VFB Stuttgart: Furchtlos und Treu

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Stuttgart - VFB Stuttgart have confirmed that head coach Huub Stevens will leave the club when his contract expires at the end of June.

After narrowly avoiding relegation by winning the final game of the season against Paderborn (2-1) Huub Stevens will now be leaving the club. This will mark the end of his second tenure at the club as he also managed to guide the club to safety during the 13-14 campaign.

"Huub Stevens was named coach of the century at another club, but with us he's been the saviour of the century" said Stuttgart sporting director Robin Dutt.

With Stevens' departure the club will now be looking to bring in a new head coach as soon as possible. Whoever is going to end up succeeding Stevens' will have a massive job on his hands as recent campaigns have seen the club performing far below expectations.
 
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VFB Stuttgart appoint new head coach​
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Stuttgart - VFB Stuttgart have announced that their new manager for the upcoming 15-16 campaign will be 35-year-old Dutchman L.

L. who had been working at the club for the past 12 months as a youth team coach is delighting that he has been given such a massive opportunity. His appointment meanwhile has caused some controversy as fans of Die Schwaben are unsure if L. is the right man to reinvigorate the recently troubled club.

When asked what his goals were for the 15-16 campaign L. had the following to say:

"Everyone who is in some way connected to this club has the same goal; for us to be the best team that we can be. Recent times have been tough but the fact that the club has managed to survive these ordeals is a testimony to the character of both the players and the fans. I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you if I didn't believe in this club. I believe in the players and I am certain that with the backing of the fans we can go on to achieve great things together. I know that most people are probably unfamiliar with my name but I ask all of you to give me a fair chance, get to know me first, then you may judge me.
 
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It's been a hectic week to say the least, the media has gone crazy over my appointment. I can understand it though, me, a totally unknown person in the football world is now suddenly in charge of one of the biggest clubs in Germany. I can't even begin to count the number of articles that I've read this week implying that the board of Stuttgart must have lost their minds to appoint me as their new head coach.

I can't say that I am too bothered by these articles however, infact it has motivated me even more to proof them wrong. I was afraid that some of the players would also have reservations towards my appointment but I am glad to say that this isn't the case.

Today I have had my first training session with the players and they are very determined to show the rest of Germany what we are truly capable of. I've began implementing my tactical philosophy and so far it seems that the players here are a perfect fit for my style of aggressive pressing football.

I've also began slowly assessing the squad in order to identify our strengths and our weaknesses. I will soon be posting a report on my current opinion of our squad.​
 
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SQUAD ASSESSMENT

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With the departure of first goalkeeper Sven Ulreich and backup goalkeeper Thorsten Kirschbaum the club the club was only left with 21 year old Odisseas Vlachodimos and while he has the potential to become a good goalkeeper he simply isn't ready for the Bundesliga yet.

The club has therefore brought in two new goalkeepers; Przemyslaw Tyton (PSV Eindhoven) and Mitchell Langerak (Borussia Dortmund). Both were second choice at their previous club but Langerak did make several Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund.

Disaster has struck immediately however as Langerak is currently expected to be out of the game for 4-5 months with a pulled hamstring. Przemyslaw Tyton will therefore be my first choice goalkeeper with Vlachodimos being second choice until Langerak returns from injury.

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Our defence is definately not the best in the League but we are one of the fastests, ideal for the high pressing style that I want to play.

In the heart of the defence we possess over two very capable central defenders in Georg Niedermeier and Toni Sunjic then there's also 19-year-old Timo Baumgartl, a very promising player with huge potential. He is currently injured and isn't expected to make a return for another 5 weeks but when he is fit again I am definately planning on giving him a lot of game time as I believe that he could become a real star player for us. Lastly we also have Daniel Schwaab and while he is originally a full back he is also very capable of playing in a more central oriented position.

In the full back positions we also have some very capable players. At the right we have Florian Klein, a very attacking oriented full back whom could become a very important player for us given the style of football that I want to play and as his backup we have Daniel Schwaab whom I mentioned before.

At the left we have the 26-year-old Argentinian Emiliano Insua who is unfortunately less capable in attack then his colleague on the right but he should still be a very good player for us. Finally we have Philip Heise another very decent player who should be an excellent backup for Insua.

And then we have somewhat of an oddity; Adam Hlousek. At first glance Hlousek might appear a very average player and this might be true but what makes him special is his versatility, you see not only is he a natural in every single position along the left flank he can even function as a central defender if required. Basically he is Kevin Grosskreutz 2.0


​
 
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Our midfield is definately the strongest aspect of our squad.

In the central position we have one of our most important players in Christian Gentner, current captain and overal a very good player. Then there's Lukas Rupp whom is basically a slightly weaker version of Christian Gentner but overal they are very similar.

Our more defensively oriented players are Serey Die and 20-year-old Carlos Gruezo. Die looks like he could be a good first team player for us while Gruezo definately has the potential to become one.

