VfB Stuttgart - Pushing for Europe, 08/09 Season Thread Part III (R)

[Rainer24]

Glad we could help you guys out again! I hope we do again when we go to Wolfsburg!


Thanks for the assist! Heard that you guys played quite well today. Keep up against FC Käfer there.

[lemons]

Game over.

And check these standings out:

1. Wolfsburg 57 (play tomorrow...)
2. Hertha 55
3. Bayern 54
4. VfB 54
5. HSV 54

We've tied ScheissBayern and Hamburg!! One point behind second place! And if Wolfsburg drop points tomorrow then suddenly it's all very, very close. Let's not get carried away, they probably won't lose points tomorrow, but reality is that resultswise this has been an awesome, awesome Saturday.

It'll be hard not to start dreaming if the boys keep this up.

The last time Stuttgart was in a close title race, things turned out pretty nice. ;)

[Equilibrium]

The Bundesliga is incredible this season, it truly is! You guys have turned into a completely different team this season after getting a new coach.

[stonesean]

I hate to turn this into an "us" vs. "them" type comparison....

The #7 team in the Bundesliga is 8 points out of first place...

The #7 team in the Premiere League is THIRTY points out of first place....

Why does anyone watch English matches after March? The season is over by then!

[footyfan1]

I hate to turn this into an "us" vs. "them" type comparison....

The #7 team in the Bundesliga is 8 points out of first place...

The #7 team in the Premiere League is THIRTY points out of first place....

Why does anyone watch English matches after March? The season is over by then!


Because the race at the very top is pretty much the same. Just in England, it's between three teams and in Germany five.

That's some seriously selective comparing you're doing there.

And you know this is an unusual season in the Bundesliga.

How many times has Bayern pretty much had the league wrapped up by now??

If I want to enjoy a methodical, tactical game, I watch the Bundesliga.

If I want to enjoy some serious action and actually be entertained, I watch the Premiership.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Player Ratings:

Jens Lehmann: Kicker Rating: 3 (29 games played, 3.07 avg. rating)
My Rating: 3

Christian Traesch: KR: 3.5 (14 games played, 12 as starter, 3.50 avg. rating)
MR: 3.5

Serdar Tasci: KR: 4 (27 games played, 3.24 avg. rating)
MR: 4

Matthieu Delpierre: KR: 2.5 (19 games played, 3.45 avg. rating)
MR: 2.5

Ludovic Magnin: KR: 2 - Man of the Match (18 games played, 16 as starter, 4.03 avg. rating)

Sami Khedira: KR: 4 (23 games played, 19 as starter, 3.14 avg. rating)
MR: 3.5

Martin Lanig: KR: 3.5 (22 games played, 15 as starter, 3.56 avg. rating)
MR: 3.5

Roberto Hilbert: KR: 4 (26 games played, 21 as starter, 3.76 avg. rating)
MR: 4

Timo Gebhart: KR: 3.5 (7 games played, 6 as starter, 3.93 avg. rating)
MR: 4.5

Mario Gomez: KR: 3 (28 games played, 27 as starter, 3.23 avg. rating)
MR: 2.5

Cacau: KR: 2.5 (20 games played, 16 as starter, 3.53 avg. rating)
MR: 2 - Man of the Match

SUBS:

Khalid Boulahrouz: KR: 3.5 (16 games played, 12 as starter, 3.79 avg. rating)
MR: 3

Elson: KR: No Rating (14 games played, 6 as starter, 3.88 avg. rating)
MR: No Rating

Julian Schieber: KR: NR (10 games played, 0 as starter, 4.00 avg. rating)
MR: NR

[footyfan1]

Moved this over from the Wolfsburg thread:


I have heard of no plans to sell Gomez in the summer...


That's because there aren't any. But you can expect Bayern to come hard for him this summer.

Bayern may have fired Klinsmann, but they know their problems were deeper than him.

Klinsmann was just the fall guy for what was an overall failure by Hoeness and Rummenigge to provide Klinsmann with what he needed to achieve the desired result.

They blamed it on Klinsmann, but that shit was on them and I'll bet they know it.

Trust me, they are going to come hard after Gomez. Especially if Kahn gets Hoeness' job.

Hope you guys are ready for the assault.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

This is how speculation starts.


