In our next European piece involving a Bundesliga club here on Get German Football News, it’s time to assess VfB Stuttgart’s Europa League prospects. Sebastian Hoeneß’ Württemberger – just l...
In our next European piece involving a Bundesliga club here on Get German Football News, it’s time to assess VfB Stuttgart’s Europa League prospects. Sebastian Hoeneß’ Württemberger – just like the last team we covered – head into their second UEL fixtures winners of three consecutive matches on-the-spin. Stuttgart, like their UEL counterparts Freiburg, got off to a sluggish start this season. An entirely palpable loss to Bayern München in the DFL Supercup was followed up a horribly disconcerting upset defeat to 1. FC Union Berlin on match-day one.
These Swabians were able to rebound with a win against Borussia Mönchengladbach on match-day two, yet were still forced to contend with a lousy news “Doppelpack” entering the final weekend of the transfer window. Newcastle’s poaching of Nick Woltemade and word of Deniz Undav’s injury all occurred within a hectic 24-hour-span. Thankfully, board-member-for-sport Fabian Wohlgemuth, sporting director Christian Gentner, and the rest of the VfB administrative team rose to the occasion in the final days before the deadline.
Though the planned blockbuster “transfer triple pack” didn’t quite materialize, it’s already quite apparent that theCannstatter scored a pair of high-utility North Africans in the form of über-enthusiastic Moroccan Bilal El Khannouss and pacy Algerian winger Badredine Bouanani. Both are already contributing on the score-sheet and off. It appears as if the VfB front office – for the third straight year no less – have rendered the summer departures moot, at least until AFCON 2025 rolls around in January.
We last checked in with Stuttgart on a detailed level right after that madness that was the DFB Pokal victory over Eintracht Braunschweig. Prior to that, it’s worth noting that the general assessment of this club’s camp was positive. After the Gladbach win, there was another dip against Freiburg. Then came the three straight wins against St. Pauli, Celta Vigo, and 1. FC Köln. As per usual, we’ll cover everything in full detail in the tactics section below. There’s a special bonus look-in on a friendly against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach during the September international break as well.
Essentially, things look to be largely in order with this club…..
…..except for the wholly unnecessary ditching of the “furchtlos und treu” motto.
Why? Someone needs to explain to the author why this was necessary.
VfB Stuttgart UEL Squad
Much like last year, those omitted from the European roster make big news. One might as well point out for the “nth” time that Nick Woltemade wasn’t included in Hoeneß’ Champions League roster in the autumn of 2024. The author assumes that everyone knows that fact by now. Let it nevertheless never be forgotten! Eight players from the 32-man league roster have been dropped this time. Silas, Justin Diehl, Ameen Al-Dakhil, Leonidas Stergiou, Pascal Stenzel, and Noah Darvich are all missing.
Goalkeepers:
Bredlow, Nübel
Defenders:
Hendriks, Vagnoman, Mittelstädt, Jaquez, Assignon, Zagadou, Chabot, Groiß, Nothnagel
Midfielders:
Stiller, Führich, El Khannouss, Karazor, Jeltsch, Andrés, Jovanović
Forwards:
Tomás, Leweling, Undav, Bouanani, Kastanaras, Demirović
The Silas news hits Bundesliga enthusiasts head. Most of us happened to rather like how the club stood by the Congo DR international. Diehl and Darvich unfortunately don’t adhere to UEFA’s “homegrown player” regulations. Hence, Thomas Kastanaras (yes, he still exists) is back despite not really featuring for VfB II anymore. Alexander Groiß (27) and Dominik Nothnagel (30) are interesting additions in that – as one can infer from the bracketed ages – the pair aren’t exactly “spring chickens”.
Nice to see a pair of lower league journeymen get a shot.
VfB Stuttgart Remaining UEL Schedule
The manner in which the schedule was finalized does leave Stuttgart with some ill-timed tough away fixtures in November, not to mention a serious challenge down south at the end of a packed January that will see them without some of their AFCON stars. It could prove the case that the Württemberger find themselves left out of the knockouts in this new format for the second straight year. Given that they faced a Champions League field last season, however, one still wants to lend them the benefit of the doubt.
