[miko]

They have been playing suprisingly well, and haven't even conceded a goal yet! If we don't start playing better soon, they could begin to build a gap between us and them.

[Texan]

I think their limited depth will be exposed over the next month or so as CL play begins to take its toll.

I'm more worried long-term. If they can keep that nucleus intact and build from it they are going to be a power for some time to come.

[Syncope]

Stuttgart makes me very happy. I'm a Bayern fan, but also a German soccer fan. It has long annoyed me that Germany has only been able to field 1.5 teams can compete in Europe.

While their lack of depth will ultimately be their undoing, Stuttgart have done so many things right. Under financial distress they have built a competetive. Lahm, on loan from Bayern, is coming along nicely as a young German player; a chance he unlikely would have had in Munich. Kuranyi is looking more like the real thing--let's throw Klose out of the NT. I'm not worried about Stuttgart, I love Stuttgart.

However, Leverkusen and Schalke have had stellar seasons recently--and both have imploded after their success. And so did Dortmund, actually. The Kirch crisis might have been the best thing to have happened in German soccer, and Stuttgart is the shining example.