Then come our more attacking oriented players. In Daniel Didavi and Alexandru Maxim we have two very good advanced playmakers and it's going to be tough deciding on whom is going to be my main player for this position futhermore we also have a very promising player in Arianit Ferati whom is touted as the next Gunther Netzer so I'll definately be giving him as much game time as possible in order to aid his development.

In the winger position we have Filip Kostic who is one of our leading players and he hasn't even reached his max potential yet so there's no telling where he'll end up.

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Finally we have our true attacking players/strikers.

First up we have Martin Harnik and Robbie Kruse, while both are listed as strikers they are just as capable playing on the flanks and that's exactly what I am planning on doing. Both of them are more dependant on their work rate than on their technical abilities so they are definately going to be of use to me as I like players who put in the extra mile for the sake of the team.

Next up is Jan Kliment, to be honest he is the first player that doesn't really seem necesarry to me, he is a very average player and while he does have the potential to become better he simply doesn't impress me but I suppose that that could change over the course of the season.

Last but not least we have our true strikers; Daniel Ginczek and Timo Werner. Ginczek is a very fast and very strong target man, ideal for my tactic, Werner on the other hand is also very fast but he isn't as strong as Ginczek. One thing that should be noted is that he has a very high potential so he could develop into a very good player.





Overal Thoughts:

All in all I believe that we currently have a right balance of experience and potential. The defence is definately the weakest aspect of our squad while the midfield is the strongest.

I believe that Gentner and Kostic are going to be key players for us as they have the quality to lift the entire team to the next level.

Our most promising players are definately Timo Baumgartl, Arianit Ferati and Timo Werner while we also have 19-year-old Mart Ristl who is currently in our second squad but has the ability to make the leap to the first within this year.



Note: I have disabled the first transfer window for the sake of realism I will therefore not be buying or selling any players over the course of the current transfer window.


​
 
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I am happy to report that our pre-season has gone pretty well.

In order to get the squad as familiar as possible with my tactical philosophy we played a total of ten matches from which we won nine and only lost one and that one was only because the boys were simply too exhausted.
Over the course of these matches we scored a total of 31 times while we ended up conceiding 11 not bad overal.





Injury Update

We started pre-season with the following players injured:

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Serey Die's injury has prompted me to bring highly promising Stuttgart II player Mart Ristl, whom I mentioned in my squad assessment into the first team. He played quite a few matches over the course of the pre-season and was pretty solid so I am expecting great things from him.

During our pre-season Ginczek and Harnik suffered some minor injuries leaving while Baumgartl returned to full fitness leaving us with the following injuries before the start of the 15/16 campaign.

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Another minor setback that happened during pre-season is the fact that Daniel Didavi has informed me that he has no desire to renew his contract and is planning on leaving the club on a free transfer at the end of the season. Luckily we already have a replacement right here at the club in Arianit Ferati and as a result of Didavi leaving I will definately be looking to give him as much playtime as possible.

Didavi's decision has also made me decide that Alexandru Maxim is going to be my first choice for our Advanced Playmaker position as I don't want to rely on players that don't want to be here.






A Look Ahead

So that pretty much sums up all the major events that happened during our pre-season now lets take a look at what the rest of the month August will bring:

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As you can see my first month in charge will immediately be a very tough one.

We start of easily enough against 2. Liga side MSV Duisburg in the first round of the DFB-Pokal but then we will face current Champions Bayern Munich in my first Bundesliga match.

Next up we will play at home against Eintracht Frankfurt in a match that is a must win and we finish the month of with another tough away game against last year's runner-up VFL Wolfsburg.



​
 
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AUGUST
The month August saw me make my competitive debut as head coach of VFB Stuttgart, these are the results of my first four matches in charge.




MSV Duisburg - VFB Stuttgart​
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We pretty much dominated this match from start to finish the only thing that we forgot to do was to score. Luckily for us Kostic finally gave us the lead in the 82nd minute after which we simply saw the match out.




FC Bayern Munich - VFB Stuttgart​
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Well this wasn't the Bundesliga debut that I had in mind. Obviously it was always going to be tough playing against Bayern away from home and it is true that they did outclass us on every single aspect of the game but we weren't helped by the fact that our goalkeeper Tyton played a disastrous match making atleast two mistakes that allowed Bayern to score.



VFB Stuttgart - Eintracht Frankfurt​
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Given our tough schedule I felt that the match against Frankfurt was a must win and luckily we did exactly that.

We were by far the better team and in the end I feel that we could have easily scored more, also satisfying to see us keeping a clean sheet after conceiding four against Bayern.




VFL Wolfsburg - VFB Stuttgart​
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The last match of the month saw us face last years' runner-up VFL Wolfsburg away from home.

The match itself was a very entertaining one between two very equal teams and in the end I feel that a draw is probably a fair result. I am also happy to report that Arianit Ferati made his first ever goal for Stuttgart and I am expecting to see a lot more from the talented youngster.





August Review​

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Overal I am pretty pleased with our results. We have progressed into the second round of the DFB Pokal and managed to pick up 4 points from 3 tough games in the league.

Let's take a look at the table:
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We are currently in eleventh place, not bad given the tough opposition that we had to face.



