EIt’s not as if they don’t have enough experts at VfB Stuttgart to look for a coach. There is sports director Sven Mislintat. There are the consultants Philipp Lahm and Sami Khedira. And there is Alexander Wehrle, the CEO. But on Saturday (3.30 p.m./ in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) in the basement duel with VfL Bochum: still no new head coach. “Not for a few games or half a year” should the hoped-for rescuer take over the Swabians, Mislintat had emphasized after the separation from Pellegrino Matarazzo, but like the dismissed “ideally for another 1000 days”. But VfB is finding it difficult to hire a new coach – apparently because so many experts have a say.
The tabloids have already scoffed at the largest “Coach Invention Commission” (TFK) since “Kaiser” Franz Beckenbauer and his followers enthroned Jürgen Klinsmann at DFB in 2004 as heirs to Rudi Völler. The core questions at VfB: Should it be an experienced “savior” that Wehrle supposedly wants? Or a ‘developer’ for the league’s youngest team that Mislintat is said to favor?
The relationship between Wehrle and Mislintat is not free of strains, whether the head of sports will remain open after the end of his expiring contract. In January, the former captain Christian Gentner will come as head of the licensed players department – and shadow man from Mislintat.
“Confused” team
In view of the mixed situation, it is not surprising that the candidates Domenico Tedesco and Zsolt Löw are said to have waved them off and that Dino Toppmöller, who was also contacted, prefers to remain Julian Nagelsmann’s assistant in Munich. Adi Hütter or Sebastian Hoeneß are still in the running, they say. Interim coach Michael Wimmer will sit on the bench in the duel between the penultimate table without a win in nine league games and the bottom team.
His appearance on Friday raised the question of why Matarazzo was fired in the first place. The 42-year-old said he sees no reason to “crampily do anything differently” than his previous boss. Wimmer had already replaced Matarazzo, who was suspended at the time, against Schalke (1-1) at the beginning of September.
On the other hand, he sends out an “unnerved” team that is missing suspended supports Serhou Guirassy and Atakan Karazor. The professionals were “emotionally affected” by Matarazzo’s dismissal, and the mood was initially “depressed”, reported Wimmer. He does not see himself as a possible long-term solution, there is “a clear agreement” with VfB: He will stay “until a new coach is here”. It doesn’t matter how long the coach selection committee needs.