Thursday, October 2nd
FC Basel (A) 21:00
Thursday, October 23rd
Fenerbahçe (A) 18:45
Thursday, November 6th
Feyenoord Rotterdam (H) 21:00
Thursday, November 27th
Go Ahead Eagles Deventer (A) 21:00
Thursday, December 12th
Maccabi Tel Aviv (H) 18:45
Thursday, January 22nd
AS Roma (H) 21:00
Thursday, January 29th
Young Boys Bern (A) 21:00
Racking enough early points before the calendar year turns shall prove essential. At least three victories and two draws are needed. Obviously, the fabulous news that they could be two thirds of the way toward meeting that first metric come sunrise on Friday morning is sure to perk up more than a few Cannstatt citizens. It should work. “Sei furchtlos und treu”…… if indeed that’s still permitted.
Tactics Check, VfB Stuttgart
Picking up from where we left off, Hoeneß’ Württemberger went straight from the insane DFB Pokal match into a sleepy Saturday encounter with Gerardo Seoane’s slumping Borussia Mönchengladbach. Only four days after the draining extended penalty shootout, Hoeneß made only two personnel rotations. Josha Vagnoman and Jamie Leweling replaced Lorenz Assignon and Chris Führich as straight swaps in the 4-2-3-1.
With the club celebrating “100 years of the Red Stripe” with fantastic in-stadium, one held onto hopes that the players would draw some energy from the crowd. Initially, there was plenty of pace to the game of both teams. Unfortunately, when Deniz Undav succumbed to injury inside of ten minutes, a still leggy Führich had to come on in relief to play an unrehearsed position.
Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (15th minute)
Hoeneß option to dispense with the idea of having a ten, instead pocketing Führich deep into midfield. A sensible enough conservative play from the VfB trainer. Führich used to play central at Paderborn all the time, but clearly wasn’t ready for this assignment. Gladbach actually steadily took the momentum of the match away from the hosts as BMG sixes Rocco Reitz and Philipp Sander titled the scales ever so steadily in the midfield battles.
When Gladbach continued to ride the wave after the break, Hoeneß staggered with a pair of double substitutions until he had a more attack-minded 4-3-3 back on the pitch. Assignon, Lazar Jovanovic, Chema Andres and Nikolas Nartey relieved Vagnoman, Führich, Atakan Karazor, and Maximilian Mittelstädt. The late constellation produced just enough to lend the team some confidence from open play.
Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (75th minute)
The late 79th-minute 1-0 that took out Gladbach actually came off a short corner. Chema Andres signaled his Bundesliga arrival with a fine finish of a delicate Jamie Leweling cross. Granted, BMG defender Jens Castrop didn’t have much to offer on what should have been an easy marking assignment. In any event, Hoeneß’ Swabians dug out a much-needed win despite only managing 0.84 xG over the course of the entire match. After the international break, it was time for Hoeneß to test drive some of his new deadline day arrivals against Freiburg.
Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (Match Three)
A simple enough 4-2-3-1 as Hoeneß appears to envision it with his new actors in place. After the match, the VfB trainer gave a candid assessment of El Khannoss and Bouanani. The former passed his opening exam with flying colors whilst the latter did little beyond cement his status behind Tiago Tomas on the depth chart. The manner in which Hoeneß reformatted to protect his slender lead ended up not working well at all unfortunately. The late Freiburg goal flurry (covered already in a separate piece) came with this in place:
Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (78th minute)
Whether or not it was supposed to look like this or indeed what earthly purpose a late 3-4-3 of any sort served remains unclear. The Breisgauer hosts were almost invited to slice up the wings. One would have thought that Hoeneß learned something from his opening day loss away at Freiburg last season. Before pummeling the VfB trainer too much, however, one should credit him for learning three vitally important personnel lessons ahead of the next league fixture against FC St. Pauli.
Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (Match Four)
Tomas and Assignon over newbie Bouanani and slumping Vagnoman were obvious enough. Anyone following this team has to admit that Chema Andrés over captain Atakan Karazor really shocked. A bold, yet entirely correct, move. The 20-year-old’s maturity and poise is quite striking. One immediately understands why Real Madrid attached all those buyback and resale clauses. Though Andrés happens to be one of the shier of the new arrivals, he’s increasingly assertive on the pitch.
Another fine performance from the youngster helped Stuttgart get back on track with a 2-0 victory over St. Pauli in the match-day four Friday night curtain raiser. The Cannstatter did well not to let an early penalty miss from Angelo Stiller throw them off course. Demirovic and El Khannouss would eventually score to seal the result. In all honesty, Stuttgart-St. Pauli proved one of the – if not the – least competitive Bundesliga matches of the young season. The outcome was never really in doubt.
