Thick Plank

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Rund um den Brustring

·2. Oktober 2024

Thick Plank

The first Champions League home game in 14 years ends just like the last one, with a 1–1 draw. However, VfB Stuttgart had much more in it against Sparta Prague than they did against Barcelona. But to beat the defensively strong visitors, an above-average performance would have been required.

The writer Rita Mae Brown once said that doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results is madness. And on Tuesday evening, VfB’s tenth attempt to break through Sparta Prague’s solid defense with a header was starting to drive me a bit mad. Or the 27th cross into the Prague penalty area. Or the tenth long-distance shot, hoping that this would be the golden goal to secure the home win. If you look at the statistics — more than three times as many completed passes, 90% passing accuracy, 10:0 corners, and 76% possession — then VfB left two points behind in their first Champions League home game since Barcelona 2010, just as they did last weekend in Wolfsburg. However, despite all the passivity in the second half, it’s important to remember that VfB was competing in the Champions League, and the Czech double-winner is not the kind of walkover like the last home game opponent.

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Strong start, then a decline

The 1–0 lead showed what VfB needed for this game and what they lacked for long stretches afterward: Jamie Leweling feinted in one direction but then sent Maxi Mittelstädt the other way, almost to the byline. In the middle, Enzo Millot positioned himself perfectly to head the ball in for another early lead. Unfortunately, that quick thinking, along with the good passing and positioning, was lost in the following play, partly because Prague improved significantly on defense after falling behind. What certainly didn’t help VfB’s offensive strength were the many technical errors the team made while building up play. A learning process is still needed here, realizing that you can’t hold and shift the ball for as long in this competition as in the Bundesliga. With the guests’ two half-strikers, Haraslin and Birmancevic, our team had increasing problems, which eventually led to the tactical shift to a back four after the break.

Therefore, the stunning equalizer by midfield engine Kairinen was somewhat predictable, albeit frustrating. Although Sparta hit the woodwork twice and looked dangerous again, the second half was mainly one-way traffic in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, there was no happy ending like in Wolfsburg, partly because the Prague defense effectively managed to neutralize both VfB strikers. It’s telling that this was the second game of the season, after Mainz, where neither Undav nor Demirovic could score. Even the substitutes Chris Führich and Fabian Rieder were thwarted by the Prague defense in the power play of the last ten minutes. On Tuesday night, VfB had a pretty thick plank to drill through but couldn’t quite get there in the end.

First Goosebumps, then Frustration

What remains from this game? The first Champions League point and, in general, the return of top European football to the Neckarstadion. If you didn’t get chills when the Champions League anthem played at 6:45 PM, you probably don’t feel anything anymore. Unfortunately, the atmosphere afterward couldn’t match the excitement of other highlight games, like the cup semi-final against Frankfurt. Was it the wrong expectations about VfB’s capabilities and the somewhat unfamiliar opponent? Were there too many tourists in the stadium, like in the old Champions League days, who just got lucky with the draw? Was it the flow of the game or perhaps the less well-known songs from the stands? Probably a bit of everything, and I don’t want to speak negatively about this new experience of a Champions League home game for many. However, after all the anticipation, I somehow expected the stadium to be more on fire, metaphorically speaking, and to lift the team even when they appeared insecure or clueless for large stretches of the game.

The team has shown in recent weeks what it’s still capable of, but they didn’t quite reach that level against Prague and therefore had to settle for a point. The good thing about busy weeks is that you quickly get another chance to do better. On Sunday, the struggling Hoffenheim team, led by our faltering ex-coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, comes to the Neckarstadion. It’s the perfect opportunity to make a statement before the next international break and the upcoming matches in Munich and Turin (!) We should take advantage of this. In the Champions League group stage, we now have our first point. Calculations suggest that ten points are needed to qualify for the next round and secure two more games. The team should now know how to approach games against teams like Bern, Belgrade, or Bratislava to reach that goal. And maybe, something might even come against Turin, Bergamo, or Paris. Although those are truly thick planks to drill through.

Picture: © Alex Grimm/Getty Images