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

[Hobo]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/ohk4/Picture055.jpg

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Nice pics!

So, now I guess we can start calculating. I guess we'll need at least 7-8 pointsfrom out last 4 matches to guarantee Europe next season.

And these are our games:
Wolfsburg H
Schalke A
Cottbus H
Bayern A

The only match i'm confident of winning there would be Cottbus. I guess we have to win it next week as well, that'll be a killer game and I just hope we can pull it off. And if we do win, then we just gotta hope to cause an upset on the road in Gelsenkirchen or Munich. Let's hope for te best.

Incidentally, Delpierre is suspended for the next game and Tasci (who's unpresence against Bielefeld was easily noticeable) will probably still be injured. So, coming up against the league's two top scorers, our central defence may well be Boulahrouz and Niedermayer. Niedermayer was convincing in both matches he's played this year. But against Wolfsburg's attack it's a whole other ball game, and I can't say the prospect of a Boulah-Niedermayer central defence to cover Grafite and Dzeko, is particularly reassuring.

[Syriaman]

Our title is away.Good bye Schale!:(

Hope we beat Wolfsburg!Good luck boys.

[Rainer24]

Feels more like a loss than a draw. Can't say much more than about it. We're really going to miss Delpierre. I don't know what the hell Lehmann was thinking on that play.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Attacker was closing in so I guess he just tried to get rid of the ball as soon as possible. But yeah, came at a cost.

If it's any consolation Hamburg and Hertha drew today, so we stay 4th now and only a point from 3rd. But really, at this stage we should be IN third. It's a shame.

Here's to hoping we beat Wolfsburg next week, I for one am not too confident.

[Rainer24]

Attacker was closing in so I guess he just tried to get rid of the ball as soon as possible. But yeah, came at a cost.

If it's any consolation Hamburg and Hertha drew today, so we stay 4th now and only a point from 3rd. But really, at this stage we should be IN third. It's a shame.

Here's to hoping we beat Wolfsburg next week, I for one am not too confident.

Yeah, that game lifted my spirits a bit. Not too confident heading in against Wolfsburg, but it is at home, and we created plenty of chances yesterday, so it's not hopeless.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Player Ratings:

Jens Lehmann: Kicker Rating: 2.5 (30 games played, 3.05 avg. rating)
My Rating: 4

Christian Traesch: KR: 3.5 (15 games played, 13 as starter, 3.50 avg. rating)
MR: 4

Khalid Boulahrouz: KR: 2.5 (17 games played, 13 as starter, 3.70 avg. rating)
MR: 3

Matthieu Delpierre: KR: 4 (20 games played, 3.48 avg. rating)
MR: 4

Ludovic Magnin: KR: 4.5 (19 games played, 17 as starter, 4.06 avg. rating)
MR: 4.5

Sami Khedira: KR: 3.5 (24 games played, 20 as starter, 3.16 avg. rating)
MR: 4

Thomas Hitzlsperger: KR: 2.5 (28 games played, 27 as starter, 3.33 avg. rating)
MR: 3

Roberto Hilbert: KR: 4 (27 games played, 22 as starter, 3.77 avg. rating)
MR: 4.5

Martin Lanig: KR: 4.5 (23 games played, 16 as starter, 3.62 avg. rating)
MR: 5

Cacau: KR: 4 (21 games played, 17 as starter, 3.55 avg. rating)
MR: 5

Mario Gomez: KR: 2.5 (29 games played, 28 as starter, 3.21 avg. rating)
MR: 3 - Man of the Match

SUBS:

Jan Simak: KR: 4 (18 games played, 11 as starter, 4.11 avg. rating)
MR: 4

Ciprian Marica: KR: No Rating (23 games played, 14 as starter, 4.17 avg. rating)
MR: 3

Elson: KR: NR (15 games played, 6 as starter, 3.88 avg. rating)
MR: NR

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

So Babbel's now officially got a contract for next season :)

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/artikel/508259/

It lasts for the next two years, until June 2011. Widmayer also got a new contract, for the same length.

Reiner Geyer, who I know nothing about as a coach, is going to replace Adrion next year at the head of VfB II.

[footyfan1]

Did you guys see that in the latest Kicker Magath article (http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/artikel/508249/), Schalke boss Clemens Tönnies said they talked to Horst Heldt and are still interested in bringing him to Schalke in some kind of position???


The article also says Stuttgart won't release Heldt for any possible move to Schalke........

[footyfan1]

Heldt's a good manager.

I know you like to milk Basturk and some other mistakes, but fact is he playe a big role in making Champion out of nobodies.

Also, he won't join Schalke.


Dude, what the hell are you on about??

When did I ever call Heldt a bad manager or say he wasn't a good one??

When did I ever try to make him less than what he is??

You and I might have had a disagreement about him. I seem to remember one time you tried to call him "great" and I pointed out the things you said, but saying he isn't "great" isn't saying he isn't good.

I think you're a bit too sensitive here man.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Nah, you wrote 'Schalke are trying to make Heldt manager' and then added 'I guess they are trying to make him (Magath) run away as soon as he arrived'

Now, at first I thought you meant that Magath would be unhappy about that because Heldt isn't good, which I disagree with. Thinking it over though, I guess you meant Magath would be unhappy with having another powerful guy at the club. So, my bad.

