Three things we learned from Stuttgart’s defeat in Basel | OneFootball

Stuttgart made the short hop over the border to face Swiss champions Basel in the Europa League. Sebastian Hoeneß’s team were looking to make it two wins from two in this season’s competition, having held on in the dying embers to beat Spanish side Celta Vigo on matchday one.

Die Schwaben are the second Baden-Württemberg outfit Basel have faced in as many games so far in this competition, with the Swiss side having been beaten 2-1 by Freiburg last time out.

Despite being favourites for this game, Hoeneß’s side got off to a terrible start. Angelo Stiller gave the ball away on the edge of Stuttgart’s own third. He seemed to get away with it, but after recovering the ball, Badredine Bouanani put it on a plate for Albian Ajeti to tuck past Alexander Nübel.

Ermedin Demirović squandered a golden chance for a leveller. The Bosnia and Herzegovina international found himself unmarked at the edge of the six-yard box but placed his header over the crossbar.

Demirović would get another chance to level the game with a penalty after Tiago Tomás was fouled in the Basel box. However, thanks to VAR, Demirović was made to wait an age after setting up to take the spot-kick—never ideal for the taker—and Marwin Hitz made saving the Bosnian’s effort look easy.

Stuttgart huffed and puffed for the majority of the second half with little success. Basel broke away late in the game and Xherdan Shaqiri looped the ball over Alexander Nübel into the net, wrapping up the points for the Swiss side.

Lack of cohesion

It’s easy to forget that little more than two years ago, Stuttgart found themselves in the relegation play-off against Hamburg. They have achieved so much since: a remarkable second-place finish in the Bundesliga the following season, and a DFB-Pokal win in the last. Yet despite this success, Hoeneß’s team still has a very fresh look.

With some notable absentees—including Chris Führich, Jeff Chabot, and Atakan Karazor—filling up Stuttgart’s bench in this game, only four players who started against Basel also started the Pokal final in May.

Desperate football

Basel did very well to limit VfB to very little going forward besides the penalty. Stuttgart grew frustrated throughout the game, resorting to shots from distance and route one balls up to Demirović.

Stuttgart racked up an astounding 29 attempts, but Hitz stood firm, and their growing desperation was plain to see.

Hoeneß made a double change on 70 minutes, bringing on Führich and Bilal El Khannouss for a thwarted and tiring Jamie Leweling and Chema Andrés. Neither player would have the desired effect on the game before Shaqiri sealed the win for Basel.

Post Woltemade Stuttgart

It has been intriguing to watch how Stuttgart have adapted following the sale of Nick Woltemade to Newcastle. The injury to Deniz Undav has undoubtedly not helped either. Demirović has made a decent start to the season, with three goals and an assist in the first five Bundesliga matches.

However, on nights like this—when the Bosnian wasn’t firing on all cylinders—Stuttgart needed another source of attacking impetus. Despite dominating possession, Leweling was also kept quiet by the resolute Basel backline. Führich fared no better when he was introduced with the score still at 1-0.

Thankfully for Hoeneß, Undav’s return is in sight.

GGFN | Harry Good