So i'm just gonna go back to my Barcelona-Chelsea stream and avoid making any comment at all.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

See, Keith it took me about 20 seconds on the internets to find a clip of Gomez categorically ruling out any possible move to Bayern in the future:

YouTube - Mario Gomez

:p

[Equilibrium]

Yawn, that means absolutely nothing. If not us, he will more than likely move elsewhere if someone is willing to pay your ridiculous sum that you ask for him, the only reason he didn't move last season. And he was wh#ring himself last summer saying he wouldn't move to Bayern, only 2 weeks later saying anything is possible, and another week later it could be a possibility. If we go for him and try to pay the ridiculous amount, we have a good chance to get him.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Of course it means nothing... the clip was a joke.

[footyfan1]

Of course it means nothing... the clip was a joke.


Shit, I'm going to have to watch it tonight from home.

It must be pretty good to have gotten EQ all up in a tizzy like that! LOL!! :D

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Nah it's not that funny at all. And certainly I can't see any way in which someone could watch it and consider it to be serious.

So I have to conclude that he started commenting without having watched the clip. ;)

[footyfan1]

Nah it's not that funny at all. And certainly I can't see any way in which someone could watch it and consider it to be serious.

So I have to conclude that he started commenting without having watched the clip. ;)


I don't know. It doesn't take much of anything that isn't "sparkling" toward Bayern to set EQ into a tizzy..... :D

[Equilibrium]

I don't know. It doesn't take much of anything that isn't "sparkling" toward Bayern to set EQ into a tizzy..... :D
JERK!!! :mad: .... :p

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

So... matchday once again! After Wolfsburg, Bayern and Hamburg all bottled it last weekend, the top of the table as we all know is incredibly close. It's still possible that we don't make Europe at all with Dortmund and Schalke really showing strength at the moment. On the other hand, even Champions League is a realistic possibility, and the unspeakable is not out of question yet either...


...so basically the next 5 matches are each gonna be decisive, every 90 minutes will matter between now and the end of the season. The boys know this, and i'm sure they'll give it their all.

Today we travel to Bielefeld. They are in the middle of the relegation battle and also see the next 5 matches as each being finals. And they're at home. So a win today is going to be very, very tough. But of course it is possible. We are a much better side and have been on a real roll lately. Hence why we are near the top now. But if we lose today, I can tell you this run of good form is going to be completely deflated ahead of the monster game versus Wolfsburg next week.

We have to win.

And our chances of doing so are pretty good.


In bad news, Tasci it seems will miss this match due to a minor knee injury. That's a blow, but he'll be back hopefully by next week and Boulahrouz can start for him today.

Other than that, Hitzlsperger returns from suspension so I guess we can expect our very strong Hitz-Khedira central midfield to be reformed today. Lanig may still start, Gebhart shows talent but still has to learn some stuff, he's been the weak link of the last matches, so Lanig may take his spot on the leftwing. We'll see.

Overall, team will be:
-------------------Lehmann
Traesch-----Boulahrouz---Delpierre--------Magnin
------------Khedira-------Hitzlsperger
Hilbert-----------------------------Gebhart/Lanig
-------------Cacau---------Gomez

Let's do this!!

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well we're halfway to another 3 points.

Delpierre did a rare thing and scored a goal, then did another rare thing and made a mistake in defence, and Bielefeld equalised. Then the Hammer struck to give us the lead back.

So, 2-1. Nothing sorted yet, we're gonna need another good half and hopefully get the AUSWAERTSSIEG!

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

OK well we threw it away. We created chances, missed them, and Bielefeld scored a penalty. So, 2-2. That's not enough.

3 killer matches in the last 4 rounds. We needed a win here, and we didn't get it. Even top 5 could still be a struggle, and after this great comeback boy i'd be bitter if we didn't even finish 5th.

Whatever. We need to beat Wolfsburg next weekend. That'll be incredibly tough. But we'll see.

[Borussia]

Damn, damn ... why do you always drop points against Bielefeld? I was hoping for you to get champion (I think it's over now) and of course for a defeat of the home team ... but well, at least you didn't lose.

[Hobo]

A few pics from the game:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/ohk4/Picture050.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/ohk4/Picture053.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/ohk4/Picture059.jpg