Stuttgart are one of Germany’s biggest clubs. They won the Bundesliga as recently as 2007. Their MHP Arena holds 60,000 fans when full and its home end, the Cannstatter Kurve, is among Europe’s loudest terraces.
Nevertheless, when Sebastian Hoeness took charge in April 2023, VfB were circling the drain. They were in last position, five points from Bundesliga safety, and he was their third head coach of the season.
Five months later, having survived a relegation play-off, they are second. They have won their last six games straight, most recently Saturday’s 3-0 win over Union Berlin, and have not lost since August.
VfB are unrecognisable from the cowering, counter-attacking team Hoeness inherited. They are controlling the middle of the pitch, building moves with quick, intricate football and are averaging over three goals per game. Their reinvention has been remarkable.
Serhou Guirassy has been the headline. The prolific Guinean forward suffered a minor injury on Saturday and had to be replaced, but not before heading home his 14th goal in eight games to give Stuttgart a first-half lead in Berlin. Guirassy has scored all sorts of goals, from a variety of situations and areas: long-range, short-range, with opportunism and flair. They reveal his evolution and growing confidence, but the expressiveness of the players behind him, too. Guirassy’s ludicrous efficiency means VfB are comfortably outperforming their expected goals (23 from 14.56 xG in open play), but the quality of chances they are creating are still comparable to those manufactured by Bayern Munich (15.27 xG) and Bayer Leverkusen (15.75 xG).
Serhou Guirassy scoring the opener against Union Berlin (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
So, while there has been a tendency to condense Stuttgart down to Guirassy’s goals, their improvement is really much broader.
They play in a 4-2-3-1. Behind Guirassy, Hoeness deploys a trio of contrasting chance-creators: the languid Chris Fuhrich, who plays slightly like a Ruhr Valley Jack Grealish; Enzo Millot, a 21-year-old French playmaker who is industrious without the ball and gifted with it; and Silas, a skilful, dynamic winger who scored the second goal against Union and whom, on form, is among the most watchable players in Germany.
Head coach Hoeness is a story himself. He was last seen at Hoffenheim, where he was sacked in May 2022 at the end of his second season. His TSG were occasionally excellent, even rising as high as the Champions League places in late 2021, but he paid the price for a long slump in form the following spring.
It was disappointing because he was 38 when Hoffenheim appointed him and had been a bright young coaching mind of whom much was expected. Not just because of his last name, either. That has always drawn attention — his father is former West German centre-forward Dieter Hoeness, his uncle is Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeness — but he had forged a reputation of his own in youth football as a brave, attack-minded coach who could embolden and improve developing players. He spent three years within RB Leipzig’s youth system. In 2020, he led Bayern Munich II to a 3.Liga title.
That was more impressive than it sounds. Bayern II had only been promoted the season before and would be relegated the season after. That squad had a young Jamal Musiala and a teenage Alphonso Davies on its fringes, but Hoeness won a senior league with what, aside from a small core of journeymen, was an under-23 side. It was constructed around players like Chris Richards and Lukas Mai, Leon Dajaku and Kwasi Wriedt. It was not an army of Kimmichs and Goretzkas and, rightly, Hoeness was voted the 3.Liga’s coach of the year that season, enough to convince Hoffenheim to give him his first senior job.
Sebastian Hoeness has turned Stuttgart around (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
Members of that Bayern II side have been part of this Stuttgart rebuild. South Korean attacking midfielder Jeong Woo-yeong first played for Hoeness in 2019-20 and was signed from Freiburg over the summer. In the aftermath of Wataru Endo’s sale to Liverpool in August, Stuttgart then spent €5million (£4.4m; $5.3m) on Hoffenheim’s Angelo Stiller, another 3.Liga title winner from 2020.
Stiller is a highly regarded defensive midfielder who captained Germany at the summer’s European Under-21 Championship, but his task was formidable. Endo had been a huge influence and his performances helped Stuttgart to survive last season. He was a role model away from the pitch, too, and greatly respected in the dressing room. Replacing him was an onerous task.
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Ensuring Endo was not missed was a tall order for a 22-year-old who had made fewer than 50 Bundesliga appearances, but Stiller has been terrific. The familiarity between player and coach has helped — Hoeness was the coach who took Stiller from Bayern to Hoffenheim — and Stiller has quickly provided VfB with a passing rhythm that suits their new, more authoritative style and, more importantly, has ensured that nobody has noticed that Endo has gone.
Others also needed replacing. Konstantinos Mavropanos, Borna Sosa and goalkeeper Florian Muller were sold over the summer and all three were starters. Muller was replaced by Bayern loanee Alexander Nubel. Sosa’s left-back position was filled by Maximilian Mittelstadt, who was signed for €500,000 from relegated Hertha Berlin. Mittelstadt has been so good that he was unfortunate not to be called up to the Germany squad for the recent friendlies against the USA and Mexico.
Deniz Undav scored the third on Saturday (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
The recruitment has been astute. Forward Deniz Undav moved from Brighton over the summer and has become an impactful substitute. Anthony Rouault promises to be more than that. Stuttgart have an agreement to sign Rouault at the end of a year-long loan from Toulouse and, while nominally a centre-back, he gave an outstanding performance as a right-back against Union.
There are good stories, upward curves, and improvements everywhere. Dan-Axel Zagadou’s self-belief was shattered by injury and poor form at Borussia Dortmund. He looks reborn in the centre of Hoeness’ defence. And next to him, Waldemar Anton — who was used as a full-back by previous coach Bruno Labbadia — has become one of the most progressive centre-backs in the league and key to the courageous football that has turned Stuttgart games into a spectacle.
Whether their form will last is a different issue. There are no hidden horrors in their underlying numbers, but injuries could weaken a thin squad and Guirassy’s form is so good as to be scarcely believable. But that misses the point. Stuttgart have existed year-to-year since they returned to the Bundesliga in 2020. Now, finally, they have a course for more than just survival and a team that demands to be watched.
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Elsewhere in Europe
- _Ajax sank further into crisis with a last-minute, 4-3 loss to Utrecht. _
- Jose Mourinho saw a 100th-minute red card in Roma’s 1-0 win over Monza.
- PSV and Fenerbahce both won to maintain their 100 per cent records in the Netherlands and Turkey respectively.
- No new-manager bounce at Schalke; they lost 3-0 to Karlsruher and ran 6km less than their opponents in Karel Geraerts’ first game in charge.
(Top photo: Stuttgart beating Union Berlin; by Maja Hitij via Getty Images)
