Nick Woltemade has arrived at VfB Stuttgart – on and off the pitch. This is also due to coach Sebastian Hoeneß and special locker room discussions.
Nick Woltemade arrived at VfB Stuttgart ahead of the Champions League game against Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday (from 9 p.m. in the audio stream and in the live ticker) – on and off the pitch. This is also due to coach Sebastian Hoeneß and special locker room discussions.
Whether it’s the Bundesliga or the district league – in the dressing room, especially after the final whistle of the game, people talk more about technical matters than about technology and tactics. It’s no different at VfB Stuttgart. “We tend to talk a lot of nonsense in the dressing room,” reveals Nick Woltemade during his visit to the SWR Sport TV studio. “It’s not always about football.” But if they do, then the VfB players also talk about sporting goals for the club and the season.
“When we talk about football, we also have expectations of ourselves. We know: We are good players, a good team and want to get the best out of ourselves,” Woltemade gives insights. VfB’s goal could be the Champions League again, but the 22-year-old Stuttgart professional doesn’t want to articulate that clearly.
Premier class as a goal for the season?
“If you achieved that in the previous season, the obvious goal is to get to the same point again,” is how Woltemade describes it, without, however, using the term premier class. “I won’t say it publicly.”
The offensive player becomes clearer when it comes to praise VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß goes. It made him better, emphasizes Woltemade. “He is an outstanding coach and has helped me extremely. In the short time that I have been here, I have made an extreme leap in my game.”
Clear communication from Hoeneß
The coaching team in general and Hoeneß in particular played a large part in this. “His open and honest communication” really impressed Woltemade, who is supposed to act more as a nine at VfB. Added to this is the coach’s trust and communication: “I worked a lot, talked a lot – with him and with the assistant coaches. That’s now paying off on the pitch.”
He also studies the videos of the “opposing goalkeepers. So that I have an idea of what I can do when I run towards them alone.”
From his point of view, there is a very simple explanation for the fact that he has now scored six goals in the Bundesliga and three in the cup: “The reason I score goals is because I’m in the box more often.” Maybe that will soon be an issue in the VfB dressing room.
Broadcast on Monday, January 20, 2025, 9:45 p.m., SWR Aktuell Baden-Württemberg, SWR BW
