Pre-Season Preview: Stuttgart

Stuttgart Could Strug­gle This Sea­son With­out Hleb And Khedira.

Stuttgart coach Chris­t­ian Gross will be look­ing at the upcom­ing sea­son with improve­ment being the main objec­tive. After a 6th-placed fin­ish last sea­son in the Bun­desliga, Stuttgart man­aged lit­tle more than a Europa League third-placed play­off round, due to the fact that both DFB Pokal final­ists were qual­i­fied for the Cham­pi­ons League. Gross should be look­ing to push for those cov­eted top three spots this year, although in the end it may be too much to ask from Stuttgart.

Key Play­ers

Zdravko Kuzmanovic’s bat­tling pres­ence in Stuttgart’s mid­field will be a key to any suc­cess they expe­ri­ence this sea­son. After a poor World Cup per­for­mance with Ser­bia, Kuz­manovic will be look­ing to impress with his club side and reclaim some of his rep­u­ta­tion. Kuz­manovic can pick a pass from deep posi­tions and also smash a few long-range shots that will taste any Bun­desliga goal­keeper. His solid­ity in the mid­ifeld, espe­cially after the loss of Sami Khedira to Real Madrid, will be more vital now than ever before.

Ger­many striker Cacau can kill off an oppo­si­tion side in an instant. His remark­able speed and strength, as well as his aer­ial abil­ity and poacher qual­i­ties make him an absolutely deadly Bun­desliga striker. He will run onto through-balls, bat­tle for head­ers and drib­ble through oppo­si­tion defed­ers. He will cer­tainly be a con­tender for the Bun­desliga Golden Boot this season.

New­com­ers

While Stuttgart have not made many moves this sum­mer, the thing Stuttgart fans will be most impressed with is the club’s abil­ity to con­stantly churn out promis­ing young play­ers, and develop them into world-beating house­hold names. The lat­est up-and-comer is 20-year old Patrick Funk. In Sami Khedira’s absence, Funk could be the man to impress this sea­son and begin to secure a place in Stuttgart’s XI. His ver­sa­til­ity mir­rors that of another Stuttgart man, Chris­t­ian Traesch. His main task this sea­son will be to develop his game with the help of Traesch, Kuz­manovic and oth­ers, and then look to impress coach Gross and chal­lenge for a first-team place.

Other than that, Stuttgart are rel­a­tively the same side they were last sea­son, although of course they have lost both Ali­ak­sandr Hleb and Sami Khedira, which is not at all a good thing.

Expec­ta­tions

Stuttgart’s 6th-placed fin­ish last sea­son will be seen as a dis­ap­point­ment to many Stuttgart fans, who would hope that the club could return to win­ning ways sooner rather than later after win­ning the Bun­desliga in 2006. It does seem as if Stuttgart will get worse, though, before they get any bet­ter. While other clubs have made plenty of moves to strengthen their squads this sum­mer, Stuttgart seemed to have stag­nated slightly. It will be an uphill strug­gle for them to break into a top five posi­tion this year.