Its been another chaotic season in Swabia, and this one could even end with the ignominy of relegation unless fortunes changeEver since VfB Stuttgart won the championship in 2007, theyve been the No1 go-to club for intra-season wobbles, managerial perma-crisis and board upheaval in the Bundesliga. Those seven years have seen six coaches – the term is used loosely here – in Armin Veh, Markus Babbel, Christian Gross, Jens Keller, Bruno Labbadia and the present incumbent Thomas Schneider, three different presidents and two sporting directors.For reasons unknown, Stuttgart refuse to adhere to the Swabian stereotype of playing it safe and dull. On the contrary, the club seem to do everything in an extreme manner. The last few seasons have seen incredibly strong post-winter-break runs and disastrous autumns. In this campaign, its the other way round. On Saturday, the Swabians lost their seventh league game in a row, 2-1 at home to Hertha Berlin. Its their worst set of results since 1987, when Egon Coordes was in charge.His name is still remembered with a shudder in the city, especially by those who trained under him. Coordes, a former assistant to Udo Lattek, was known as der Schleifer (the grinder), and for good reason: compared to his fitness regime, Felix Magaths looks enlightened.It was one of those fairly nondescript, nothing-in-it games that you win when youre doing well, draw when youre not and lose when everything conspires against you. After going 1-0 down early on to a Levan Kobiaschvili goal, the home side battled bravely, equalised thanks to Arthur Bokas fine shot on the stroke of half-time but were then undone three minutes before the end by a Sandro Wagner header. The former Germany under-21 international still found time to get booked twice in the space of a few seconds, but the away team held out.Stuttgarts sporting director, Fredi Bobic, blamed catastrophic refereeing mistakes for the result. It was a lucky win, admitted the Hertha coach, Jos Luhukay.Schneider could claim with some justification that his team were led onto the path of defeat by the referee, Robert Hartmann, who didnt whistle for a foul on Timo Werner shortly before Wagners goal at the other end. But his side have only got themselves to blame for tempting such bad fortune over the course of the last few weeks. When you cant perform consistently over 90 minutes and open the door for the opposition in regular intervals, they tend to get lucky.Looking at the team on Saturday, its easy to imagine them fighting for a Europa League spot. Theyre not a great side but theres enough quality in midfield and attack for mid-table, at least. The confidence has been shattered, however. The relegation fight is brutal, especially for the head, said the goalkeeper, Sven Ulreich.Schneiders inexperience is also showing. The 41-year-old took over from Labbadia in August after coaching the under-23s, its his first job at this level. While no one is doubting his technical expertise or effort, he seems unsure about which squad members he can and cant trust in the current situation. Players like Georg Niedermeier and Martin Harnik have come back into this fairly young side after being sidelined not long ago, and the formation has changed from a courageous but risky 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1.Theres nothing wrong with these decisions per se, but taken together, they seem to have only bred more insecurity in the ranks. Losing some of the more reliable performers in Christian Genter (injured), Moritz Leitner (suspended) and Vedad Ibisevic (suspended) at this crucial time hasnt helped. The former two are back next week, at least.Hamburgs unexpected 3-0 win against Dortmund has left Stuttgart (15th) perilously close to the drop zone. The club president, Bernd Wahler, spoke of 14 finals a couple of weeks ago. Two have since been lost. How many more chances will Schneider get? I feel total backing, said the manager, [the quality of my] work is being seen, despite the results.That is essentially right. Wahler is keen to continue with Schneider (and Bobic), because he fits the grand plan for the development of a new team with mostly young players. But on Monday, Stuttgarter Zeitung reported that the club were thinking about Thomas Tuchel (Mainz) and the former manager Ralf Rangnick, who is now the sporting director of both Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig. Neither of them would be willing to start in the second division though, if at all.A second relegation in their history – they spent two seasons in second division in the mid 1970s – would plunge the whole club into chaos. Unusually for Stuttgart, the current crisis has not yet resulted in popular revolts and blockades outside the Mercedes-Benz Arena but patience is bound to run thin soon. Sundays trip to Eintracht Frankfurt looks like it will determine Schneiders fate.Theres no point in making a prediction. Stuttgart, the grand champions of randomness and erratic mobility, could just as easily go down as get into the Champions League places next season.Talking Points • Champions League is like nice food in good restaurant, Bundesliga is like everyday pizza or hamburger, Pep Guardiola had said before the 4-0 win at Hannover. The DFL might not appreciate the notion but its hard to argue with the Catalans taste buds. Tayfun Korkuts side proved little more than a quick, comforting bite for the league leaders on Sunday night.While the rest of the Bundesliga appear ever more despondent due to their spot in the food chain, Bayern thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Manuel Neuer was rested for Tom Starke in goal, and Bastian Schweinsteiger continued his rehabilitation programme with an almost vintage performance in midfield. The 29-year-old jokingly pretended to be angry after his substitution and nearly threw away his gloves in mock indignation – like Toni Kroos had done, in earnest, a few weeks ago. Matthias Sammer was seen laughing on the bench. (No, this is not a typo.)The Bavarians are 19 points clear of the opposition, its the XXL-super-mega-meal-crust-stuffed-with-triple-whoppers of league leads. At the current rate, theyll be lifting the trophy in mid-March but it might need a new nickname in the circumstances. The salad bowl doesnt quite reflect how unhealthy this whole thing is (for the league as a whole).• Incongruously, Leverkusen are still Bayerns closest rivals after yet another defeat, their fourth in row. They werent quite as bad in the 3-1 at Wolfsburg as in the 4-0 Champions League capitulation against PSG on Tuesday but the mood is more like 16th or 17th, wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung.Nobody is playing at 2013 levels, silly mistakes have become a weekly occurrence and the biggest fear of all is that whole squad cannot be shaken out of its stupor by Sami Hyypia. Coming across cool and non-plussed is great when youre winning but less attractive when youre not.• Nürnberg celebrated a fantastic 10-man triumph against Braunschweig in a game that made Bundesliga history. Kiyotake (Nürnberg), Bicakcic and Kumbela (both Eintracht) missed three penalties between them; thats never happened before, not even when Mesut Özil was still playing in the Bundesliga.• But the weekends biggest surprise – and surprise goal – came courtesy of Hamburg. In his first game in charge, Mirko Slomka led the troubled Dino to a sensational 3-0 win over Dortmund. Hakan Calhanoglu, 20, scored with a free kick from 40 metres. I could hardly sleep for joy and watched it 50 times, said the midfielder, whod apparently practised this somewhat optimistic strike in training.Results: Schalke 0 Mainz 0, Stuttgart 1 Hertha 2, Hamburg 3 Dortmund 0, Nürnberg 2 Braunschweig 1, Wolfsburg 3 Leverkusen 1, Freiburg 2 Augsburg 4, Borussia Monchengladbach 2 Hoffenheim 2, Frankfurt 0 Werder Bremen 0, Hannover 0 Bayern Munich 4.BundesligaStuttgartEuropean club footballHertha BerlinRaphael Honigsteintheguardian © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Posted on: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 14:12:21 +0000
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