Glad they did well today. I thought this might be a trap game, like the game with Hannover. And Georg Niedermeier scoring two goals? What, is the world coming to an end? http://www.vfb.de/en/saison/vfb/sai...-vfb-tsg-hoffenheim/page/4218-5-1-.html?f3706
It's good to see the team get back on track after going winless in 3 matches. I definitely had to double check the boxscore when I saw Niedermeier listed twice for scoring.
Having only watched the highlights, it was bizzare to see a couple more goals could have easily been had. Didavi and Werner both....crazy match. Let's see if the boys can keep it up at Ingolstadt. VfB shop is offering 20% off on home shirts, and the euro is 1.09-1 right now.....maybe it IS time to order that Großkruetz shirt.....
Brutal. I fully expected VfB to lose the Leverkusen match when I looked at the schedule around Christmas......still.....it stings.
Here is the remaining schedule: at Darmstadt vs Bayern at Augsburg vs Dortmund at Weder Bremen vs Mainz at Wolfsburg I feel the teams needs results (hopefully wins) against Darmstadt, Augsburg and Weder Bremen. I see Mainz and Wolfsburg as potentially difficult to pick up any points and I see Bayern and Dortmund as losses. The team needs a few more points to be comfortable about staying up and the 3 games I mentioned are 6 pointers in regards to the bottom portion of the table.
One more win would essentially ensure safety. One more win and then ANY additional point would lock it up. Darmstadt is an excellent candidate for that win.
If they don't win at Bremen, they're as good as relegated, IMHO. I don't see them getting any points at Dortmund, Mainz, or Wolfsburg.
Agreed. Do or die time. Period. Of course, leave it to VfB to do something like get whipped by Bremen, then come out and snatch points from Dortmund and Wolfsburg.
The back line was a horror show. Losing the "six point" match was bad enough, but Goal Differential has now been lost to Frankfurt as well. The only positive is that Darmstadt has two tough matches ahead. Stuttgart showed earlier this year that they can beat Mainz and Wolfsburg. We'll see. I think there are still 3 points left in this team somewhere. However, if another horror show like last week happens at any point during this season, the entire management staff and all the players can be flushed as far as I'm concerned.
Other than starting Niedermeier, what happened to the defense? They were playing fairly well when Kramny took over, now it's a complete shit-show.
Georg lost his mind. I think it was the second goal, he kept falling back and back and back and back...... If he had just stepped forward he would have put the attackers completely offside. Bizzare. It happened blatantly on one other goal that I saw...... Like, match fixing bizzare.....
I was camping, and only found out the score when we went into town and I got some 4G on my phone. When I saw the score, I just couldn't believe 6-2 unless half the team was red-carded. When I saw that there were no red-cards, match-fixing was what I thought of next.
Heads up to anyone who lives near Washington DC. The German and French Embassies are having a co-located open house on May 14th from 10am to 4pm. Beer, wine, food, music, stuff for kids, etc. They will also be hosting televised Bundesliga matches that day. Go celebrate VfB's death or survival with the German ambassador. I'll be there!
http://www.espnfc.us/german-bundesliga/match/426828/vfb-stuttgart-mainz/report Well, for the last 3 - 4 years, management hasn't made any real, positive changes to the team. They've only managed to "re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic." After today's loss, which pretty much seals VfB's fate, some fans stormed the pitch to voice their anger at the team, as well as management. No one was injured (not that kind of pitch-invasion), but the only player with the balls to stay out and face the fans, was Grosskreutz, the newest player. He tearfully apologized to the fans. The entire board, the team management, and most of the players should all be sent packing. In fact the fans were all screaming at the end, "Außer Großkreutz könnt' ihr alle gehen." Does anyone here think they will be good enough to be promoted after next season?
Some translations of VfB fans posts, printed in the Stuttgarter Nachrichten (My guess is they are some of the printable ones): Team Development my ass, Mr Wahler. #VfB Kevin Grosskreutz in an interview with SKY after #VFB M05 with tears in his eyes. "I owe the club a lot." That gets you right in the heart. That Robin Dutt may manage a Bundesliga club, is as if I would direct an auto repair shop. Today it is especially hard for me. I've never been relegated. I do not know how to do that #VfB It is fair to say, now it actually has no more pressure. Dutt over and out. #VfB I can not leave here. (The stadium) This is the worst VfB-moment of my life. I'll go to Wolfsburg anyway.
I guess this was always a potential result of playing "Relegation Roulette". The last several years they have been flailing around near the drop, but kept finding a way to avoid relegation. It is strange that the year they failed was the year where they looked like they were actually putting things back together and making progress for the middle stretch of the season.
Yeah, I guess they didn't have enough depth to an already fairly weak squad, especially in defense. After they hired Kramny as first-team coach, and started the Rückrunde with a few wins, I thought they would do well enough to stay up, and be a mid-table club. After that good start, the wheels really fell off. One good thing that I read is that Mercedes Bank will not only remain a sponsor, but will put more money into the sponsorship. Hopefully, they can get the coaching sorted out, and clean the garbage out of the locker room.
Statements after the clash between VfB and VfL Wolfsburg: http://www.vfb.de/en/saison/vfb/201...n-vfl-wolfsburg-vfb/page/4301-1-1-.html?f3706
Fan interviews from Stuggi.tv http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten....roh.aa152779-5827-4653-a33a-b6bac5952df5.html
From Kicker (by way of @news5_vfb): http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...er-tritt-zurueck.html#omrss_team_vfbstuttgart
Here's a worthwhile read by Oliver Trust from ZDF Sport: http://www.zdfsport.de/truemmerhauf...tgart-sportreportage-bundesliga-43537140.html If what he writes is even remotely true, how did this sorry state come to be?