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

[Rainer24]

well, a few years ago, I would have never thought that I'd be so happy to have Lehmann playing for us, let alone signing an extension. Very winnable game today, but several tough ones down the stretch. Should be a fun run-in.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Bochum away today... and i'm back in Stuttgart for college holidays :)

Unfortunately, quite a few injuries:
Osorio and Marica both got injured in the NT games and will miss this match. Khedira is out as well which is a big blow and Niedermaier is also still injured. On the plus side, Delpierre is back, but I don't know if he's fit to start yet.

So, here's how i'd lineup:
------------------Lehmann
Traesch----Boulahrouz/Delpierre---Tasci------Magnin
-------------Lanig-------Hitzlsperger
Hilbert--------------------------------------Gebhart
-------------Cacau----Gomez

Traesch is the obvious replacement for Osorio, he may well have started even if Oso was fit. With Boulah/Delpierre, it's a question of Delpierre's fitness. If he's not 100%, we should keep him on the bench. Magnin did well against Hertha imo, so i'd keep him as the starting leftback.

Khedira's injury is a blow, our third best central midfielder is Lanig the way I see it, so he should start alongside Hitz today. I liked having Hilbert and Gebhart on the wings versus Hertha, so i'd keep that for today. But we'll see, Elson and Simak have both been training well apparently so the lineup might be different.

Cacau and Gomez to make up the attack.


You know, everytime I think 'Bochum away', I still think of the 33rd spieltag of the 06/07 season. What a beautiful day that was.

Today, unfortunately we won't go first in the Tabelle, but if we get 3 points i'll be pleased enough :)

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

0-0 at halftime. We started slowly but played well the last 15 minutes. Unfortunately we haven't beenn able to score, hopefully we can manage that in the second half, it would be a very helpful win if we can manage it!

Lehmann's been our best so far, two good saves already and he's also intiated a couple of counter attacks with his long throws. Defence is playing fairly well, Delpierre is starting and has been having a very solid game so far. The weak link has been Magnin at leftback, everyone else i'm satisfied with. Midfield has been alright, though a bit one-dimensional. Hitzlsperger is still the best distributor and Lanig has been decent in replacing Khedira. I'd like to see a bit more on the wings. Gebhart has won a lot of fouls but hasn't been able to give in a killer cross or pass yet. Hilbert also has been a bit unimaginative on the right side.

Bad game by Gomez so far, but you just know that he can pop up and score at any time.

CMON boys, let's bring it to them next half!

[Rainer24]

1-0 Bochum. I can't find the game anywhere, so I'm just following a match tracker. Looks like they scored a wonder goal or something.

[Rainer24]

1-1. Goal Cacau.

[Rainer24]

Goal! 89th Minute for Tasci! 2-1 Stuttgart! The day just got about a thousand times better! :D

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Crazyiest game in a while. My nerves are at the end.


We started horribly, Lehmann with a very silly mistake led to the 1-0 for Bochum. It was undeserved, but that's what these errors cause. In Lehmann's defence he played a very good game, 3-4 huge stops were made. Just one blackout.

But, the team showed a great character and response after this.We were able to equalize through Cacau, nice header from a corner, and then proceeded to have chance after chance to win the game.

First Lanig tunneled the last defender and missed the target one-on-one with the keeper. Then Cacau missed a huge chance. But we kept on building. In the 82nd minute Jan Simak, who had been subbed in gave a great pass along the face of the goal. Hilbert go to the ball a metre away from the goal, right in the centre of the goal. He managed to shoot it high, maybe the biggest miss I can remember in a VfB game in 3-4 seasons. It'll be on each blooper video.

And that is normally so moral-damaging, I didn't think we could win it. But alas, when it was almost too late, Tasci got us the winner.

That's 3 points gained on Bayern.
3 points gained on Hertha
3 points gained on Hoffenheim

Awesome!!

[Equilibrium]

Do you believe you can get a CL spot? ^

[Rainer24]

Just saw the highlights. Terrible mistake from Lehmann, but looks like he had a pretty good game aside from the one mistake.

Some more woeful finishing from some of our guys, otherwise we wouldn't have needed the dramatic finish, but overall it was a very good day for us.

We're in a European spot now, so we control our own destiny from here on out.

[Borussia]

Nice own goal from Lehmann and incredible missing from my friend Roberto (I bet he got nightmares last night)! :eek: ;) Thankfully (also from BMG point of view), you managed to take all 3 points in the end. Congrats!

[gmonsoon43]

Just saw the highlights. Terrible mistake from Lehmann, but looks like he had a pretty good game aside from the one mistake.

Some more woeful finishing from some of our guys, otherwise we wouldn't have needed the dramatic finish, but overall it was a very good day for us.

We're in a European spot now, so we control our own destiny from here on out.
The mistake from Lehman was bad, but can't complain about coming back on the road and moving up to the Europa League spot. Hopefully we can keep moving up or at least end up top 5.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Do you believe you can get a CL spot? ^

Well, the way I see it is that if we win all our 8 remaining games we can become German champion.