News​
This is the opponent that we'll be facing in the second round of the DFB Pokal
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Hertha are a very tough team to beat so we'll have to be at our best in order to progress into the next round. We have been drawn as the home side so that is very pleasing.


Unfortunately one of our most talented players Mart Ristl has picked up a long term injury whilst playing for the second team during a match against Kiel. I seriously hope that his progress isn't impaired too much but I suppose that time will tell.
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A Look Ahead​

Lets take a look at our schedule for the month September:

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We start the month of with a home game against HSV, we then face Hoffenheim away from home.
Then we will face Mainz before finishing of the month with an away game against newly promoted side Ingolstadt.

Overal I feel that we should atleast pick up 8 points from these matches.​
 
Loving the presentation on this story so far! Cannot wait for it to get going properly. Keep up the good work.
 
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September
September started off with an international break, unfortunately for us Martin Harnik picked up an injury whilst playing for Austria and is expected to be out for the rest of the month.
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This month we played a total of four Bundesliga matches. From these games I wanted to get atleast 8 points, did we achieve that goal or not?

Lets take a look:


HAMBURGER SV - VFB STUTTGART
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We dominated this match from start to finish. This is proven by the fact that we had a total of 10 shots on target while they had only 1, the reason why we didn't score more is goals is simple; Rene Adler. Adler was simply in inspired form and it looked like we weren't going to get any goals past him.

In the final seconds of the match we got what we deserved however as Werner, whom I brought on as a sub, scored giving us the 3 points.



TSG 1899 HOFFENHEIM - VFB STUTTGART
View attachment 211971This was one amazing match, we definately deserved to get something as we created far more chances than Hoffenheim did, unfortunately we didn't have Volland on our team as he played a tremendous match.

Luckily we got what we deserved after another goal at the end of the game as Klein scored a beautiful goal to give us 1 point.



VFB STUTTGART - 1. FSV MAINZ 05
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Mainz have had a bad start to the season so I decided to rotate the squad a little in order to keep all my players happy unfortunately that turned out to be the wrong decision.

We didn't start well but as the game progressed we got more into it unfortunately Die made a disgraceful tackle right before half time forcing me to completely alter our gameplan. Mainz then grabbed the lead shortly after the restart after Tyton made another terrible mistake. We then switched to a more attacking tactic but this only gave them the opportunity to double their lead.

We did get one goal back after Ginczek scored in the 71th minute but in the 87th minute Mainz sealed their victory after Cordoba scored his second goal of the match.



FC INGOLSTADT 04 - VFB STUTTGART
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On paper Inglostadt are a team that we should beat rather easily in practise however they are a team that have had a great start and were actually in sixth place before the match started.

I made several changes to the team after our terrible performance against Mainz and they seemed to work as we grabbed the lead in the 23rd minute as Maxim lobbed the opposing goalkeeper. We couldn't enjoy our goal for long as Ingolstadt immediately replied by equalising.

Ferati then scored his second goal of the season as a result of a corner kick giving us the lead once more. The rest of the match both teams were evenly matched but in the end I feel that we deserved to win.



September Review
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At the start of the month I set us a goal of achieving a minimum of 8 points and unfortunately we didn't achieve that target instead getting 7. Overal I have mixed feelings with September. On one hand we got ourself a great win over HSV and also gotten a great draw against Hoffenheim but on the other we had an appaling match against Mainz with several players underperforming.

Especially Insua and Kostic have been player rather badly so far and I am beginning to wonder if they are the right players for my style of play. Rumours are saying that Jurgen Klopp is interested in signing Kostic for Liverpool and if they were to make a reasonable bid I might be inclined to accept it.


Following September this is the table:
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As you can see we moved up to seventh place despite September being an average month result wise.


NEWS
Over the course of September several players came to talk to me as they were unhappy with their current playing time these players include; Insua, Gruezo, Rupp and Sunjic.

I told Insua and Rupp that Heise and Gentner were simply playing too well for me to drop them and they seemed to accept that explanation. Gruezo and Sunjic however I promised more playtime and they immediately made an impression (the Ingolstadt game).



A Look Ahead
This is our schedule for the month October:

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We start of the month with an home game against Köln which I feel that we should win. Then we face Dortmund at the Signal Indula Park before playing Hertha BSC twice at home, first for the league and then for the DFB Pokal, before finishing the month with an away game against Werder Bremen.

In this month I am hoping to pick up atleast 7 points and I want us to progress to the next round in the DFB-Pokal. Will we be able to achieve these goals? Stay tuned and you will find out.


​
 
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October
The month October saw us play a total of 5 matches, 4 in the Bundesliga and 1 in the DFB-Pokal.
I felt that we needed to get atleast 7 points from our Bundesliga matches while I also wanted us to get into the next round of the DFB-Pokal. Did we achieve these goals?



VFB Stuttgart - 1.FC Köln
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This was a really great game for us. I went for a different tactic as I felt that several players, most notably Kostic, had been underperforming in our normal one.

The tactic seemed to work really well as we started the match of in fantastic form, we had chance after chance but Kessler, Köln's second goalkeeper as Horn was injured, was simply in inspired form and made save after save. Finally in the 37th minute Werner gave us our deserved lead.

