Starts: Unsere Startelf gegen 1860. #M60VfB #VfB pic.twitter.com/h2HMxarCKj— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) April 5, 2017
Played the full 90. Pretty much a non-factor for most of the game, he stood isolated in his upper-left corner waiting for a pass that seldom came. When he touched the ball, it was because he had intercepted a pass or fought the 1860 defender off for it. His mates seemed to ignore him often, it was frustrating to watch. During FKs, Stuttgart was putting five men in the area, two for the kick, and three to cover in case of a counter. Green was never in the area, but the first guy in the defensive line for the counter. I found that strange, as a winger he should have been in the box trying to score. Maybe he was used to defend because of his speed. He got fouled a bit, and was well marked. The couple of times he got a pass, he went for the back-pass instead of trying to dribble his marker. Uninvolved in the area, but it seemed to be his instructions. 1860 went ahead early, after that they defended for 70 minutes in a snoozer. Stuttgart managed the tie in injury time, long ball for a header. Green not involved.
Player grades from the Stuttgarter Nachrichten sports editors: also regarding the left back (Insua) with whom he should be working:
His coach, Hannes Wolf, is a young coach they brought in from Borussia Dortmund. While he was at BD, he coached Pulisic with the U19s, IIRC. Hopefully he can get the best out of them, but he may have hit the wall a bit in his young career: the last several games has seen Stuttgart (arguably) out-coached, tactics and personnel-wise.
Indeed, Insua is a good part of the problem with Green. He doesn't seem to want to work with him, and much rather cut inside and pass straight to the forwards. He just refuses to combine with Green, and leaves him alone when he tries to go forward --reason why he has to pass the ball back.
This is why soccer is so subjective. IMO, Green in this match was the most aggressive that I have seen in quite some time. This follows a trend from the previous match where he seems to have been instructed to be more proactive in his 1v1 duel opportunities. In any case, I counted ~9 dribble 1v1 attempts with 6 successful! That kind of successful attacking mentality is one of the things that has made Pulisic successful. It will do the same for JG if he keeps it up. With Mane out, Julian needs to be the primary 1v1 attacker on the squad. Lets hope he can prove his point!
Indeed he was aggressive, but having no one to combine, it amounted to nothing. Not a single scoring chance was generated from his side.
looks like green was 32 of 33 passing, with 16 tackles (second highest in the game). definitely not the worst case, stats-wise. also, the game was in front of 47k! pretty big turnout for a second division game.
Heck most of the times he had the ball, he had recovered it himself. Also, he must have been one of the most fouled guys in the game. Stuttgart has dropped to #2 though (51/+15). They haven't won a game in five fixtures, and they're keeping the second spot only based on goal difference. Braunschweig has won three out of five (51/+14). Both play the next games at home. The leader, Hannover, has played an extra game, and is only two points ahead (53/+14). Their next is at home vs. #3 Braunschweig. So it's very tight between those three and Union Berlin, currently #4 (50/+13). Only the top two are promoted, the third goes to a playoff with #16 from the BuLi.
Julian is in the 18 for tomorrow: Unsere 18 Mann fürs Derby! Alexandru #Maxim und Josip #Brekalo für Anto #Grgic (muskuläre Probleme) und Tobias #Werner dabei. #VfBKSC #VfB pic.twitter.com/MPELa1i3Gh— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) April 8, 2017
I'm not sure what to make of the fact that Maxim was excavated from the doghouse for this match. Probably it means that Wolf doesn't see Green as a player who creates opportunities for others like Mané does, although his go-to move of cutting inside and shooting from distance is pretty dangerous.
I think Green still plays a little too "soft." Kind of like Arsenal (as a team), they play pretty soccer, but get pushed around the pitch by almost everyone. Maxim had fallen out of favor, but I think Wolf is realizing he needs some "steel" out on the pitch if they want to win more games, and get promoted this year. While Green started out well shortly after joining the team, his playing time has diminished because other teams have figured out how to play him. He's been fouled a lot, and hasn't responded well to it. If he can't get past that, then he won't play much for anyone.
Reading the Stuttgarter Nachrichten online, I interpret their article about Maxim as saying he blended better with the left-back Insua, than did Green previously: http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten....-da.7da28126-601c-4a67-834f-13f95218e0ce.html Can any German speakers confirm if my translation is correct?
Happens a lot with kids who stay too long at elite academies. Life is too good and the money means you're nearly set for life before you've turned 23, which is to say before you've achieved anything. If you're not at least making the bench by 20, go out on loan and fight for your place with guys who've seen what life as an RL regular at 30 looks like.
On the bench: Zunächst auf der Bank: Uphoff – Grgic, Klein, Brekalo, Zimmermann, Ginczek, Green #DSCVfB #VfB— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) April 17, 2017