladbach and the critical first game in the new season.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this side's chances this season, a Top 5 spot should be our goal, and I'm excited about the BuLi start.

[hackespitze123]

You guys really should have won more clearly tonight, wasted way too many good chances, and the goal you conceded really wasn't necessary. I still think you'll go through though, but you made it more difficult for yourselves than it should have been.

[Rainer24]

Not a very good result.

[footyfan1]

You guys really should have won more clearly tonight, wasted way too many good chances, and the goal you conceded really wasn't necessary. I still think you'll go through though, but you made it more difficult for yourselves than it should have been.


Agree totally.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, ultimately, not quite the result I had hoped for, but at least we got the win, and this Gyoer side was really so weak, despite the score, that I am not really nervous at all for the return leg. It's just a shame we couldn't wrap it up in this leg.

We had a very odd line-up in defense, Hilbert playing at rightback again and Osorio, perhaps for the first time in his two years with this club, played in central defense, since both Delpierre and Boulahrouz were out with injury. Tasci was the brightest spot, playing fairly well and of course netting a goal too. But let's hope either Boulah or Delpierre will be fit for the Gladbach game as Osorio is certainly out of position in central defense. Khedira was arguably our weak point in midfield on this occasion, either way it was him who made the error that led to the Gyor goal. Basturk and Lanig were alright, both having their moments, but i'd still prefer to see Hitz and Hilbert playing on the wings. Simak was noticeable with some good passes here and there, and his threat from standard situations is of course really useful for us. Finally, Marica scored again and continues to show form. Gomez however missed quite a lot of clear chances, he really should've scored atleast once. I'm kinda nervous about this new habit of his of losing his cool in great positions, last season this very rarely happened, and I hope it's only temporary right now as we need a Super Mario on top form if we're to do well this season.


Either way, this performance will not be good enough in the Bundesliga, and we're gonna need quite an improvement if we're to get anything from our first game away to Gladbach.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Old news, but since I just realized no one posted it in this thread, Christian Gentner's two year loan move to Wolfsburg was made permanent a week or so ago.

Personally, i was very dissappointed. He played a very good year for Wolfsburg last season and will surely continue improving this year. He would've been a great asset to have back in 12 months time, especially with the likes of Pardo getting older in defensive midfield and probably moving on next summer, Christian could've returned to VfB as a solid starter.

Too bad.

Best of luck, Christian.

[Syriaman]

Good luck to Stuttgart today!Hope you win.:)

Anything about the starting eleven?Thanks guys.:)

[Rainer24]

Great way to start the season. I didn't tune in until a couple minutes into the second half, so I missed all of our goals. Heard that Simak had a couple of assists. Nice.