VfB Stuttgart remains first class. But the rescue in the relegation should not hide what went wrong in this round. And what conclusions to draw. A commentary by George Moissidis.
Rescue at the last second: VfB Stuttgart and coach Sebastian Hoeneß.
IMAGO/Press photo Baumann
The conclusion of this roller coaster ride somehow fits the overall season. How often did the people of Stuttgart have the chance of staying up “in their own hands” and forget that they were capable of slipping fingers. In the relegation, too, VfB should do what VfB likes to do: make life difficult for themselves. Having started with a furious 3-0 in the first leg against HSV, they needed a deficit and pressure in the second leg to hold on to the game against the Hanseatic League, who were struggling with limited resources.
Four coaches for one goal
The bottom line is a happy end to a messed-up season in an overlength final. Not even Sebastian Hoeneß managed to completely protect the VfB pros from themselves and their unstable performances. Surely nobody wants to hear it this Monday: But in the “glamor” of staying in the league, it shouldn’t be forgotten that this team needed four coaches to achieve their goal.
Stuttgart 2022/23, a squad in the style of an electric car: high gloss on legs with endless future prospects – but limited range. Professionals with the ability to achieve short-term peak performance at the expense of the entire route. A fleet of around 60 million euros that almost ended up in the scrap heap of overloaded promises. First the goal of the club, to get through the season unchallenged this season, went up in flames before a threatening conflagration could be extinguished with great effort in the relegation. No matter how hard you tried and by what means, the only thing that usually burned out too quickly was the willingness of some players to fully live up to their reputation.
No matter which coach from the district of Pellegrino Matarazzo, Michael Wimmer, Bruno Labbadia or Hoeneß, the pattern of mistakes was repeated throughout the season: Early goals were followed by late goals, individual mistakes, team tactical mistakes, euphoric attempts to catch up with conservative football, a quick onset of self-satisfaction, small groups and a tendency toward understated seriousness. The trainers had to pay for it.
The squad: Almost everything has to go
The fourth coach finally managed to save the season and now faces the challenge of turning the squad with its 35 players, which is also overcrowded because of the loan returnees, together with sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth. Almost everything has to go, only a part is allowed to stay. The credo of hiring young talent, training them and then selling them at high prices urgently needs to be revised. The requirement profile so far was clearly too optimistic. The question of how young is actually young was too often answered with young, younger, VfB. The hope that mass would eventually become class has not been fulfilled for VfB. Just as little as the pronounced penchant for foreign teenage talents, only a few of whom really have a future at VfB. Many simply could not mature as quickly as the branch they were clinging to snapped under the weight of the Bundesliga’s fierce competition.
Bundesliga relegation 2022/23
Two Japanese as a coach’s dream
None of the young professionals from Australia, Turkey or Denmark who were declared top talents made the breakthrough. Not even in the beginning. Likewise, no one rose from their own academy, and only a few did so from France, Greece, England or Portugal. It is significant that the bargain Hiroki Ito, originally for VfB II but brought to the pros by Matarazzo, trumped all the supposed stars.
Coming from Japan’s 2nd division, the 24-year-old, together with captain and compatriot Wataru Endo, showed everyone what professionalism means. Hardworking, reliable, rarely injured or ill: the two Japanese personify the dream of every coach. While parts of the group presented themselves as overly talented, but also overestimated young stars who liked to overestimate themselves.
The hope is called Hoeneß
An announced bankruptcy was just averted. Hope for improvement is there and justified. The fact that Hoeneß, a young coach of the current generation, was hired until June 2025, regardless of the league, was a proven good move. The 41-year-old has now had enough time to get to know the team, which is not his, with all their strengths and weaknesses, their quirks, flaws and quirks. Sporty and human.
He drew the right conclusions from this, which can be seen from his positive balance sheet. He will draw more from it when it comes to squad planning. Stuttgart needs more reality than appearances, a little more present than future. Otherwise, the traditional club from 1893 could fare like so many others of its kind before it. Caught between aspiration and reality, between good intentions and approaches, but with bad decisions and even worse prospects.
2023-06-06 21:26:00
#Commentary #rescue #VfB #lot #reality #appearances
