VfB Stuttgart - Bayer Leverkusen

First home match for Stuttgart after their defeat in 1.Round against Mainz 05. They did well in trainings camp and also in their preparation due to the season. They played some good friendlies and got also good result. Overall it look like that they are on a good way but the first match showed some different. Their defensive was very weak and according to the friendlies not visible. But Coach Labbadia said it in an interview already. All were available in training and they prepared very well and a lot of situations were played through. So all was ok and they conceded only 2 goals before the season but some things happened against Plovdiv or training that many problems arrived and all the good preparation was gone. According to Stuttgart news they face a huge problems with unavailable defenders. With Tasci, Niedermeier and Rüdiger (returns but not fit) they miss almost all of their central back. In this case Labbadia has to change a lot as he did already against Mainz and as he must against Leverkusen again. So it is absolutely clear that they have a big problem there but they have only young and unexperienced players available who played not often or do not know such situations. What to do, to buy new defenders or count on some who are already there. He count on players like Röcker and some others, also Schwaab must move from the wing into the middle and play as central defender. All the sequences they trained and what they have to do is more as invalid. They have to focus absolutely new now. Offensive looked well and they have a lot of options there and also the players are all able to get dangerous or make some trouble for the opponents defensive.

I wrote already some of Leverkusen last weekend but maybe I can repeat it a bit. Leverkusen is well balanced, did a good preparation and had not many changes in team above all in their starting lineup they can count on almost the same from last season, only 1-2 players are new but this should be not a big problem. What they are able to bring on the pitch showed they already twice. This was in Cup with an easy 6-1 and last but not least against Freiburg with 3-1. They have a lot of potential above all in their offensive what looks unstoppable at the moment. Sam, Son, Castro, Kießling are on fire. What make things a lot easier for them is if they can take the lead, they can run their counter attacks over their mentioned players above. All there guys are very quick and therefore they scored two of their 3 goals with such fast attacks. Leverkusen is not a team who force or press from beginning on, they count more on counter attacks what they are better prepared. But overall beside Bayern Munich and Dortmund one of the top teams in Bundesliga and they can repeat their success from last season.

With all the problems from Stuttgart in defensive it can be that Leverkusen take advantage with their excellent and experienced players. Coach Labbadia says it makes no sense to change my tactic and play more defensive style, it is nonsense. So he wants to play as in Mainz and try to make the game and put some pressure on Leverkusen, this can be a big mistake if Leverkusen can use their fast play. Also Kießling likes to play against Stuttgart as he scored a lot in the past against VfB. Sportmanger Bobic said that he does not like him :)) I can see some advantage for Leverkusen here. GL