Sven Mislintat had calmed down again, but that didn’t mean that he had changed his mind. “I personally think that both yellow cards for Josh are more of a joke,” said the sports director of VfB Stuttgart after the 1-1 draw against Schalke, where full-back “Josh” Vagnoman saw a yellow-red card in the 67th minute what in turn Mislintat had acknowledged with a pronounced tantrum: “Oh come on, stop that shit”, are said to have been the words to referee Florian Badstübner, which in turn earned Mislintat a yellow card.
Even after the 1-1 draw in the home game against Schalke 04, it’s clear that not everything is going wrong at VfB Stuttgart, but there are still a few details missing for success. Four draws and one defeat, that’s the balance after five games in which the Stuttgart team had several opportunities to build up a somewhat more comfortable cushion on the relegation zone.
As in the previous week, in the 0-0 draw against 1. FC Köln, the Swabians had more of the game at the beginning and were the more decisive team. Against Schalke it was even enough for Chris Führich to take the lead (18th minute), but Simon Terodde quickly equalized in the 21st minute with his first goal of the season – and thus robbed Stuttgart of their courage to find a playful solution.
Kalajdzic is seriously injured in the first game for Wolverhampton
“After the 1-1 draw, we no longer played football properly, as we can and as we wanted to. And then we never found our way back into clear structures,” said Mislintat, who was just as critical of his own team as he was Referee. Like coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, he saw the weakest game of the season, in which VfB then got themselves into real trouble again in the final phase in the person of Vagnoman: Schalke twice had good chances of winning with the majority.
Stuttgart have seen the most cards so far this season, Luca Pfeiffer had prevented a win in Cologne with his red card in the second half, now it was Vagnoman’s tough but unnecessary second yellow card. Matarazzo himself was also suspended and watched the game from the stands but didn’t want to use that as an excuse: “We actually felt good before the game.” Mislintat also saw the team as “well-adjusted”, but there was a lack of implementation – and apparently also a little of the discipline.
Matarazzo will return to the coaching bench next week, away in Munich. Another, who was missing in the disappointing performance against Schalke, will continue to be absent. Sasa Kalajdzic made his Premier League debut for Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, but suffered a cruciate ligament tear. Kalajdzic’s tragic injury story continues, he had also had to miss several months in Stuttgart.
Even then, VfB had had problems replacing him, on Saturday it was also obvious: The young Lilian Egloff made an effort, but didn’t work alongside the fast Silas in the role of passing station, which Kalajdzic had taken on, from Führich came after his goal hardly any impulses. Borna Sosa also had little success in the opposing half, but he also lacked a partner who could convert dangerous crosses.
“The offensive game didn’t take place,” said Matarazzo critically: “You can’t win a game like that.” It will take a little ingenuity on the part of the coach to reinvent VfB at the top. At least Matarazzo was able to observe a possible solution from afar if he wanted to stick to the old pattern: Serhou Guirassy, who Mislintat had signed from Rennes at short notice, came on the field seven minutes before the end – with a height of 187 centimeters he would at least be an option as a station at the other end of Sosa flanks.