The second half pretty much went exactly the same with us dominating and creating many chances but it took until the 77th minute for us to get our second goal and it was again Werner that scored. Unfortunately Werner then got himself injured and I brough on Ginczek to replace him. Ginczek then grabbed a goal aswell giving us a great 3-0 victory.


The best player of the match was by far Werner and as a result he was named Spieler des Tages. Unfortunately he did pick up an injury which meant that it was uncertain if he was going to be available for our match against Dortmund.
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Then came another international break and unfortunately for us Alexandru Maxim picked up a bruised rib while on international duty with Romania so he was definately not going to be available for the Dortmund match.


Borussia Dortmund - VFB Stuttgart
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Coming into this match Borussia Dortmund were in 3rd place whilst we were 6th with only a few points between us so this was going to be a very important and tough match.

During the match you could see why both teams were so close to each other on the table as it was a very even affair. Both teams had an equal amount of possession and created an equal amount of chances but in the end the match ended with no goals scored as we picked up a great point at the Signal Induna Park.

I must say that our defence performed brilliantly this match which is very pleasing as I believe that area to be the weakest of our current squad.


VFB Stuttgart - Hertha BSC
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Coming into this match I knew that it was going to be a tough one as Hertha have been performing really well in the league.

I again opted to use the tactic that we used against Köln and in the beginning it seemed to work as we got some great chances but Kraft made some excellent saves keeping the score level. Then however we started playing very sloppily resulting in Hertha hitting us on the counter and Kalou opening the score for them.

The rest of the match was just very frustrating and the players picked up a lot of yellow cards. To make matters worse Die made another stupid mistake in the final minutes of the match to get himself a second yellow card resulting in another red card for him.



VFB Stuttgart - Hertha BSC
View attachment 211619After our appalling performance in the league I knew that I had to make some changes if we were to get a good result against Hertha in the Pokal.

I told the players to get out there and show the world what we were really capable of and they responded in brilliant fashion as we got ourselves a very early lead. We kept in control for the rest of the match but Hertha whom are just brilliant on the counter managed to score the equaliser in the 38th minute.

We didn't give up however and right before half-time we picked up our second goal giving us a 2-1 lead at the break. For the second half I changed our tactic around in order to position ourselves a little deeper in order to neutralize Hertha's counter and it worked. Their players as a result got very frustrated resulting in Stark picking up a red card.

With a man extra we simply controlled the rest of the match and even managed to score 2 more goals giving us a great 4-1 win as we qualify for the next round in the DFB-Pokal.



SV Werder Bremen - VFB Stuttgart
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In the previous update I stated that this match was going to be played on the 31st of October but as a result of this match being broadcasted on live tv it was pushed back 1 day so it was played on the 1st of November.

Werder Bremen have been performing really well in the league and at the start of the game they were in second place so I was ready for a very tough match. Boy was I wrong.

This match was simply no contest as we battered Bremen during the entire game creating chance after chance while picking up a total of 4 goals! As an added bonus we picked up another clean sheet, our 3rd of the month, as our defence is looking better with every game.



October Review
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Overal I am very pleased with how we did in October. Our wins against Köln, Hertha and Werder Bremen were done in brilliant fashion while we also picked up a deserved point at the Signal Induna Park.

The only slip-up is our loss to Hertha but given that they have been doing well this season I am not to bothered by it. In the end we achieved my goal of 7 points whilst we also secured a spot in the 3rd round of the DFB-Pokal.


Lets take a look at the table following this great month
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As you can see we have moved into the 6th position which is very pleasing indeed.


News
Wolfsburg have sacked head coach Dieter Hecking as a result of the club's poor performances so far this season.

Serey Die came to me asking for more gametime but I told him that our squad is simply performing too well at the moment for me to change things up. Die was unhappy and stated that he might have to leave if he wouldn't be getting any more football I agreed which resulting in him backing out and stating that he doesn't want to leave and will patiently wait for his chance.

The draw for the 3rd round of the DFB-Pokal has handed us a tricky fixture:
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We will be playing Schalke at the Veltins-Arena. Schalke are currently in poor form and their manager is under heavy pressure so we might be able to get something out of this one.



A Look Ahead
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The month November is a relatively quiet one as we play only 3 matches.
Personally I feel that we should be winning all 3 of them but I would already be satisfied if we were to pick up another 7 points.

​
 
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November

November was a very short month as we played only 3 matches. Personally I felt that we should be able to win all 3 of them so lets see if we did.




VFB Stuttgart - Borussia Mönchengladbach
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We started the match really well and grabbed the lead in the 14th minute after Harnik passed to ball to Schwaab who made a brilliant overlapping run and scored.

We continued to be the better team but Gladbach did get a very good chance to equalise, luckily for us however they hit the post. In the second half we continued to create several great chances but we didn't convert any of them which cost us greatly as Gladbach equalised in the final seconds of the game.



