VfB Stuttgart – Bruno Labbadia etches against the VAR: “Then we can pack up”

VfB Stuttgart was not able to convert its good attempts into points in Freiburg either. Coach Bruno Labbadia is still confident after the sixth league game without a win, but struggles with the video assistant.

Bruno Labbadia was angry. “I don’t want to talk about the penalty decisions, but about what the VAR was used for,” complained a visibly pissed head coach of VfB Stuttgart after the Swabians’ 1: 2 (1: 0) at SC Freiburg. The video assistant intervened decisively – twice to the detriment of VfB.

Labbadia was fundamentally critical of the VAR: “He was used for blatant wrong decisions. And if the referee needs ten minutes outside, then we can wrap it up.”

A player from Freiburg went down twice in the VfB penalty area, both times referee Sascha Stegemann initially allowed play to continue, but then, after a long review of the pictures, decided on a penalty kick.

This is one of the reasons why the 57-year-old Labbadia is a “total opponent of the VAR”. He “destroys football”. Incidentally, Vincenzo Grifo (60th/84th) converted the two quite justified penalties ice-coldly and thus put Freiburg on the road to victory.

Labbadia: “We didn’t close the sack”

Otherwise, Labbadia couldn’t really blame his team. “We didn’t give in much throughout the game. We defended well against a strong team and also scored a nice goal,” he said. “The only drawback: we didn’t close the sack.”

This fact has recently been noticed more frequently at VfB. Since the turn of the year and Labbadia took office, the Stuttgart team has been convincing with good performances, but only got two points from five games in the Bundesliga and are still waiting for their first away win of the season.

“We need to get more points in almost every game,” Labbadia added sky firmly: “That’s what’s so hard.”

VfB Stuttgart: Labbadia wants to keep a “clear head”.

They weren’t the worse team against Freiburg either, they just didn’t have the necessary luck. The lead through Chris Führich’s dream goal (30th) was not undeserved, but overall the Stuttgarters lacked offensive power.

After the change of sides, the Breisgauer took over more of the command and also thanks to support from the Cologne basement came to victory.

Labbadia also has to digest the constant setbacks first. “You also need a few hours as a coach,” he said. “But we have to build up the team now.” His players “did some things well” in Freiburg. It is now important to keep a “clear head”.

VfB Stuttgart: praise from SC Freiburg

There was also praise from the opponent. “They have quality, but they just don’t reward themselves,” said Freiburg assistant coach Lars Vossler, who had replaced Christian Streich, who was suspended, on the sidelines.

Fabian Wohlgemuth saw it similarly: “We have to take the positives out of the game,” said the Stuttgart sports director: “We can stand up to a team that is playing for international places.” But of course it’s sobering when you don’t win.

Bundesliga: The table after the Saturday games