Holger Badstuber has criticized his former club VfB Stuttgart. The path that those responsible for sports director Sven Mislintat have taken contains a fundamental contradiction, explained the 33-year-old.
“After a difficult 2021/2022 season, when VfB got away with a black eye, development continues to stagnate. The team lacks stability, experience and a solid structure that could at least bring up a bit of consistency,” wrote Badstuber in a column published on his homepage.
With eight points, VfB is relegation place 16 after eleven match days. Almost three weeks ago, coach Pellegrino Matarazzo was fired due to the sporting downturn. Since then, Matarazzo’s assistant coach Michael Wimmer has been responsible, at least until the World Cup break.
After a brief high with a 4-1 win in the Bundesliga against bottom club VfL Bochum and a 6-0 win in the second round of the DFB Cup against second division club Arminia Bielefeld, a catastrophic relapse followed last weekend. The Swabians lost 5-0 at Borussia Dortmund after a desolate performance.
“I don’t have the feeling that the players have understood that it’s already about not being relegated. Actually, the alarm bells should have been ringing loudly for a long time,” said Badstuber.
VfB Stuttgart: Badstuber recognizes errors in squad planning
The former defender, who wore the Stuttgart jersey from 2017 to 2021, sees mistakes in squad planning, for which logically sporting director Mislintat is primarily responsible.
“The risk of starting the season with so many young players and their inexperience is too great. VfB have the youngest team in the league, so it’s inevitable that there will be little stability. But those responsible deliberately took the risk ‘ said Badstuber.
And the former Bayern professional continues: “For me, there is a fundamental contradiction to my image of VfB. VfB is now a through club, as the younger generation in particular is trying to get playing time in order to move on. The consequences are a lack of identity and Identification with this venerable traditional club.”
Badstuber concludes that a functioning team needs a healthy mix of young and old players.
