VfB Stuttgart: 2015/16 Season First Half - Hinrunde Discussion

If in fact Harnik can't get his shit together, I will accept Werner doing the same. ANYTHING will be better than Timo's current habit of making 75% of an incredible run and then either totally whiffing his shot or sending the ball to Mars. Today's goal is an excellent start.

Unfortunately, next week is Bayern.

 

From VfB's website:

http://www.vfb.de/en/saison/vfb/sai...vfb-sv-darmstadt-98/page/3994-5-1-.html?f3706

 

That DFB Pokal draw went about as well as Stuttgart could have hoped. A trip to the quarterfinals at least is a totally realistic expectation at this point. Nice!

 

Unfortunately, Harnik will not be able to get his shit together:

http://www.vfb.de/en/aktuell/meldungen/news/2015/verletzung-martin-harnik-/page/4000-1-1-.html?f2

 

NOOOOOOO!

 

Scheiss Bayern v. Stuttgart

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I was hoping VfB would be able to eke out a 0-0 draw today, in the fashion of Frankfurt. So much for that!

 

Scheiss Bayern v. Stuttgart

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Well, VfB apparently stopped the bleeding after the half, but I have to think that SB weren't really trying as they had a commanding lead, and a toothless VfB to play against. I'm surprised they didn't run the score up more.

 

Thanks for the spoiler tag. Though having finally watched the game, I probably could have saved some time.

 

Here's a preview of the game with Augsburg, from VfB's website:

http://www.vfb.de/en/aktuell/meldungen/news/2015/pk-vor-vfb-fc-augsburg/page/4017-1-1-.html?f2

 

Well, here's the post-mortem:

http://www.espnfc.us/german-bundesliga/match/427013/vfb-stuttgart-fc-augsburg/report

This team! SMDH.

 

Here's two more, from VfB's website:

http://www.vfb.de/en/saison/vfb/sai...cht-vfb-fc-augsburg/page/4021-5-1-.html?f3706

AND...

http://www.vfb.de/en/saison/vfb/201...men-vfb-fc-augsburg/page/4020-1-1-.html?f3706

 

Not that anyone needs me to illustrate this fact, but the most disheartening thing about the players and Zorniger's comments are that nobody seems to know what the hell happened. That result is obviously a total surprise to them.

Dutt's comments about this being different than all the other games this season is pretty clear.

Stuttgart's got Dortmund, Bremen, Mainz, and Wolfsburg before the winter break. I just don't see how Zorniger keeps his job without at least 6 points out of those games.

 

Looking at that lineup, I don't see them getting six points unless something unusual happens, in their favor. It's pretty obvious they need better goalkeeping, better defending, better midfield play, and better scoring. (Anything else? )

The impression I get from looking at Jens1893's twitter feed is that some of the players are talking against Zorniger, and if they start doing that, the team is headed down.

Even though they were losing, early on, they were not totally out of games, and with a couple of breaks going their way, they might have won a few more.

I hope they can keep that early season mind-set, stay together, work together, and eventually win together. It's not looking good, though.

 

Dortmund getting kicked in the teeth by Hamburg is going to make Stuttgart's weekend very painful. BVB will be looking for revenge, and VfB looks like lambs being sent to the slaughterhouse right about now.

Maybe we'll get a dose of the (it seems like forever ago now) inexplicable winning streak after the break. I remember a couple seasons that started with Stuttgart languishing at the bottom of the table only to pull off a trip to the Europa Cup after the break. Of course, there were guys like Cacau, Kuzmanovic and Okazaki on the squad then....

There is certainly no chance of that kind of finish with this cast of characters. Maxim is a shadow of himself or can't get the ball delivered. (The loss of Kvist was much bigger than it seemed at the time I think) and Harnik was bad on the pitch this season and last, and couldn't help if he wanted to with his injury.

At this point, a finish in 14th place would seem like a dream come true. If I were in the front office and were asked: "Stuttgart can finish 14th in the league right now, take it or leave it." I'd take it without hesitation.
Looking at the off season efforts the team makes, I often wonder if relegation is the goal?

Die, Tyton and Insua are the only bright spots of the last several years....insane...if you're telling me the fifth richest team in Germany can only afford PSV Eindhoven reserve players and Spanish Secunda division cast offs, I don't believe you....

 

At this point, 14th place is a dream finish!

Yeah, I just don't get why they have such a hard time getting good, quality players (I'm not talking about mega-stars) into the side. They have money, unless the board is playing "Jack Warner/Chuck Blazer" with the funds.

 

That happened quicker than I thought!

Zorninger out!

I figured that strong language from Robin Dutt was a serious matter. He's never said anything like that after a match.

http://www.vfb.de/en/aktuell/meldungen/news/2015/alexander-zorniger-trennung/page/4023-1-1-.html?f2

 

Well, now that Zorniger is gone, how soon can we look for the return of Stevens?

 

http://archyworld.com/2015/11/express-column-felix-magath-dutt-and-irate-have-to-answer/

A pretty weird translation of a Felix Magath Op-Ed about Zorniger and VfB.

I've read the original, and though this translation is clunky, you get the gist. Essentially, Magath says Zorniger forced a system on VfB that they were not capable of executing. He also blasts Dutt for not keeping Huub Stevens around even though he had them playing decent ball at the end of last season, saying that Zorniger is not at all the only person to blame for Stuttgart's situation.

 

That link doesn't work for me, but I saw something similar from Magath, yesterday, in the Stuttgarter Zeitung, IIRC.

 

This says that Christoph Daum would answer the phone if Dutt calls:

http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten....uft.c8fb5a89-5442-49e8-8224-6311554daa13.html

Daum is a good coach, but can anyone realistically help VfB at this point?

 

From the Stuttgarter Nachrichten, a brief (Google translated) article on possible coaching candidates:

https://translate.google.com/transl...30a-bd22-7a7c04374479.html&edit-text=&act=url

 

Well, here we go again. I know we all saw this coming, but I was hopeful. Here are some scraps, picked up from the ashes:

http://www.vfb.de/en/saison/vfb/sai...russia-dortmund-vfb/page/4029-5-1-.html?f3706

http://www.vfb.de/en/saison/vfb/201...russia-dortmund-vfb/page/4030-1-1-.html?f3706

 

Got myself a ticket to the away game next Friday: Mainz vs. Stuttgart @ Coface Arena. Can't wait, absolutely craving some live football

 

Lucky you! I'm quite jealous. Have fun! Hopefully you'll see a VfB victory...