VfB Stuttgart Thread- Winter Pause und Ruckrunde 08-09[R]

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, start of the Rueckrunde today.

Home game against Gladbach, who are bottom of the league. Sounds easy, but it won't be. The players are probably shaken after the Bayern thrashing and they'll really need a boost today - we must win this. But Gladbach have bought 4 new players over winter and our gonna do their all to avoid relegation.

I think we'll win, but it prolly won't be easy.

Here would be my lineup:
------------------Lehmann
Osorio----Boulahrouz--Tasci-------Traesch
----------Khedira--------Hitzlsperger-------
Lanig---------------------------------Simak
-------------Gomez-----Marica

Quite a lot of changes from the Bayern game.

In defence:
Boka just has to go out of the first 11 after that horror performance. Magnin is still injured and Traesch played at leftback a lot over xmas, so I would start him there. After we let in 5 goals I think i'd put in Boulahrouz for Delpierre. Delpierre maybe wasn't fit enough after his cold in the Bayern game and he looked pretty bad, Tasci was the 'better' - i use that word lightly - of the two. Boulahrouz played the most games over winter and after his surprising non-start against Bayern I think it'd be unfair to leave him out again after the defence let in 5 goals.

Then in midfield, one change. Hitz and Khedira were very bad against Bayern but both are key so they start. Simak was probably our best midfielder in that game - or least bad midfielder, so he starts as well. Hilbert however put was really, really terrible that game, and I felt Lanig did alright after coming in - even assists Gomez's goal. So i'd bring Lanig in for Hilbert.

And in attack the Basturk experiment failed miserably. He'll be back on the bench tonight. Marica should be back in the starting 11 alongside Gomez.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

One difference from the lineup I predicted:

Turns out Magnin is fit in time after all and he starts at leftback.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Ok, well the first half was pretty terrible.

They don't play well at all. Two half chances for Gomez but that's it.

Second half will have to be much better - we need to win this game, anything else is simply not good enough.

I'm waiting for the team to show a reaction!

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Elson in for Hitzlsperger.

We need to do something, about 25 minutes left, the team continues to play very badly. One big chance for Gomez, his header is cleared on the line. Other than that we seem to have done nothing.

COME ON!

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

And right after I write that.... GOOOOOOALL!!

Marica!

Very important goal! Now hopefully the boys can hold out, maybe play with a little more space now.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

86th minute Super Mario with the decider!!!

2-0.

3 points for us :)

Not a great performance, but we got the result we needed and we'll be moving up a few spots in the table with this.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

It's over! We win :)

Wasn't easy, even after the 1-0 Gladbach were pushing for a while, but we did what we had to do and i'm pleased with the 3 points.

[schwabenland]

A bad teamperformance ends witha good result. But the speed and combination play has to get a lot better! I think players like magnin, boka, lanig, simak and maybe elson is players that can't develop any more and i think they are not so good players. In with träsch, funk, rudy, gebhardt, didavi, niedermaier and schieber.:D

[Borussia]

Congrats on the win.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

A bad teamperformance ends witha good result. But the speed and combination play has to get a lot better! I think players like magnin, boka, lanig, simak and maybe elson is players that can't develop any more and i think they are not so good players. In with träsch, funk, rudy, gebhardt, didavi, niedermaier and schieber.:D

Hmm, I agree with some.

Magnin I don't see getting better, he's probably past his peak,Simak also. Elson we haven't really seen enough of, today he was quite after coming in I though. Boka in theory can still develop, he's got plenty of years ahead of him and a new contract with us, so let's hope he can get better! And Lanig has improved since he first joined us I think, and he's quite young so he can definitely continue to develop imo.

As for the ones you mentioned: Traesch, Rudy and Gebhart(who is injured right now by the way) all have a future with the club in my eyes, Niedermayer we'll see how he does the next year and a half. Funk seemed alright in the winter games, maybe we'll get a chance to see him this season. And Didavi i've never seen play, I know he does quite well for VfB II but I doubt he'd be ready for the senior team yet.

[+Gooner+]

So far Elson always made a difference and sped up the game everytime he got the rare chance to play. Easily one of the best two players in midfield and the only one who shows a glint of football culture, wit and cheekiness when playing. He was not quite at all when he came on. He had two really nice effords on goal, some good dribbling and pretty much all of his crosses were good. You guys probably didn't notice him because everything he did was smooth compared to the bad passes most of the guys made throughout the game. ;) Plus, when he gets interviews all he does talk about is that he is always working hard in training and hoping to get another chance to play. Not like the constant hollow babbling of Hitz, Hilbert and yesterday even Magnin. Always the same excuses, talking too well about themselves but never delivering on the pitch. I can understand only too well why Lehmann was so pissed of about the team.

