New matchday! Game is tonight! A win will put is into second tonight, let's do this! Mainz are on a bad run but not to be underestimated, after two draws can we return to winning ways? Let's go!
Is it me or has Stuttgart had a disproportionate amount of Friday games? I don't mind though, that way I get paid as I am watching the game
I swear, they are just trying to make me give up on footie completely. Between the bogus penalties, the non-calls, and all the bloody simulating injuries, I don't know if I can take it much more. VfB didn't deserve a win tonight, the way they played. But it irritates me when the ref makes the difference in the match. And now He gives a red card after the match ends...
Only saw snippets of the first half, but then saw big chunks of the second. Great leg save by Boula at min. 36 after the ball trickled by Ulreich. Ulreich had a cool save at min. 49 charging out and taking the ball right off the attacker's feet. Don't know how the flow went in half 1, but half 2 -- what a waste. Tied at 1-1 and then things just went nuts. I thought I might be about to see my first Bundesliga on-field fight in the aftermath. What appeared to be a completely bogus call on Maza in the box started tempers flaring. Only saw 1 replay, but it sure didn't look like the attacker caught Maza's knee in the back. Lame. No wonder VfB swarmed the ref then. Missed why Ivanschitz (rough name) got a penalty himself after his kick. Why was his shoe off? Then Ulreich lost it and looked like he went up and tweaked the ref's nose. All this seemed to rattle Ulreich and Molinaro -- they lost focus and miscommunicated (or didn't) on Mainz's 3rd goal. Admittedly, we pressed decently after that to try to climb back into it, but it was not to be. And the Maza says something to the ref and gets a 2nd yellow = red AFTER the game ends!?! That was stupid on his part, but I had no idea the refs could do that once the game is over. Is there like a 5-10 minute window they can still penalize players? WTF? (excuse me) At least strategically "picked" a good next game to sit out -- not much offense from Augsburg. I bet they start Bauer if Bicakcic isn't 100% yet. Frankly, we didn't deserve to win (Mainz's "field" goals were totally well done), but I sure was hoping for at least 1 point on the road against a "struggling" team. Bruno or somebody needs to go over mental focus after bad calls. [vent over] Admittedly, the refs missed a pretty clear call last week on Molinaro against Dortmund -- I like to think these mistakes kind of even out over time. But it still stinks.
Well, on Maza, Niedermeier made the bench in the Cup so I am hoping he will be able to step in in time for this one. If not, I guess it will be Bauer's central defence debut, unless Celozzi starts at RB with Boulahrouz moving to centre. A very irritating loss against a side that had been doing very poorly. Not for the first time: we lost at home to HSV, we gave Berlin their first 1. Liga home win in over two years, to my knowledge. And its results like these that will ensure we remain too inconsistent to challenge, say, for a top 4 spot this season. A shame, but the the tally of the last 3 games has been a real disappointment: only 2 points out of a possible nine from matches in Nuernberg and Mainz and at home to to Dortmund. It's a shame, but next week is at home to Augsburg, on paper easiest game of the season, so hopefully we can bounce back and get ourselves three points then. If we don't, we will be in first mini crisis of the season..
Player ratings (none by me this week as I could not catch the game fully): Sven Ulreich: Kicker Rating: 2.5 (12 played, 2.71 avg.) Khalid Boulahrouz: KR: 3.5 (11 played, 3.45 avg.) Serdar Tasci: KR: 3.5 (12 played, 3.04 avg.) Maza: 5 (12 played, 3.29 avg.) Cristian Molinaro: 5 (10 played, 9 as starter, 3.75 avg.) William Kvist: 3 (12 played, 2.75 avg.) Zdravko Kuzmanovic: 4 (10 played, 3.25 avg.) Martin Harnik: 2.5 (12 played, 3.46 avg.) Tamas Hajnal: 3 (11 played, 9 as starter, 3.67 avg.) Shinji Okazaki: 4 (11 played, 9 as starter, 3.75 avg.) Cacau: 3 (12 played, 3.63 avg.) SUBS: Christoph Hemlein: No Rating (3 played, 0 as starter, no average rating) Ibrahima Traore: NR (7 played, 0 as starter, no avg. rating) Timo Gebhart: NR (5 played, 0 as starter, no avg. rating) Unused Subs: - Marc Ziegler - Georg Niedermeier - Stefano Celozzi - Christian Gentner
Oh, and for referee Guido Winkmann Kicker Rating: 6 Explanation: - Was supposed to give a penalty for Wetklo's foul on Okazaki (minute 55) - The penalty for Mainz was illegitimate, because Maza did not foul Mueller (minute 59) - Red for Polanski's tackle from behind was tough, but acceptable (minute 83) - Following Pospech's push against Timo Gebhart, was supposed to give a penalty (minute 92) We have been fortunate these last weeks with the referees, both in Nuernberg and against Dortmund. Well, we got our comeuppance this weekend. And man was it hardcore...