They still have a long way to go to escape relegation. I think to truly be safe, they need to win 3 and draw at least 1 of their 6 remaining games. Whether they can do that or not, remains to be seen. Augsburg, Schalke , & Mainz will give them a hard time. If they could earn a draw or two from them, that would be a big boost. A win from any of those would be huge. Freiburg, Hamburg, and Paderborn are all beatable, IMHO. Whether they seal the deal with them, also remains to be seen. As they say in England, it's definitely "squeaky bum time!"
They were the better team for most of the Augsburg match. It really hurts that Bobadilla got the winner, since all he was doing was pushing people out of his way. They got a ref who likes contact and took full advantage. We missed some golden opportunities, of course, but the effort and teamwork were there. I see them making the playoff, but they've left it so late this time. One point would have been huge!
The final games of HSV at home and Paderborn away is the best we could hope for. They both play Schalke the week they're not playing us. We also have goal differential on both. As far as catching Hannover or Freiburg, it will take 3 wins, I think, to pass one or the other. We catch another break, in that they play each other on the final day! So, this is big. I think I'll get up at 6:30am to see it live - if I can find a stream. We could be dead last on matchday 30, or above the playoff spot and tied on points with Hannover and Freiburg. It's a huge difference. Stay away from the light, boys!
Up 2-0 on Freiburg at the half. 6 goals in the last 5 matches for Ginczek. Hottest striker in Germany.
Hlousek is trying to lose this all by himself. He gave up a penalty for 2-1, then made another foul to get sent off at 66'. We've missed so many good chances. This shouldn't be close, but they're barely hanging on to a crucial 3 points!
Too bad they could only manage the draw. It also looks like other team's games didn't go our way either. What was the deal with Hlousek? Were his opponents really that much better than him?
Schalke, Mainz, Hamburg, Paderborn. Next week is as good a time as any to play us tbh, we're all over the place. I've seen road kill with more attacking potential on a football pitch than Schalke at the moment. Pinch a goal at some point and who knows... Mainz will be tough. HSV and Paderborn ...talk about being in control of your destiny. It's you three, and Hannover, who are in the relegation battle. Beat them both and you will at least find yourselves in a play-off, if not safe. Good luck. It'll be interesting to watch.
That's how we looked before Daniel Ginzcek turned into Gerd Müller. Now I'm less concerned about us scoring than I am about being able to stop others from scoring, especially away. If your attacking is truly as bad as you say I think that this may end up being a battle of the stoppable force (Schalke's attack) versus the moveable object (Stuttgart's defense).
Ginczek and Harnik just produced an awesome goal. 1-1. S'pose it's everything that one might expect so far. pretty entertaining
It came from FLorian Klein?! That's what the Buli website is showing me... I actually stopped watching after you guys went 2-1 up because it was just making me a bit sad - switched over to the Bremen game instead. And yeah, we won 3-2
That week's "I'm trying to get me team relegated" performance was definitely Niedermeyer. Schalke's first goal was an absolute gift when he passed it to Huntelar. On the second his headed clearance didn' go anywhere. And for good measure he also missed an open header. It seems like we can't seem to keep losing with so much positive play, but we do. It's going to feel worse knowing how we didn't have to go down.
Well, we won today, but we need to win out against Paderborn & Hamburg, which should be do-able. (But I'm not going to hold my breath!) Also, the teams directly above us must lose. If those things happen, VfB can stay up, but who knows with this team. Take your Prozac, folks, and hang on for the ride!
Have we ever been bottom of table with two matches to go? Strangly enough, one win could be enough to get us out of this. Today's match is huge. If we had beaten Freiburg or Schalke, we'd be in 14th. It's time to find out what we're made of - and by that I mean us fans. It's going to be nerve wracking. Either way, no VfB this off-season for me. I can't take any more.
