(R) VfB Stuttgart Thread 08/09

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

VfB supporters filled up an entire tribune for this 'away' match :p

http://www.lostboys99.de/fotos/2008-2009/hoffenheim-vfb/DSC026350.jpg

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Player Ratings:

Jens Lehmann: Kicker Rating: 3 (4 games played, 2.75 avg.)
My Rating: 2 (Man of the Match)

Khalid Boulahrouz: Kicker Rating: 4 (2 games played, 1 as sub, 3.50 avg.)
My Rating: 3.5

Matthieu Delpierre: KR: 3 (4 games played, 3.25 avg.)
MR: 2.5

Serdar Tasci: KR: 3 (4 games played, 3.25 avg.)
MR: 3.5

Sami Khedira: KR: 3 (3 games played, 2 as sub, 3.25 avg.)
MR: 3.5

Thomas Hitzlsperger: KR: 3 (4 games played, 3.25 avg.)
MR: 3

Roberto Hilbert: KR: 4.5 (3 games played, 4.33 avg.)
MR: 4.5

Arthur Boka: KR: 4 (4 games played, 4.38 avg.)
MR: 3

Martin Lanig: KR: 3 (4 games played, 2 as sub, 3.00 avg.)
MR: 3

Jan Simak: KR: 4 (3 games played, 3.67 avg.)
MR: 3

EDIT: accidentally clicked post.

Mario Gomez: KR: 4 (4 games played, 3.63 avg.)
MR: 4.5

SUBS:

Manuel Fischer: KR: NR (1 game played, 1 as sub, no rating)
MR: NR

Sebastian Rudy: KR: NR (1 game played, 1 as sub, no rating)
MR: NR

Georges Mandjeck: KR: NR (1 game played, 1 as sub, no rating)
MR: NR

Btw, I forgot to say congrats to Sebastian Rudy on making his Bundesliga debut this weekend. :)

[+Gooner+]

It's in German unfortunately and too long to translate (or rather, I don't have the time at the moment) but for us Krauts, here is an interesting article on how Lehmann works together with "the little ones", Ulreich and Stolz:

Lehmann und seine Lehrlinge (http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/stz/page/1819325_0_2147_torhueter-nachwuchs-lehmann-und-seine-lehrlinge.html)

I think all that sound very promising and positive and personally I am so glad to hear that things are going so well and that VfB is really making full use of all his experience and qualities. Everything else would have been such a shame. Plus, he seems to be really happy in Stuttgart and when I compare him in training at Arsenal and now with VfB he looks so much more relaxed and.. happy? :eek:

I'll keep my fingers crossed for him to keep up the good work throughout the season. I've watched VfB a couple of times now and even though they have some problems due to injuries and stuff at the moment I have to say I'm starting to like the club more and more. It's hard to dislike anything or anyone. They don't have arsehole-players like van Bommeln or the like. ;)

[Borussia]

VfB supporters filled up an entire tribune for this 'away' match :p

http://www.lostboys99.de/fotos/2008-2009/hoffenheim-vfb/DSC026350.jpg

The Gladbach fans, too (and also parts of the HT & GT). That's the only chance for them to have a sell-out (despite all those free-tickets from Hopp). :-)


Btw: I'm really surprised that Lanig apparently has got a "Stammplatz" (although knowing about his talent).

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Yeah, that was the VfB block, overall there must have been about 15000 fans in the stadium, more than Hoffenheim fans. No surprise really, since Hoffenheim don't have many fans to send there and Mannheim is just over an hour from Stuttgart. Must've still been fun though, it's a shame I couldn't go :(

About Lanig: I'm surprised too, didn't expect him to become a starter, but what can I say, he's done well whenever he's been given the chance. He has a good technique, good insight, doesn't make any huge mistakes, and is able to scored goals, he's great in the air. So, with the poor form Roberto's been on so far this season, Lanig totally deserves his spot so far. :)

@Gooner
Thanks for the article! It's nice to hear, though I always assumed players like Ulreich and Stolz would be able to learn a heap from Jens.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

In other news, our amateurs destroyed Carl-Zeiss Jena 6-0 away this weekend... REVENGE FOR THE DFB POKAL!!! :D

[footyfan1]

In other news, our amateurs destroyed Carl-Zeiss Jena 6-0 away this weekend... REVENGE FOR THE DFB POKAL!!! :D

Same club, hardly the same team......

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, it's obviously not REALLY any serious form of revenge, but I still find it funny. :)

[footyfan1]

Well, it's obviously not REALLY any serious form of revenge, but I still find it funny. :)

Nothing wrong with that!