[footyfan1]

Nah, you wrote 'Schalke are trying to make Heldt manager' and then added 'I guess they are trying to make him (Magath) run away as soon as he arrived'p


I wrote no such thing. I wrote this:

Schalke boss Clemens Tönnies confirmed they are interested in Stuttgart General Manager Horst Heldt for a role at Schalke.

They may drive Magath away as quickly as they got him.......


I never said they were trying to make Heldt manager. I wrote they were interested in Heldt for a position at Schalke.

I never said which one because Tönnies didn't even know which one.



Now, at first I thought you meant that Magath would be unhappy about that because Heldt isn't good, which I disagree with. Thinking it over though, I guess you meant Magath would be unhappy with having another powerful guy at the club. So, my bad.

That is exactly what I meant. Magath is such a control freak, he wouldn't like having Heldt at the club and I'll bet he wasn't very happy with Tönnies' Heldt comments.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Aha, OK I get you now :)

I also wasn't too happy with Toennies Heldt comments...

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Where there's smoke....

...is there fire?

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/artikel/508360/

[Equilibrium]

Yeah, I read that too. That would be an awesome signing and exactly what you need imo along with a CB.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Dude getting Hleb would be an absolute dream come true.

Would be the biggest transfer I can ever think of in the history of this club. But can't get ahead of ourselves. Odds are it won't happen, but when it's known that Heldt was in Barcelona, that Babbel said he'd love to have him if he could, and that Hleb is forced to come out and say that VfB 'Hasn't contacted him' (which is obvious BS), then this for some reason really smells of something that could happen.

Hleb once was asked if there's any side outside Bayern in Germany that he'd move to, he answered that the question was wrong, that it should be 'Is there any club outside VfB' that he'd move to.


VfB forum has got like a 60 page thread on Hleb since a few months, but I haven't talked about it because it seems all too unrealistic. People don't move from Barca to Stuttgart.

but who knows, with all this speculation, there's gotta be some truth behind the story.

I still don't see him coming, but I can dream. And I know every other VfB fan does too.

I'd add that I don't think we need a centreback: we've got Tasci, Delpierre, Boulahrouz and the talented Niedermaier. No need for anyone else unless one of these players were to leave.

I'd say our weakest spots right now are left and rightback. Also, we may want a class midfielder if we could get one (The One obviously would be the perfect option). And, if Gomez goes, we'll need a GOOOOOOD striker, which wouldn't be easy to get.

We'll see.


Unfortunately, in another episode of 'where there's smoke there's fire', it seems like this Heldt-to-Schalke rumour won't die down.

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/artikel/508416/

Staudt seems confident of keeping him. We'll see.

[benztown]

I haven't been on in some time...been busy, plus somewhat disillusioned by the Bielefeld game.

Absolute killer game coming today. Looking at how Wolfsburg dealt with Hoffenheim last week, I'd say that they're the clear favourite, not only for the game today, but for the title as well.

On the other hand, we've often showed our best game under pressure, so I still hope for a victory.

[MKO|||]

Come on VFB!!! I´m holding my thumbs for you guys.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

OK, biggest match of this season thus far today.

What an absolute killer game. We need a result, and it'll be very,very,very tough to get. So much depends on this game: with 4 matches left, you can't afford to drop points anywhere if you can avoid it. If we can beat Wolfsburg, we're suddenly back to being only two points behing the leaders. Let us not forget that. A win would be amazing. Yet if we lose, we could even drop out of the top 5 this gameday. And with our very tough last 3 matches, that would be disastrous. We cannot afford it.

Really, can't say much to the side other than to concentrate, minimize errors because Wolfsburg are soo so good at taking advantage of them, and just fight their asses off for a result today.

If we play like in Bielefeld, we will lose. No question. But if we play like we have done in other matches this season, we can win it. Wolfsburg showed against Cottbus that they aren't completely immune to pressure. If we use our home advantage, give it 100%, and the players have a good day, we've got a chance. Wolfsburg are favourites, but by no means is that the be-all-end-all.

The squad:
Big problem is, talk about our bad luck: the weekend the top two goalscorers in the country come to town, BOTH of our first choice central defenders will miss the game. Delpierre is suspended, and while I hoped Tasci could make it back in time from his knee injury, it looks like it's not the case. So, alongside Boulahrouz today, we'll have Niedermaier who has played a total of two Bundesliga games for us. In all fairness, I found him really convincing in both those matches, put in real strong performances. But Wolfsburg is a whole other story, and it's tough to throw him into the first 11 on such a killer game.

Lanig has been solid in central midfield, he wasn't convincing on the leftwing last weekend though, so i'd go back to starting Gebhart. He's no perfect player yet, but he is technically strong, has a good shot and, perhaps most importantly, we won everytime he was in the first 11.

So here's the side:
----------------------Lehmann
Traesch-------Boulahrouz---Niedermaier--------Magnin
---------------Khedira------Hitzlsperger
Hilbert----------------------------------------Gebhart
---------------Gomez--------Cacau

LET'S DO THIS!!!

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

1-0 Gomez.

89 minutes to go.