VfB do the business at home, and take all three much-needed points at home versus Hamburg, 2-1. Harnik and Gentner score for the good guys. Stuttgart are ahead of Hamburg, and Paderborn now, but behind Freiburg and Hannover, and are at the top of the relegation zone. With one game left to play, they still need to win at Paderborn, any one of Hertha, Freiburg, or Hannover to lose (or a draw between Freiburg & Hannover), and they might escape by the skin of their teeth. For Stuttgart, it is definitely squeaky bum time!
Considering where we've been most of this season I'd still be happy to finish third from bottom and play in that playoff. Hoping for a win, though.
That was rough. How many of our guys had open shots against the keeper? Ginsek, Harnik, Kostic twice, Werner. It seemed fated to remain a one goal lead, leaving us waiting for a fatal error to lose the victory. I am also impressed that nobody was red carded after several near fights. The ref seemed determined to let them beat each other up. Plenty of fouls went uncalled on both sides. I have to be happy with the standing, though, given the two must-win matches that got us here. It's incredible to think where a draw would have left us, with Hoffenheim winning and even the scum rolling over for Freiburg. So, a win next week ensures that we pass either Hoffenheim or Freiburg to safety. A loss would be immediate relegation. A draw would probably leave us in the playoff, although HSV could get revenge by beating Schalke - at this moment Kaiserslautern is 3rd in 2.BL. Clearly our best chance is beating Paderborn on Saturday. The fans were great, weren't they? Even that demoralizing first goal did not quiet them. The squad started to make desperate long passes, despite so much time left. It looked bad, but they stayed strong. One more match to go. See you all here next week. Niemals aufgeben!
What a great escape by Vfb! Nobody gave them a chance of staying up a few weeks ago but somehow they pulled it off. Well done to the Swabians, a great club that needed to stay up.
I didn't know until just now, since I've been on the road (literally!) all day with no connectivity. Honestly, I was afraid to look.
... and we don't have to move our subforum! We were in relegation position in 16 of the 17 matchdays of the rückrunde. We were bottom of the table more than any other club, 16 times. In comparison, Paderborn was 18th only twice, and Freiburg, never. I can't remember a worse year, and yet three wins to end the season - the last one, away from home, by a single goal. A draw would have left us 17th and immediately out of the Bundesliga. So, of course they give us a heart attack by surrendering a goal in the first 4 minutes! Fortunately, Didavi had a ball fall to him in the first half for the equalizer, but Hamburg was winning their match, and we needed a victory to be saved. The chances were there, some of them riesen chances, as they say. Harnik missed a tap in. Ginczek almost rounded the keeper. Gentner got wide open on a give-and-go, but missed the goal completely. The effort was there. Guys like Kostic laid it all out there, but there is no substitute for sharpness. Sometimes it seems like we should have one of the top attacks in the league, but mostly we miss too many chances. Huub called in Maxim for Didavi, which was just what we needed. Didavi is more dangerous when he can keep it below the crossbar, but Maxim enables others. A misunderstanding between Paderborn defenders let Maxim step in and lead a pass for Ginczek before he was offside. The keeper came out, but not in time. Going wide around the keeper, he swept it in with his left leg. Damn that was close! 20 minutes from die Zweite Bundesliga, to be exact. Paderborn had some real chances, including one that bounced twice in our area (Baumgartl has a lot to learn). I still don't know how they didn't get a shot on that one. Ulreich had a good day, which he needed since both teams were going forward. In fact, if Paderborn had been a point lower and already relegated, they probably would have played defensively, and who knows if we avoid the draw. The stars were aligned. We ended 14th. We had only been as high as 14 twice, on Spieltag 1 and 9! That may be our lowest apex ever. Yet this is not a bad team at the end. We have four good players in attack (I heard them called "The fantastic four" on Sportshau). We're a CB and a RB away from having a complete, solid squad. As always, we hope this failed season will cost clueless management their jobs, but we'll have to wait and see. For now, let's enjoy survival and dream of next season in the top half of the table, a manager who will stay more than a couple of years, and a President who aspires to European competition.