SV Darmstadt 98 - VFB Stuttgart
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This was a very frustrating game. Before the match I felt that we should be able to easily win this one and we started off wel enough after Ginczek gave us the lead in the 21st minute. Darmstadt hit back rather quickly however and made the score level again.

It took us until the 68th minute to grab the lead again after we capitalised on a mistake that they made, it looked like we were going to get a narrow victory but in the final seconds of the match Darmstadt managed to grab a late goal resulting in the match ending with a disappointing draw.

Personally I am very frustrated as we gave away another lead in the final seconds of a match, if we are to finish in the top 6 (my personal goal, the board just want a mid-table finish) then we need to see these matches out.



VFB Stuttgart - FC Augsburg

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I made it very clear that we needed to win this match to get atleast one win out of this month.

We got the early lead after Ginczek flawlessly converted a penalty. Augsburg then got a red card after Bobadilla who had already been booked dived in our penalty area resulting in him getting his second yellow card. Very good to see a referee make such a great decision!

Despite being a man short Augsburg still managed to equalise after hitting us on the counter. Harnik however gave us back our deserved lead right before half-time.

The second half was a very one sided affair as Augsburg only looked to defend, it didn't do them any good however as we managed to score another 3 goals giving us a great 5-1 victory to end a rather disappointing month.

A shout-out to Ginczek who has been in lethal form this season, scoring a total of 13 goals in the Bundesliga so far making him top scorer in the league.

As a result of this great match our team dominated the team of the week
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A minor setback however is that Baumgartl picked up an injury late in the Augsburg game causing him to be sidelined for the next 3 weeks.
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November Review

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Overal November was a very dissapointing month as we gotten 2 draws that should have been victories.
We did finish the month on a positive note however as we beat Augsburg very convincingly.


Lets take a look at the table
View attachment 211385As you can see we are still in 6th place and only 2 points behind Hertha BSC who sit in 3rd place.



News

After sacking Dieter Hecking Wolfsburg have gotten themselves a new manager
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Serey Die came to me last month asking for more gametime which I wouldn't give him now however he has gone to the press stating his concerns. As a result I have transfer-listed him and will be looking to get rid of him during the January transfer window.


Schalke whom are currently bottom of the table(!) have sacked their manager
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As things stand these are the favourites to become their new head coach
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Interesting to note is that our current Director of Football Robin Dutt is also on this list.



A Look Ahead

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December is going to be a tough month, we start the month with a home game against Hannover before facing Bayer Leverkusen at the Bay-Arena. Then we have a difficult DFB-Pokal tie against Schalke before again facing Schalke in the final game of the year.


​
 
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December


December brought us 4 more games including a DFB-Pokal tie against Schalke 04 so lets see how we got on.




VFB Stuttgart - Hannover 96
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During the entire first half we were the better team and we created some good chances unfortunately it was Hannover however that opened the score as Schmiedebach put them in front in the 41st minute.

Unhappy, I told my players to get out there and give everything that they had and while they did it took us until the 83rd minute to get level. We then tried to push for the winner but ended up coming short.

Not pleased despite the fact that we have now been unbeaten for 5 consecutive matches in a row.



Bayer 04 Leverkusen - VFB Stuttgart
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Leverkusen have been struggling in the league and it was even suggested by the press that Roger Schmidt might get the sack if they were to lose against us. I was under no illusions that this was going to be an easy game however as I am a big fan of the style of football that Schmidt favours.

Both teams are very attack-minded teams that seek to win the ball high up the pitch so this was always going to be a match with plenty of goals. Leverkusen got of to an excellent start and grabbed the lead in the 1st minute of the match(!), we immediately replied and grabbed the equaliser a mere 4 minutes later as Gentner put in a beautiful shot.

A few minutes later Leverkusen again grabbed the lead as Bender scored after a free kick from Calhanoglu. For the rest of the match both teams were evenly matches and we definately deserved to get something from this game so it was very satisfying to see Ginczek grab our deserved equaliser in the 71st minute after a brilliant run that he made.



FC Schalke 04 - VFB Stuttgart
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Schalke are another team that have had a terrible season so far, they recently sacked their previous head coach Breitenreiter and right before this game they announced that Ronald de Boer was their new manager.
With Maxim getting injured during the Leverkusen match I decided to give Didavi a place in the team as I felt that Ferati simply isn't ready yet for such a high pressure game.

I was very pleased to see that it was Didavi who gave us the lead in the 12th minute after a brilliant bit of team play from our side. For the rest of the match Schalke were probably the better team but we managed to hold on to our lead as our excellent cup run continues.



VFB Stuttgart - FC Schalke 04
View attachment 211135Next up was another game against Schalke this time however it was for the Bundesliga and we were the home side. I opted to rotate several players as I prefer my players to be fresh and energetic.

Schalke began the game really well and got a very good chance to get an early lead but luckily for us they didn't manage to score. We then quickly took control of the match and opened the score giving us an early lead.
Höwedes then made a professional foul in the 9th minute resulting in him getting a red card and us getting a penalty which Werner graciously converted grabbing his second goal of the evening.

