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Saša Kalajdžić scored again, the Stuttgart players cheer
Photo: Pressefoto Rudel / Robin Rudel / imago images / Sportfoto Rudel
Mario Gomez, Dennis Aogo, Christian Gentner: The Stuttgart team, which was relegated from the Bundesliga two years ago, didn't lack experience.
On average, VfB's starting eleven was 26.5 years old in the relegation second leg against Union Berlin.
One season later, VfB Stuttgart returned to the first division.
From the starting line-up from back then there is exactly one player in the Stuttgart squad: striker Nicolas Gonzalez.
Since then, VfB has changed in all other positions.
This season, two-thirds of the season was spent on players whom VfB has signed since relegation.
The club seems to have done a lot of things right.
The Swabians got seven points from four games.
Not only the results, but above all the team’s style of play is convincing: The Stuttgart team surprised their opponents with fast, straightforward football.
This is also thanks to the sporting leadership under sports director Sven Mislintat: The transfers have given the team new strengths, which coach Pellegrino Matarazzo knows how to use properly.
Second youngest squad in the league
VfB has significantly rejuvenated its squad over the past two years.
In the 2018/2019 relegation season, he made the fifth-oldest squad.
Since then, seasoned players like Gomez or Ron-Robert Zieler have left the club, Holger Badstuber has been deported to the second team.
The current team consists of young players from Germany and all over Europe.
VfB picked up talents from major European clubs such as Paris St. Germain (Tanguy Coulibaly, 19) and Arsenal FC (Konstantinos Mavropanos, 22, on loan).
They also poached in the second French (Silas Wamangituka, 21) and Belgian leagues (Wataro Endo, 27).
Some players came from the second Bundesliga (such as Waldemar Anton, 24).
VfB's scouting department has its eyes everywhere.
This season, Stuttgart's starting line-up is an average of 24 years old, making it the youngest in the entire league.
Kalajdžić as a symbol of transfer politics
A prime example of this transfer strategy is Saša Kalajdžić, 23. VfB signed him from the Austrian candidate for relegation Admira Wacker.
Kalajdžić had just played 33 competitive games at the time and had an injury history that would have put off some other clubs.
In the summer of 2019, he injured himself immediately after his engagement and missed almost the entire second division season.
This season Kalajdžić is fit - and has exceeded expectations.
The Austrian has already scored three goals.
With a height of two meters, Kalajdžić gives the Stuttgart game a new dimension: As a massive striker, he rubs himself up in the opposing penalty area.
He is good as a recycler of flat and high crosses.
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Towering high and versatile: Stuttgart striker Saša Kalajdžić
Photo: Pressefoto Rudel / Robin Rudel / imago images / Sportfoto Rudel
To dismiss Kalajdžić as a pure striker in the penalty area would do his game an injustice.
As a youth player, Kalajdžić acted mostly from midfield.
He has a good understanding of the game and a clean first contact.
Of the league's strikers, only Frankfurt's Bas Dost has created more chances so far.
Kalajdžić has already prepared a goal.
Stuttgart's striker is an example of a bigger trend: After smaller, more agile attackers were often preferred in the past decade, a return of the big penalty area strikers can currently be observed.
They have expanded their repertoire: players like Kalajdžić are not only big, but also technically strong and fast.
Hardly any striker is as complete as Kalajdžic - even if the Austrian cannot individually compete with the best in the league.
Kalajdžić is not an isolated case in the VfB squad: The club is young in almost all positions and modern from a tactical point of view.
Be it in the full-back position, where Wamangituka appears offensively and is constantly looking for dribbling, or in the central defense, in which Stuttgart offers players who are strong and fast.
VfB Stuttgart as a pioneer of modern football?
This has not happened in a long time.
First division benefits the strengths
Stuttgart fans will, however, ask themselves: If this team is so modern and so young, why has it struggled so hard in the second division?
VfB has by no means mastered the compulsory task of advancement with ease.
Coach Matarazzo had already suspected before the season that his players would find it easier in the first division: "In the Bundesliga we will be able to adjust our match schedules more variably than in the second division."
He emphasized that the speed of his players was the big plus;
a plus that you can rather play if you can play on the counter at Hertha BSC or Mainz.
On the other hand, Favorite Stuttgart had to tear down defensive walls against Aue or Regensburg.
In fact, the Stuttgart team's possession value has decreased: In the first four games they had an average of almost 50 percent possession, in the 2-0 win in Berlin it was only 36 percent.
In the past second division season they had the highest value in the league with around 60 percent possession.
They come to fast tempo attacks much more frequently, which play into the cards of the strengths of their attackers.
The curse of the good deed?
With its speed football, VfB has moved away from the relegation ranks.
1. FC Köln, opponents in the upcoming game (Friday, 8.30 p.m., DAZN, live ticker: SPIEGEL.de), are already six points behind the promoted team.
But one's own success could still be a problem in the fight against relegation: The relegation candidates will compete more defensively against the strong VfB than they would normally have against a newly promoted team - and could thus slow down Stuttgart's strengths.
It is also still unclear how well the young VfB team can deal with setbacks.
Two years ago, however, the Stuttgart-based company had more experience than most of its competitors - and still broke mentally.
Today's rejuvenated, modern team could now succeed in re-establishing VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga.
Icon: The mirror