Wish list:

Bench Hitz, Hilbert (with the option of coming on late since he at least tries unlike Hitz with his lameness and alibi-Zweikampf), Boka and/or Magnin.
Oh, and give Gomez or someone remotedly less timid the armband, for heavens sake!

[Rainer24]

I am more and more of a Lanig fan. He did well in the league game against Bayern, and has shown good aerial ability, which we saw against in the Disaster when he headed down for Gomez to score. I'd like to see more of him.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

He was not quite at all when he came on.

We've both made a mistake here:

My original post was meant to say 'Elson was quite good' but since I was typing in a hurry I obviously left 'good' outt by accident.

You meanwhile took 'quite' to mean 'quiet'.

So, just to clarify, I missed a word in that sentence. I agree with you in that I also thought Elson did well today. :)

[+Gooner+]

We've both made a mistake here:

My original post was meant to say 'Elson was quite good' but since I was typing in a hurry I obviously left 'good' outt by accident.

You meanwhile took 'quite' to mean 'quiet'.

So, just to clarify, I missed a word in that sentence. I agree with you in that I also thought Elson did well today. :)

LOL That's surreal. And I even wrote 'quite' instead of 'quiet'. :rolleyes: I was a already wondering if we had seen the same game since you are usually so well informed. ;)

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, Bremen showed today exactly why EVERY win in the Bundesliga is a good one :)

Up 3 places this week, the first football week of 2009 has ended much better than it began!

[Rainer24]

Well, Bremen showed today exactly why EVERY win in the Bundesliga is a good one :)

Up 3 places this week, the first football week of 2009 has ended much better than it began!


Haha. I was just checking in to post something to the same effect. Really surprised to see them drop that match, but you really never know. Excellent for us. It feels like it has been such a terrible week, but we have actually somehow moved much closer to a Uefa Cup spot.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Jens Lehmann: Kicker Rating: 3 (18 games played, 3.03 avg. rating)
My Rating: 3

Ricardo Osorio: KR: 4 (12 games played, 3.54 avg.)
MR: 4

Serdar Tasci: KR: 4 (17 games played, 3.35 avg.)
MR: 3

Matthieu Delpierre: KR: 4.5 (14 games played, 3.54 avg.)
MR: 3

Ludovic Magnin: KR: 4.5 (9 games played, 8 as starter, 4.44 avg.)
MR: 4

Sami Khedira: KR: 3 - Man of the Match (15 games played, 12 as starter, 3.12 avg.)
MR: 3

Thomas Hitzlsperger: KR: 4.5 (17 games played, 3.65 avg)
MR: 5

Martin Lanig: KR: 4.5 (13 games played, 8 as starter, 3.75 avg.)
MR: 4.5

Jan Simak: KR: 5 (10 games played, 8 as starter, 4.00 avg.)
MR: 4.5

Ciprian Marica: KR: 3.5 (14 games played, 8 as starter, 4.11 avg.)
MR: 2.5

Mario Gomez: KR: 3.5 (17 games played, 16 as starter, 3.53 avg.)
MR: 2.5 - Man of the Match

SUBS:

Elson KR: No Rating (8 games played, 3 as starter, 3.90 avg.)
MR: 2.5

Roberto Hilbert: KR: NR (15 games played 12 as starter, 3.82 avg.)
MR: NR

Julian Schieber: KR: NR (3 games played, 0 as starter, 0 avg.)
MR: NR

[Rainer24]

What exactly is wrong with Hitzlsperger? He had a pretty indifferent start to the season, and that is putting it very kindly, but he seemed to turn a corner before the break, but he is right back to crap again. What's the deal?

[+Gooner+]

Lets be honest. He was never that much above average back then in England and he had about half a year of really strong performances in 2007. And now he is back to his usual standard. Or rather his standard of motivation, bite and mental strength which seems to be extremely low by default. :( Plus, he damn sure is no captain.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

What exactly is wrong with Hitzlsperger? He had a pretty indifferent start to the season, and that is putting it very kindly, but he seemed to turn a corner before the break, but he is right back to crap again. What's the deal?

The way I saw it:

- He was one of our best players at the start of the season.

- Then as the team's performances got progressively worse over time, so too did his own. By the end of Veh's time he was playing very badly.

- With Babbel's arrival he got better again and ended the year on a high.

- So far in 2009 he hasn't been good.


So it's been a rollercoaster season in terms of Hitz's performances so far. BUT - it's now only been two damn games since the break! I don't think it's fair to judge him negatively on that.

I still see him as someone who deserves to be a consistent starter on the side. Yes I agree he doesn't make an ideal-captain personality, but who in the side does? Mario is the only one I can think of, and what would be the point in that if he were to leave in 6 months anyway?