Despite being a man short Schalke did manage to pull one back in order to make it 2-1 but they never really got back into the game. Harnik then made it 3-1 which was the score at half-time. In the second half we continued to dominate the game and managed to score 2 more goals including one for Ginczek who has scored 15 goals so far this season and is the current top scorer in the Bundesliga.

Our brilliant performance saw several players getting into the team of the week
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The result against Schalke also means that we are currently 7 games unbeaten in the league.



December Review
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Overal I am very pleased with how things went in December, the draw against Hannover was disapointing but picking up some excellent results against Leverkusen and Schalke definately made more then up for it. We also gotten ourselves into the fourth round of the DFB Pokal.


Lets take a look at the table:
View attachment 211132As we head into the winter break we find ourselves still in 6th position. We are currently 3 points behind 3rd placed Hertha BSC so there is still plenty opportunity for us to get into a top 4 spot.


News
This is the opponent that we will be playing in the 4th round of the DFB-Pokal
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The current Bundesliga campaign has claimed a third managerial casualty:
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A Look Ahead
As we are currently headed into the winter break there are no upcoming fixtures instead I will post an analysis of our current season so far while also discussing how our pre-season went in the following post.

Now if you'll excuse I have to pack my stuff as we are headed to Portugal for our mid-season trainings camp.
​
 
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Winter Break
As we near the end of the winter break I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect upon our current season so far.
At the start of the season the board told me that I had to achieve these goals:
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As you can see we have already managed to best one of these as we are currently in the fourth round of the DFB Pokal.


In the league meanwhile we are also performing above expectations as we currently sit in 6th place, the board are very pleased with our season so far and have already offered me a new three year contract which I gratefully accepted.



Team Analysis
As is evident by our current achievements we are performing very well so lets take a closer look at our team statistics:

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A major contributor to our successful season is the fact that we have been scoring a lot of goals, in fact together with Bayern Munchen we are currently the leading goalscorers in the Bundesliga.

A major contributor to these goals is Daniel Ginczek whom has scored 15 goals so far this season and as a result he is currently the leading goalscorer of the Bundesliga.
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As always there is also a down-side to our excellent performances and that is that some of the major clubs are interested in some of our key players.

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PSG made an offer for Kostic which I rejected. They then came back with another offer, which was quite a bit higher then the first one, but this was also rejected.
Kostic has meanwhile declared that while he is flattered by the interest he has every intention of seeing his current contract at our club out.

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Meanwhile Galatasaray made a bid for Klein which I also rejected.

As a result of this Klein's agent demanded an improved contract which I was planning on giving him anyway so I did as Klein is one of our key players of the season so far and I want to keep him as happy as possible.

Another key player, Harnik, also signed a new contract. Unfortunately he did pick up an injury during the break and will be out for the next 4-5 weeks.
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As for outgoing transfers, I have transfer listed Serey Die following our altercation but so far no one is willing to pay what I want for him. I have also loan listed Hlousek as he wanted more playtime which I can't offer him at the club right now.



Player Developments
View attachment 210885Baumgartl has developed into a key player for us so far and he still has a lot of potential to grow so there's no telling how good he'll get.

View attachment 210884 Ferati has been getting a lot of game time as a result of Didavi leaving the club on a free at the end of our current season. I am glad to say that this paid of as he has made some massive improvements so far this season.

View attachment 210883 As a result of my altercation with Die Gruezo has been playing most of our matches and as a result he has also improved quite a bit.

View attachment 210882 Even tough Ginczek has been in lethal form this season I have given plenty of opportunities to Werner aswell.
As a result he has also made some massive developments and even picked up six goals in the proces.



Friendlies
During the break we played a total of 3 friendlies. I mostly used these games to test a few new ideas, some were successful some weren't.

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A Look Ahead
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With the winter break almost over we will soon be starting the second half of the season.
We will begin by facing Bayern at home and hopefully we can put up more of a fight then we did in our previous encounter. Then we will travel to Frankfurt for a tough away game before ending the month back in Stuttgart against VFL Wolfsburg.​
 
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January
As we headed into the winter break we were on a 7 match unbeaten run.
Can we continue that run into the next year? Lets take a look.



VFB Stuttgart - FC Bayern Munich
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The previous match against Bayern was my first Bundesliga match, back then we were completely outclassed and suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat so I was very keen on seeing how we would handle them this time around.

We actually played really well this match but simply didn't find a way through their excellent defence. The thing about Bayern however is that almost all of their players have the individual quality to change a match and in the 9th minute Vidal did exactly that giving Bayern the lead.

For the rest of the match we continued to play well and had good amounts of possession but in the end we didn't do anything with it. Then in the final 15 minutes of the match we wen't all out on attack resulting in them scoring on the counter.



Eintracht Frankfurt - VFB Stuttgart
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This match was supposed to be the "easiest" of our January fixtures. It didn't turn out that way however.

Frankfurt started much better then us and grabbed a deserved lead in the 30th minute. Them scoring finally seemed to wake us up and we replied almost immediately as Kliment scored his first ever goal for Stuttgart.

