Vice champion VfB Stuttgart messes up the start

At times, the spectacle was reminiscent of VfB Stuttgart’s furious preseason. A huge white fan caravan had moved to the stadium before the game, the Swabians had quickly taken a 2-0 lead and joker Fabian Rieder had rocked the arena with his supposed winning goal – but then Maxim Leitsch crashed the party and brought the runners-up back to the present with the equalizer in injury time.

The wild 3:3 (2:1) against 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday caused the Stuttgarters more frustration than pleasure. Their anger was also directed at referee Timo Gerach, but they should start looking for faults within themselves. The start of the season in the Bundesliga was a failure. After two match days, VfB is only on one point, has a major defensive problem to work on – and after the international break they have a tough schedule ahead of them.

“Overall, things are going in the right direction,” said VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß. Sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth also sees the Stuttgart team “on the right path.” Of course, one cannot be “completely happy” with the results so far, admitted the 45-year-old.

After the international break, things are getting tough for VfB

Of the four competitive matches so far this season, VfB has only won one – in the first round of the DFB Cup with a 5-0 win against Preußen Münster. Last week’s victory was important after the defeats in the Supercup in Leverkusen and at the league opener in Freiburg, but the second division team is ultimately not a benchmark.

Stuttgart must accelerate, especially at the back, if they don’t want their stuttering start to become a complete false start. Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund are their next opponents in the Bundesliga, and in between they face Real Madrid in the Champions League. High hurdles await.

Coach Hoeneß has already announced that they will continue to work on the defensive processes. Because, as the coach knows, six goals conceded in two league games is too many – and not just due to the lack of personnel.

The defense, in which 20-year-old Anrie Chase was allowed to play from the start, was “not always rock solid,” said sporting director Wohlgemuth after the tie against Mainz. The comeback of long-injured full-back Josha Vagnoman in the second half was encouraging.

Wohlgemuth also noticed that the team had “let the game slip out of their hands” at times, as in Freiburg. This has less to do with personnel, but is currently a central problem for VfB.

After goals from Enzo Millot and Jamie Leweling, Stuttgart could have decided the game early on. But they took the tempo out of the game – and brought Mainz back into it themselves. Nadiem Amiri scored a penalty and Jonathan Burkardt equalized. Rieder put VfB back in the lead shortly before the end, and Leitsch, who was also substituted on, struck back in injury time.

The first two Mainz goals were preceded by controversial scenes, which left Stuttgart annoyed. “It was not enough for a penalty,” said Wohlgemuth and Hoeneß about the duel between Millot and Burkardt before the 1:2.

The Mainz player fell because he was given a “walking error,” as he himself described it. Before the 2:2, there was a handball by the guests, the Swabians. The referee “didn’t have his best day either,” summed up sporting director Wohlgemuth.

Referee trouble, defence problems, a flood of goals conceded – there’s a lot going on again at VfB, which is still in the process of finding its feet after another squad shake-up in the summer and has to get used to its new role as the hunted runner-up. It’s still causing it more frustration than pleasure.