VfB Stuttgart continues to stagger towards the 2nd Bundesliga. At Union Berlin, the bottom of the table lost 3-0. The fate of coach Bruno Labbadia is still unclear.
Bruno Labbadia was completely soaked in the rain and kept shrugging his shoulders helplessly when talking to his coaching colleague Urs Fischer. The bottom of the table VfB Stuttgart is staggering after the 0: 3 (0: 0) at Union Berlin of the 2nd Bundesliga – and Labbadia does not seem to find an antidote.
Sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth avoided a clear commitment to the coach after the next bankruptcy. “It makes absolutely no sense to comment on post-game staffing issues out of frustration and emotion,” he said.
The Picture-Zeitung meanwhile reported that the club “most likely” wanted to separate from Labbadia. Markus Gisdol is a possible successor. Labbadia took over as coach last December, under him there has only been one win in eleven league games so far. VfB is bottom of the table with 20 points. Before Labbadia came, Pellegrino Matarazzo had been released in October, while Michael Wimmer had looked after the team in the meantime.
“If you evaluate the overall situation: We had three coaches, all with very different profiles. That means we won’t find the sole culprit. That’s why we’ll go into the analysis tomorrow, talk about it calmly. Today we’ll first deal with the emotions and the frustration get out of our heads. Then we won’t have a clear head and will leave the port tomorrow,” said Wohlgemuth.
Wohlgemuth was also unable to say whether Labbadia would still be on the bench in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup on Wednesday (6 p.m.) at second division club 1. FC Nürnberg. “We have said that we will not hold the debates in public. We will go public with facts. You will then see whether that will be the case next week or the week after.”
Union – Stuttgart: VfB collapses under constant pressure
“It wasn’t enough today,” said young national player Josha Vagnoman sky firmly. After the final whistle, he and his teammates felt the displeasure of the fans who had traveled with them. “Fight more, deliver more,” according to Vagnoman, was the message from the frustrated supporters.
Union top scorer Sheraldo Becker (51st), Kevin Behrens (65th) and an own goal by ex-Unioner Genki Haraguchi (68th) brought the bitter bankruptcy to Stuttgart. VfB has been without a win for five games. In general, under Labbadia, who took over in December, only one success in eleven league games so far. “Perhaps we are not consistent enough. We still have enough games and we all have to work our asses off,” said goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow. Union remains in third place in the Champions League with 51 points.
Labbadia changed personnel and system. Among other things, he brought Vagnoman as a right winger in his 4-3-3. But it was noticeable that the Stuttgarters were missing important players for the offensive in left-back Borna Sosa (muscle problems) and striker Silas (calf problem).
Because VfB and Union were defensively stable, little happened at the beginning. This only changed when Stuttgart’s Enzo Millot found Dan-Axel Zagadou (29′) in the middle after a deflected free kick – the header from three meters flew just over the goal.
Four minutes later, Union goalkeeper Lennart Grill, who replaced the ailing Frederik Rönnow, almost gave the guests the lead. After a long tee shot by Bredlow, Grill, who stormed out of his goal, misjudged and shot Juan Jose Perea in the process, who only had to slide the ball in. Perea had his hand on the ball when Grill shot, which is why referee Florian Badstübner denied the goal according to the video images. Grill (43rd) made his mistake forgotten again when he made a strong save in a duel with Tiago Tomas shortly before the break.
Union came out of the dressing room with a lot more energy after the break. First Janik Haberer (48′) twisted from an acute angle before Becker pushed a cross from Jerome Roussillon over the line and caused the An der Alten Försterei stadium to tremble. Only four minutes later, Rani Khedira had the 2-0 on the foot after a corner, but chased the ball clear in the fray.
Stuttgart collapsed under the constant pressure of the Union – and Behrens turned on. He scored the second goal, which was initially called off for offside, before Haraguchi deflected his sharp cross into his own goal.
Union Berlin – VfB Stuttgart: The voices
Urs Fischer (Coach Union Berlin): “Stuttgart did that well in the first half. We contributed a lot there. No rhythm, no preparedness: we’re lucky not to be behind. In the first 20, 25 minutes of the second half we saw that face distinguishes us. A lot of opponents find it difficult against us. It was a disappointing and weak first half and then a clear improvement in the second half. A happy win overall.”
Bruno Labbadia (coach VfB Stuttgart): “You can’t play a much better first half at Union. Our problem is that we didn’t score and then conceded the goal out of nowhere. We conceded goals too easily. When you’re up front, luck is on your side . With us it’s the other way around. It’s disappointing.”
Union Berlin – VfB Stuttgart: The data for the game