Alexander Blessin’s Kiezkicker – predicted to fade – did just that. Chema impressed with several lovely “unlock” through balls. Defensive captain Jeff Chabot, sufficiently recovered from an early season knock, held the back ranks together well. As evidenced by that wild Pokal fixture, Stuttgart just don’t seem right without Chabot running the bow-arcs and audibly directing his teammates. Nübel made the saves he needed to. Tomas, Leweling, and Demirovic all dazzled up front.
All was well heading into the opening Europa League fixture against Celta Vigo. It came as no surprise to see Chema retain his place in the starting XI against Celta Vigo, a team VfB actually beat in the pre-season. Hoeneß’ two personnel changes ahead of the opening UEL fixture did surprise. Chabot and Tomas made way for Ramon Hendriks and Bouanani in the same 4-2-3-1. For some reason, Chabot never entered the match.
When Finn Jeltsch injured himself, Chabot remained on the bench while Luca Jacquez made his long-awaited return to meaningful action. The Swabian hosts were nearly made to pay after Nübel made a couple of early mistakes. Thankfully, Los Celestes couldn’t capitalize. At the other end, Andrés, Assignon, and Leweling came close to opening the scoring.
Stuttgart finally got the opener when Nübel redeemed himself shortly after the restart. A pre-planned blitz counter saw Nübel register the assist on Bouanani’s 51st-minute 1-0. Bouanani’s fellow new North African arrival El Khannous added the second off a corner in the 68th following a nice one-two with Stiller that also clearly came off the training ground.
Karazor – who relieved the once-again excellent Andrés shortly after the second goal – ended up gifting former Bayer Leverkusen striker Borja Iglesias the 2-1 in the 86th. Hoeneß opted to forgive his captain and hand him a start against overzealous Lukas Kwasniok’s 1. FC Köln at the RheinEnergieStadion on Sunday.
Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (Match Five)
Jaquez re-claimed his old starting role courtesy of the fact that Jeltsch remained out injured. Hendriks – who earned man-of-the-match honors in the Europa League fixture – got a go at the left-back slot he’s occasionally worked in. Fair enough as Maxi Mittelstädt hasn’t been able to take off this season. Overall, there were six changes from the UEL match. Karazor, Chabot, Jaquez, Vagnoman, Tomas, and Führich over Chema, Mittelstädt, Jeltsch, Assignon, Bouanani, and Leweling.
The cathedral city hots exploited all the new actors initially. Tom Krauß, pressing high in midfield, won a crucial ball. Jakub Kaminski eventually netted the 4th-minute 1-0 after the ball found its way to him via Jan Thielmann and Ragnar Ache. There were several nervy moments in the immediate aftermath of the first goal. Nübel had to be on hand to save more shots. When Nübel found himself beaten, Jaquez had to clear an Ache effort off the line.
Stuttgart did settle down a bit, but were only able to equalize thanks to a highly controversial penalty involving Marvin Schwäbe in the 28th. This very soft call enabled Hoeneß’ crew to remain in a match Kwasniok’s Domstädter could have easily run away with. Things got downright choppy for a very long time until Köln substitute (certified German phenomby now) shook both teams out of their torpor with about 25 minutes left.
Not long after Mittelstädt (on as a 61st-minute sub) cleared another Köln effort off the line, Vagnoman slotted home the winner for the guests in the 81st. Admittedly a nice set up from Stiller, but either team could have honestly taken all three points here. A draw would have constituted more than a fair result. So it came to pass that Stuttgart won three straight.
Anything left to mention?
Yes.
Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (September Friendly)
Hoeneß tried out a straight 4-3-3 over the September break in a test fixture at VfB II’s proving ground in Großaspach. Führich got a chance to blow off a little steam with a second half Lupenreiner, mostly thanks to the assistance of Tomas. Not too many midfield lessons to be gleaned as the Bundesliga team mostly switched over overmatched SG Sonnenhof with ease. One still wonders if something like this might work with Chema Andrés, Stiller, and Karazor, Interesting. One can’t really see it as no member of that trio usually plays that high up….yet.
Thursday tip
Stuttgart 3, Basel 1
Well. With the godawful Eintracht Frankfurt tip from earlier this week firmly in mind, one can prognosticate an easy Stuttgart win a little easier when it comes to the southern Swiss neighbors. As noted above, the first away win puts them right where they need to be. After what happened in Belgrade last season, it’s best to act on the assumption that November away fixtures against Fenerbahçe and Go Ahead Eagles might turn out unexpectedly bad. One trusts Hoeneß and crew to take care of business.
Category: General Sports