Right before half-time Insua made a terrible mistake causing Castaignos to score his second of the evening and Frankfurt grabbing the lead once more.

The second half was very evenly matched with both teams creating good chances but we were very unfortunate as we managed to hit the crossbar twice. Overal a very dissapointing result as we definately deserved and should have picked up a point here.


VFB Stuttgart - VFL Wolfsburg
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After our two losses this match simply had to be a win and I made that very clear to my team.

They responded well and we got of to a really good start again however it was the woodwork that prevented us from scoring. Then in the 15th minute the match was completely changed as Arnold made a terrible tackle resulting in him receiving a red card, leaving Wolfsburg with one man down.

For the rest of the match we dominated and created a lot of opportunities but just didn't manage to score. Just when it looked like we were going to drop points again Ginczek put us in front and we managed to see out the rest of the match.

Overal a deserved if somewhat disappointing win as it took us far too long to break down the Wolfsburg defence.

Unfortunately Gruezo picked up an injury during the match and it looks like he'll be out for around 12 days.
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January Review
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Overal January was a rather dissapointing month, While we played some fantastic football we didn't express this into goals and at the end that is all what matters in football. I am hoping that the win against Wolfsburg will provide some momentum as we head into February.


This is the table at the end of January
View attachment 210603Following our mediocre month we have dropped into 7th place. It should be noted however that there are only 4 points between us and a Champions League spot.



News
A January closes so does the transfer window
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We ourselves also did a bit of business, I finally sold Serey Die to Karlshure.
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This however made Daniel Ginczek rather unhappy and he wasn't satisfied with me stating that I have no concerns and am currently happy with our team as it is. Another player whom shares the concerns of Ginczek is Maxim and both are currently unhappy.

As a result the press have begun speculating about Ginczek's future.
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I certainly hope that this will all blow over as Ginczek and Maxim have been a major part of our successful season so far.


As Stated above Gruezo picked up an injury during the match against Wolfsburg and as a result he will miss the DFB-Pokal match against Augsburg
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Now for our in-going transfers:
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Very pleased with this signing especially since he was for free. Niedermeier's contract will expire at the end of the season and since he has begun declining I am planning on replacing him with Kirchhoff.


I also signed 2 new coaches:
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Leitl was brought in from Mainz II team and Schmidtlein was signed on a free.



A Look Ahead
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February is going to be a season defining month as we play a total of 5 fixtures including a tough away game against Augsburg in the DFB-Pokal.
​
 
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February
February was a very big month for us as we needed to make up for the ground that we lost in January. On top of that we also had a chance to get in the semi-final of the DFB-Pokal but we needed to win from Augsburg first.




Hamburger SV - VFB Stuttgart
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We got off to a great start and grabbed an early lead as Kruse put us in front after only 5 minutes played. Ginczek then doubled our lead putting us ahead by 2 goals.

For the rest of the match we were rather poor and HSV probably deserved to get more out of the match then what they did but a win is a win even if we had more then our fair share of luck.



FC Augsburg - VFB Stuttgart
View attachment 210464Then came the match against Augsburg, so far we have had an excellent cup-run and I was hoping that we could continue that here.

We again grabbed a relatively early lead as Niedermeier scored a header from a corner kick. Augsburg then pushed forward and gave us a very tough time but Tyton kept us in the game. The second half continued in the same way and I knew that I had to change things up a bit if we were to hold on to our lead.

The changes seemed to work as we then grabbed control of the game and even had a couple of good chances to extend our lead but this time it was their goalkeeper that made some excellent saves keeping the score 1-0.

Another scrappy win but a very important one we are now in the semi-final of the DFB-Pokal.




VFB Stuttgart - TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

View attachment 210461Before the match I knew that a win would see us shoot up the table into fourth place and the boys knew it aswell as we started the game in brilliant fashion resulting in Ginczek scoring a hat-trick within the first 15 minutes. Unfortunately he then picked up an injury and had to be substituted.

For the rest of the game we simply weren't focused enough given Hoffenheim plenty opportunity to get back into the game and they did scoring twice in the proces.

As a result of this game several of our players found themselves in the team of the week:

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1. FSV Mainz 05 - VFB Stuttgart
View attachment 210451With Ginczek out injured Werner got himself another appearance in our starting eleven.

The match itself started rather slowly but we did have several good chances at taking the lead unfortunately we didn't manage to grab that one goal. Instead it was Mainz who hit us on the counter giving them the lead.
Sunjic then made a stupid foul causing them to get a penalty luckily for us however they missed keeping us in the game.

For the second half we went all out in attack but Werner simply didn't manage to convert any of the chances he got and so we lost.

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VFB Stuttgart - FC Ingolstadt 04
View attachment 210449At the start of the season I would have described Ingolstadt as one of the easiest opponents in the league, how wrong was I. The newly promoted side are currently sitting in 3rd place!

From their league position I expected a very tough match instead we simply dominated the entire game getting more then 60% of possession and creating almost 5 times as many chances as they did. Insua was in excellent form as he provided the assists for both the 1-0 and the 2-1. Gruezo managed to score following a corner giving us a comfortable 3-1 lead.

