VfB Stuttgart in crisis: But Matarazzo should stay

Created: 10/01/2022 19:33

Stuttgart coach Pellegrino Matarazzo gestures.

© Swen Pförtner/dpa

VfB Stuttgart also lost the crisis duel at VfL Wolfsburg 2: 3 and is still without a win after eight Bundesliga match days.

Apparently, coach Matarazzo continues to enjoy confidence.

Wolfsburg - These are the classic symptoms of a crisis.

VfB Stuttgart loses what is probably the most important game of the season so far with a goal in injury time.

All players then flee into the cabin, nobody can be seen in the first half hour after the final whistle.

And if you dare, you will be asked about the trainer.

After all: Pellegrino Matarazzo is apparently not up for discussion at VfB even after the bitter 2: 3 (2: 2) at VfL Wolfsburg.

In this regard, dealing with crises in Stuttgart has changed significantly in recent years.

"He is not part of the analysis," confirmed sports director Sven Mislintat on Saturday evening.

And the coach himself, despite the painful blow to the neck in the Bundesliga, was combative after Yannick Gerhardt conceded a late goal (90 minutes + 1 minute): "We've always shown in the past that we're able to get back up .

It's part of our DNA.”

The 44-year-old is right on this point.

In the past season, there were some indications that VfB would be relegated before the team even saved themselves relegation in injury time on the last day of the game.

However, the team from Stuttgart were not able to keep the great enthusiasm triggered by the 2-1 win against 1. FC Köln on May 14 into the new season.

After eight matchdays you are still without a win.

And the sporting crisis in which this team finds itself is very difficult to analyze.

"If we sum up the goals against Frankfurt and today, then that's six in two games.

It just makes it hard to win games like that," Mislintat said.

But what he's actually getting at is: "Before these games we were defensively stable and didn't score our points due to a lack of effectiveness and lack of conversion of chances.

Only in the last two games did we make too many mistakes.” The results are the same.

Only the reasons for this change.

In Wolfsburg, the Stuttgarters missed several opportunities to send a similarly troubled opponent onto the boards.

After Serhou Guirassy had taken a 1-0 lead (22'), it only took a minute for Omar Marmoush, who was on loan to VfB last season, to make it 1-1 (23').

A mistake by the otherwise strong Florian Müller favored the Wolfsburg 2:1 by Maximilian Arnold (38th).

And after Konstantinos Mavropanos equalized (45+1), the guests were actually closer to the third goal than VfL.

Among other things, Silas only hit the crossbar in the 57th minute.

One should not forget, said Mislintat: "We have to suffer a loss of substance again and again." By this he means the sales of players like Sasa Kalajdzic this summer or Nicolás González last summer.

“I think we are the second youngest team in Europe.

There will always be phases like this.

And at the end of the day, it will always be about going through such phases.”

The Swabians will all play their next three games at home: against Union Berlin and bottom of the table VfL Bochum in the Bundesliga, against Arminia Bielefeld, who have been relegated from the first division, in the DFB Cup.

He doesn't want to sugarcoat anything, said Matarazzo.

“But we now have three home games in a row.

This is a huge opportunity to turn things in a different direction again.” dpa