Babbel and Van Gaal Under Pressure
Vfb Stuttgart meet Bayern Munich on Saturday with both managers under pressure. It’s a far cry from last season when they met on the final day in a potential title decider.
The Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion will be a pressure cooker on Saturday as two traditional power houses of German football go head to head. In the home of Daimler-Chrysler and Porsche, the local side Vfb Stuttgart have started the season with a splutter and a big cloud of grey smoke. After a defeat last night in the DFB Cup away to 2nd division Greuther-Fürth, coach Markus Babbel is coming under increasing pressure. It was a familiar story, Stuttgart created enough chances to put their opponents away, but still managed to finish on the losing side.
Stuttgart are currently lying in 14th place with only 8 points from 10 games. Including the Cup defeat, they have lost their last four games (also losing at home to Schalke and Sevilla and away to Hannover 96) and have only two wins to their credit in the league all season – against Freiburg at home (4:2) and Frankfurt away (0:3). General manager Horst Heldt has gone on record time and again stating he is 100% behind Babbel . But the former Liverpool man will be aware that the last time Stuttgart had such a bad start to the season, they went down. He will be eager to record a positive result against this Saturday’s opponents – Bayern Munich.
The four-times European champions are in a far less precarious situation in the league (they’re currently sitting 5th and 4 points off leaders Bayer Leverkusen), but the jury is still out on coach Louis van Gaal. The Bavarians have recorded some excellent wins this season, most notably a 3-0 win over champions Wolfsburg and a 5-1 thrashing of Borussia Dortmund, but more often than not they have failed to convince. They have suffered defeats at the hands of Hamburg and newly promoted Mainz and flattered to deceive in wins over Nürnberg, Freiburg and last week against Eintracht Frankfurt. Then there was the miserable Champions League capitulation in Bordeaux. To further add to the pressure, Van Gaal’s Bayern have a worse points tally than Juergen Klinsmann’s Bayern at the same time last season, and the German media are quick to remind him.
Van Gaal has been struggling to find out what his best team is and has a number of issues to solve. Is Philipp Lahm more effective at right or left back, and who will play on the other flank? Will he be able to get the best out of Franck Ribery? They are only now starting to develop a working relationship, and Van Gaal hasn’t found a settled position for him. Will he play 4-3-3 or 4-4-2? How can he accommodate Luca Toni, Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose, not to mention their new young attacking prospect Thomas Müller? There are also question marks at the centre of defence. 20 year-old Holger Badstuber is obviously talented, but can he fill the departed Lucio’s boots for the whole season with only Martin Demichelis as back-up?
This is all a far cry from the final day of last season. The two sides met in the Allianz Arena knowing a win could have taken them to the title. It was sadly not to be for both sides as they were pipped by Wolfsburg. For Stuttgart, finishing third was a fantastic achievement. After Babbel took over in November 2008, the team lost only twice in 20 league games to power their way up the table.
So what’s gone wrong this season for the Swabians? Stuttgart have had to deal with losing their best player, Mario Gomez, to their upcoming opponents. They have created lots of chances throughout their recent run of defeats, but they lack the killer instinct that Gomez provided.
Babbel has spent some money bringing in Pavel Pogrebnyak and Zdravko Kuzmanovic, as well as Alex Hleb on loan, to strengthen the squad. It’s clear that the new signings are taking time to bed in, whilst the more experienced players are struggling to adapt to playing without Gomez as their focal point. Good players usually adapt however, and Stuttgart’s players should do so, provided they stay focused and professional (they were rumoured to be seen out partying following the home defeat to Schalke) and they don’t let their heads drop – with better luck, Stuttgart could have won their last 2 league games comfortably and would be sitting in a far more satisfactory 9th place if they had.
If Stuttgart harbour any hopes of European football next season they will need to start winning soon. For Babbel, what better stage to begin a revival than a home match against his former club?
Photo by Apfelsafttee
Geoff, good preview. What’s your prediction for the game?
Also, does Ribery look like a player who still wants to be at Bayern, or has the speculation over the summer had an impact?
William, thanks for your comment. It’s a hard one to predict. If I was sticking my neck out I would say Bayern will win. Both sides are weak defensively but Bayern have more firepower up front. They also look to be running into some form (beat Frankfurt 4-0 away in the cup midweek).
You never know, but Ribery seems committed at the moment and announced a month or so ago that he was considering a contract extension. He had a few problems with van Gaal early on but is over them now (after a goal at Dortmund last month he ran over to van Gaal and jumped him). He’s also been struggling with his fitness.
Babbel succumbs I see, with Christian Gross his replacement. I have seen them a couple of times this year and they looked good under Babbel, played some good football. Swift, precise and great to watch, but they couldn’t score at the end of it. Did see Rudy mind, very impressive indeed. Still, if Gross can get Pogrebnyak scoring like he has been in Europe then they have the makings of a decent side.
Indeed Steve. They’ve started quite well under Gross. 1 win and a draw so far, with Pogrebnyak netting both games. They would have had 2 wins out of 2 were it not for some customary puerile tomfoolery from Mad Jens.
I would still have liked Babbel to get a bit more time. I think he earned some loyalty after his achievements last year. Shame some of the idiots among the ranks of Stuttgart’s fans couldn’t look at it that way.