Realistically, i'd be happy if we finish in the top 5, it would be an incredibly achievement considering where we stood when Veh was fired on the 14th spieltag.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Player Ratings:

Jens Lehmann: Kicker Rating: 3.5 (26 games played, 3.10 avg. rating)
My Rating: 3

Christian Traesch: KR: 4 (11 games played, 9 as starter, 3.61 avg. rating)
MR: 3

Serdar Tasci: KR: 3 (24 games played, 3.27 avg. rating)
MR: 2 - Man of the Match

Matthieu Delpierre: KR: 3 (16 games played, 3.56 avg. rating)
MR: 2.5

Ludovic Magnin: KR: 4 (15 games played, 13 as starter, 4.32 avg. rating)
MR: 4

Martin Lanig: KR: 2 - Man of the Match (18 games played, 12 as starter, 3.58avg.)
MR: 3

Thomas Hitzlsperger: KR: 2.5 (25 games played, 24 as starter, 3.42 avg.)
MR: 2.5

Roberto Hilbert: KR: 5 (23 games played, 18 as starter, 3.77 avg.)
MR: 5

Timo Gebhart: KR: 3.5 (4 games played, 3 as starter, 3.75 avg.)
MR: 3.5

Mario Gomez: KR: 4 (25 games played, 24 as starter, 3.36 avg.)
MR: 5.5

Cacau: KR: 3 (18 games played, 14 as starter, 3.59 avg.)
MR: 2

SUBS:

Jan Simak: KR: No Rating (15 games played, 11 as starter, 4.12 avg.)
MR: No Rating

Julian Schieber: KR: NR (8 games played, 0 as start, no average rating)
MR: NR

Elson: KR: NR (13 games played, 6 as starter, 3.88 avg. rating)
MR: NR

[Equilibrium]

Well, the way I see it is that if we win all our 8 remaining games we can become German champion.

Realistically, i'd be happy if we finish in the top 5, it would be an incredibly achievement considering where we stood when Veh was fired on the 14th spieltag.
That's an if that I really don't see happening. I think you guys have a good chance to make top 4-5, though I don't see you guys making top 3 this season.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Making top 3 would be very hard. Right now I see Bayern, Wolfsburg and Hamburg making the CL spots.

[Equilibrium]

I see the same teams in CL next season as well. We have a very managable schedule up ahead and Wolfsburg look to strong not to be top 3. Hamburg are the most balanced team out of the ones out there atm.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Killer game today guys!

We're hosting 3rd place HSV, who will go equal on point with leaders Wolfsburg if they win today. If we win, we can move up to within a point of Hertha and 3 points of Hamburg. Hamburg are a very strong team and are still in with a shot of winning all three cups for the season. Very impressive. Midweek they again played well, beating Manchester City 3-1 at home. This is just a really really crucial game for us - if we want to think realistically about making a Champions League spot, we have to win this game. Anything other than a win and we'll firmly move our focus towards ensuring we finish in the top 5.

I'm not that optimistic, but then again I don't know. This match could go either way.

Here's our predicted lineup:
------------Lehmann
Traesch--Tasci--Delpierre----Magnin
----------Lanig--Hitzlsperger-------
Hilbert-----------------------Gebhart
----------Gomez---Marica

So, one change from last week: Cacau is suspended (unfortunate, since he'd been playing well and scoring the last two games) so Marica should be back in the starting side. In defence, Traesch has got the lead over Osorio at rightback, whereas Boulahrouz moaned about not being a starter but that doesn't change the fact that Tasci and Delpierre have simply been playing a better season than him. Then Magnin will probably be chosen over Boka again. In midfield, big blow for us is that Khedira won't be fit for this one it seems. Lanig did well last week so hopefully we won't feel like we're missing him. The wings will probably remain the same, even though Hilbert did bad last week.

Also, Babbel is officially going to be our trainer next year as well. However, he'll still have to do the Trainerschein unfortunately so he'll be spending half the week in Koeln from what I understand. It definitely doesn't help. But we'll see how things work. Elson also has prolonged his contract.

And, most importantly, i'm in Stuttgart until tomorrow, so i'll be in the A-Block for this one :) - Don't let me down guys! If anything it's a good omen, VfB has only lost 1 of the last 25 games i've attended. So let's keep this record going!

[THOMA GOL]

Gomez saved my weekend!!! That was BOSS!! Moooooovin on UP!! Seeing Shreck Jol fuming was funny to see. LOL

[Rainer24]

If anything it's a good omen, VfB has only lost 1 of the last 25 games i've attended. So let's keep this record going!


Good job, but try not to leave it so late next time!

[benztown]

Who would have thought...when Babbel took over, I was of course hoping that we could still get a top 5 spot, but the odds were fairly against it. Now this has changed and I'd say the the probability of us ending up within the top 5 are above 50%. And who knows, if we go on like that even a CL spot is a possibillity, although again, the odds are fairly against it.

Anyway, it's going to get tight. Here's the remaining games of the top 5:



Wolfsburg Bayern Hamburg Hertha Stuttgart
_________________________________________________________________________

Leverkusen Bielefeld Hannover Bremen Köln
Cottbus Schalke Dortmund Hoffenheim Frankfurt
Hoffenheim Gladbach Hertha Hamburg Bielefeld
Stuttgart Cottbus Bremen Bochum Wolfsburg
Dortmund Leverkusen Bochum Köln Schalke
Hannover Hoffenheim Köln Schalke Cottbus
Bremen Stuttgart Frankfurt Karlsruhe Bayern

*[Away games in italic]



Given the remaining schedule, I think we should be able to pass Hertha who have three killer games coming up, but it's going to be very tough to either pass Wolfsburg, Bayern or Hamburg. But since we'll play gainst Bayern and Wolfsburg, I guess we're going to be a major factor when it comes to deciding the championship. If I was a gambling man, I'd still put my money on Bayern I guess...