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, the Uefa Cup proper begins today - after winning qualifiers against Ramenskoje, barely, of Russia and Gyor of Hungary, now we travel to Bulgaria for our first round away leg.

More Cherno Varna, our opponents, are hardly worldbeaters and we really shouldn't have any trouble getting through to the group stages. I'm hoping we can win convincingly enough today to be pretty much certain of qualification ahead of the return legs.

In team news, Pardo, Basturk and possibly Marica are all still out. However, good news is Cacau is expected to make a return to the first team today :)

I'm assuming we'll dump the 3-6-1 formation, however Veh may still play with a 3-5-2. Me, personally, I would most like to see us continue with a 4 person backline, Boulahrouz could play on the right and Magnin on the left. But we'll see.

Either way, shouldn't be too tough and I expect a win.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

What an absolutely disgusting, unacceptable first half performance. :mad:

Cacau better make his return in the next 45, and we need to get back in this game no excuses!

I'm really pissed at this performance so far. :mad:

[squidward123]

I thought I might mention something that happened to me yesterday : I wore my BVB neon top, walked out at the end of my 9 am class and walked right into a guy with a red Vfb top on. And I hadn't seen another football top let alone a Bundesliga one before in this town!

[Fußballgott]

Thank god Cacau is back! :)

Edit: regarding 3 man backline I don't think Veh has much of a choice.
His beloved 4-4-2 doesn't work as the fullbacks and especially the
side-midfielders we have don't cover enough ground and work defensivly.
This often forces our centerbacks to react to someone being free on the side
or in midfield creating a hole in the back. So 3 CBs are simply needed.
Veh should have built a more balanced squad in pre-season planing.
Now he is desperatly filling the gaps.

We also have the same problem offensivly. As Veh and Heldt refuse to buy any wingers in addition to Hilbert and all other midfielders are slow CMs making
our fullbacks midfielders is necessary.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Two Super Mario tap-ins save the day :)

Still not a good performance, but we get the result we wanted so I can live with it.

["Eisenfuß" Eilts]

This away win gives you a good opportunity to progress.

Congrats. :)

[Equilibrium]

So 2-0 win? Congrats.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

2-1 win.

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/artikel/383091/
Here Veh really criticized the side and said they have to play much better. I couldn't agree with him more. We got lucky to win the game, and it means are chances of going out in this round now are very low, but still we should've played more convincingly against this side. The first half was the worst performance by VfB that i've seen in a long time. After we scored that pretty lucky, awkward goal through Gomez and equalised things got better, but we still need to improve heavily.

My Player Ratings:

Jens Lehmann: 3.5

Khalid Boulahrouz: 3

Matthieu Delpierre: 3

Serdar Tasci: 4

Thomas Hitzlsperger: 4

Sami Khedira: 4

Ricardo Osorio: 4.5

Ludovic Magnin: 3

Martin Lanig: 3.5

Jan Simak: 4

Mario Gomez: 2.5 - man of the match.

SUBS:

Cacau: 3.5

Roberto Hilbert: 3

Danijel Ljuboja: no Rating


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Things definitely went better after Cacau came in. He didn't play particularly great, but he did compliment Gomez's play a lot and make us more dangerous going forward. I'm hoping he can start alongside Super Mario for the derby.


Speaking of the derby, our next game, coming up on Sunday, is one of the matches of the season: the derby against KSC. It's our home derby, and we need to make sure that we ********ing kick the bastards right back out of Stuttgart. Nothing here would be satisfactory other than a win. Last time around we beat them 3-1, we need to keep this trend up. :)

Other than maybe Bayern, no other Bundesliga win feels as good as one against Karlsruhe, and we have to ensure that we earn the 3 points this weekend!

I'm moving back to uni until xmas today, which sucks 'cause it means I won't be able to go to the game. I also may not have internet until after the game and, if that is the case, won't be able to comment until afterwards.

Regardless, by the time I do have internet again i'll be expecting to be able to celebrate a new Derby Sieg. :)

[THOMA GOL]

Olé olé olé, olé olé olé ola
Olé olé olé, wir sind immer für Dich da
Oooooohhh, VfB Stuttgart
Bist unser Leben
Gibst uns so viel!!!

["Eisenfuß" Eilts]

Congrats on the 3-1.

Does anyone have photos of the fan chereo
before the start of the match? It looked great. :)

[Syriaman]

Congrats on the 3-1.

Does anyone have photos of the fan chereo
before the start of the match? It looked great. :)

Thanks for congratulation!

We played not so good,but win was deserved.Win-the most important thing!We are 3rd,that is enough,now.:)