I then brough on Werner as I felt that this match was the perfect opportunity for him to end his goal drought and he did exactly that giving us a very good 4-1 win over a very impressive Ingolstadt side.

Again several of our players made it into the team of the week:

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February Review
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Overal February was a pretty good month, we won four of our five games making us shoot up the table in the proces. As an added bonus we are now also in the semi-final of the DFB-Pokal.



Here is the table:
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As you can see we are currently 5th in the league, only 3 points behind Hertha BSC and 7 point behind Ingolstadt.



News
As the DFB Pokal is nearing the final these are the semi-finals:
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We'll be playing Red Bull Leipzig while Bayern Munich will face Hoffenheim. RB Leipzig are in excellent form right now and have a very strong squad so this isn't going a be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination.



Finally the month February has also brough us the annual youth intake and we have gotten ourselves some very promising players:

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A Look Ahead
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March sees us play only 3 games but 2 of these games are very tough as we'll be facing Borussia Dortmund at home whilst we also play Hertha BSC at the Olympiastadion.

If we want to finish in the top 4 then we should atleast be beating Hertha and Koln.

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This is one of my favourite stories on the site - the layout is insaaane!
 
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March
Despite being a very short month March was also going to be a very important month for us as we faced 2 tough opponents in Borussia Dortmund and Hertha BSC.



1.FC Köln - VFB Stuttgart
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Knowing that we had 2 very tough games coming up I felt that a good result here was vital.

We dominated possession for the entire first-half but failed to create any notable chances so we went into the break on level terms.

In the second half Köln were far more agressive in attack as I result I went with a more direct style of play hoping to hit them on the counter and it worked as Harnik put us in front after 54 minutes played. Koln then continued to attack but we managed to hold onto our lead.

In the 79th minute Werner then scored another goal to give us a comfortable 2 goal lead. In the final seconds of the match Ginczek grabbed another goal which was very pleasing as he hasn't been focused ever since our disagreement over Serey Die's transfer.

As a result of this splendid victory several of our players made it into the team of the week:
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Unfortunately this match also had a lot of negative consquences for the game against Dortmund as Harnik got injured and Gruezo and Sunjic both received their 5th yellow card of the season resulting in an automatic 1 match suspension leaving us without 3 key players in what was already going to be an extremely difficult match.
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VFB Stuttgart - Borussia Dortmund
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Then came our match against league leaders Borussia Dortmund. Despite the fact that we were down 3 key players I was encouraged by the result of our previous encounter at the Signal Induna Park add to that the fact that we have been in excellent form at home and I definately felt that we could get something out of this match.

The match got of to a very slow start and neither side created any significant chances for most of the first half.

During the second half possession was very evenly shared but unlike us Dortmund managed to create several good chances even resulting in a goal for them but luckily for us it was ruled offside. I made several substitutions but they didn't have the effect that I had hoped for.

Then with 15 minutes left on the clock Baumgartl picked up an injury and since I had already used up all of my 3 substitutions we were left one man short. Funnily enough however we then became the better team and even managed to create some good chances but in the end we came up short resulting in the points being shared.



Hertha BSC - VFB Stuttgart
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This match was a very important one as Hertha are our direct opponents in the battle for the 4th place that would secure a spot in the Champions League play-offs.

The team seemed to be very aware of this as we got of to an absolute brilliant start grabbing a 2 goal lead within the first 14 minutes of the match.

Then however we totally collapsed as our players were becoming complacent resulting in Hertha managing to score 4(!) goals in the space of 14 minutes resulting in a half time score of 4-2.

Fuming I told the players to get their heads back in the game but it simply didn't work. Hertha then received a red card in the 60th minute but this still didn't give us the advantage to push on.
Werner did score a goal in the 87th minute and I was left with some hope but those feelings were crushed when Hertha immediately replied with their 5th goal leaving us with a terrible 5-3 defeat.



March Review
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March began really well with a convincing win against Köln, we then had a somewhat lucky draw against Dortmund before finishing the month of with a very disappointing loss to Hertha BSC.


Lets take a look at the current Bundesliga table
View attachment 210071As the Bundesliga is nearing its climax we find ourselves in 5th place, 3 points behind Hertha BSC and 1 point ahead of Leverkusen. At the top of the table we find Dortmund whom are 2 points ahead of Bayern so it will be very interesting to see who will manage to come up on top at the end.

At the bottom of the table we find some very surprising teams as Wolfsburg are currently in a direct relegation spot while HSV and Schalke 04 are also far from safe.


News
I have added one more staff member to the club.
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I feel that there is plenty of talent to find in eastern europe so I wanted to bring in someone with a lot of knowledge regarding this area. I took a look around and found Roman Szewczyk at Red Bull Leipzig so I made him an offer that he couldn't refuse.

I have immediately send him on an assignment so I hope that he will find me something good.


A Look Ahead
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April is going to be a massive month as we will play a total of 6 matches including the DFB Pokal Semi Final against Red Bull Leipzig that will determine whether or not we will make it to the final of the Pokal.​
 
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