VfB Stuttgart miss too many chances and are now without Serhou Guirassy, the top scorer. How the former striker and current coach Bruno Labbadia wants to get the offensive problems under control.
Bruno Labbadia has turned 57 on Wednesday and has enjoyed quite a successful spell as a striker. In his career he netted the ball 243 times. Converted to his playing times, that makes a goal every 200 minutes – or almost every second game. How do you say it so beautifully? The man knows where the goal is.
Labbadia’s problem: He can no longer actively intervene
Labbadia has to watch when his offensive forces mess up good to very good scoring chances in rows. Against Bremen there were five shots on goal, none in there. Bremen had four attempts on goal. Two were in. Three shots on goal against Leipzig, one inside. RB, on the other hand: two out of four in it. Against Hoffenheim: four shots, two goals, after all. TSG: five shots, two goals. Against Mainz, four attempts, one goal. Mainz two shots on goal, including one goal. It could go on. The bottom line is that 22 goals for Stuttgart. Only two Bundesliga teams have scored fewer goals.
VfB have not scored more than two goals in any game
That’s where the trainer’s work begins. At the moment, that means every other day: goal-shooting training or high-intensity games. The coach says the goal is “that you hardly have time to think because it’s so tight and you have to go so fast and you’re forced to make quick shots. From my point of view that’s the best thing, not to think at all get”.
The final weakness runs through the whole season
However, it makes one thoughtful that this final weakness is not only observed in the five games under Labbadia, but extends through the entire season. Now even the small glimmer of hope Serhou Guirassy has gone. The top VfB goalscorer with six goals in 13 games is out for a long time.
Pfeiffer and Kastanaras as a substitute for Guirassy
That leaves Luca Pfeiffer and youngster Thomas Kastanaras as pure strikers. Bruno Labbadia certifies that the 20-year-old top scorer in the A-Junior Bundesliga has a great will to work and a perfect attitude, coupled with great potential for development. He attests the 25-year-old Pfeiffer a strong game against Leipzig. Both Kastanaras and Pfeiffer, however, remained pale against Bremen, with no connection to the game. That’s why the coach doesn’t want to decide who will appear in Freiburg. All he says is: “Both can play.”
VfB coach Labbadia: “We don’t pick our noses”
Ex-striker Bruno Labbadia will continue to work intensively on strengthening the offensive in training over the next few days. He did that in two training sessions on Wednesday, his birthday. “Our goal here is to stay in the league. We don’t pick our noses when we work here. It’s not about having fun because we have to stay in the league and there’s not a second to lose, but at the same time knowing that this can’t happen overnight.”
But there was a bit of fun on his birthday. He was given three cakes. “It was also a nice sheet cake, which I particularly like. With apple and sprinkles, so they were really good cakes.” If only a dangerous striker could be baked so quickly.
