Sebastian Hoeneß discusses several VfB Stuttgart players in depth during extended interview | OneFootball

The current season hasn’t quite turned out as the 2023/24 Bundesliga runners-up might have hoped. VfB Stuttgart currently sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table on 37 points. Qualification for European football via the table isn’t necessarily out of sight, but Sebastian Hoeneß’ Swabians certainly can’t hope to replicate their historic success from last year with seven matchdays remaining.

Despite all of the struggles, Stuttgart’s head coach opted to extend his contract last week. The 42-year-old sat down with Kicker to discuss his decision to discuss this and a variety of other topics in an extended interview for the Monday print edition. Hoeneß also offered up plenty of information on specific players.

Get German Football News is pleased to supply an abridged translation.

Mr. Hoeneß, Are you happy that questions about your future have been resolved for the time being with the contract extension until 2028?

“I feel comfortable here and I feel that we can achieve a lot together. Of course it also helps that there is now clarity for the club, the team and also the media.

“Last season, we made more progress than anyone could have expected. Nevertheless, I make no secret of the fact that I still have [European] ambitions. I would love to play internationally. If I had felt that wasn’t possible here, I wouldn’t have extended my contract.“

The shortest route to Europe is, as we know, the DFB Cup.

The semi-final against Leipzig is coming up.

VfB have won the last two league duels.

Is it fair to conclude that Stuttgart are therefore favorites?

“From my point of view, it would be wrong, because RB Leipzig have regularly been in the Champions League in recent years and have won the DFB Cup twice in [in 2022 and 2023].

“They are ahead of us in the table. But the victories in the league show us that we are capable of beating an absolutely top team. It’s good to know that going into a game like this, we’ll take that with us.“

[RB ]Leipzig is a location where you have already worked as a [youth] coach in professional football.

There was also Bayern Munich [Hoeneß coached the reserves], Hoffenheim, now VfB.

These four locations could not be more different in terms of fan culture and tradition.

It is said that smaller locations like Hoffenheim are quieter and easier to work with. Is that so?

“There’s certainly something to that. The interest in VfB is greater than I’ve ever seen at Bundesliga level. Of course, you can’t compare Leipzig and Bayern in the youth sector.

Since I’ve been here, almost every home game has been sold out, and the away sections have always been full. The interest is very high, you have to be well prepared, including for press conferences and interviews.“

Your team has recently had a gone a long time [six league fixtures] without a win.

Some have the impression that the Champions League defeat to PSG [on January 29th] sent the team into a hole.

Is this correct?

“I would perhaps word it differently, but the concept isn’t incorrect. We’ve had difficulty performing over full matches. Sometimes things have gone well for 45 minutes. Other times we had strong phases that lasted longer, but let the game get away from us for 20-25 minute spans.

“Sometimes we won but the overall performance wasn’t good. It wasn’t characterized by joyful or playful football. I observed in training that we weren’t pushing our physical and emotional limits after the PSG game.

“I‘d say that since Hoffenheim [a 1-1 draw on matchday 23 in late February], we’ve been moving in the right direction, but without delivering the desired results.“

Do you have an explanation for why the team isn’t always getting results this season?

“There is no single, perfect answer to that question. Momentum is probably one aspect in this context. We have to work harder for certain things than we have in the past.

“The statistics show that we have had the most big chances in the league. And we are also much higher up in the xG table than in the regular one. So there’s that.

“In defending counterattacks, however, we rank below our current position in the table. In between, we continue to do some things well, but up front we often lack efficiency. At the back we make too many mistakes.“

How is this related to departures of Serhou Guirassy, Waldemar Anton [both Dortmund] and Hiroki Ito [Bayern]?

“We were all aware that we couldn’t expect to replicate the performances of the previous season overnight after the departures of these players. We have one of the youngest teams in the Bundesliga.

“It has potential that we can and wish to bring out. Nick Woltemade is the best example of this, having already made incredible strides. Finn Jeltsch has a lot to offer. So too does Ameen Al-Dakhil, who has only played a handful of games this season due to injury.

“We can develop these guys. But there have been major changes in both areas compared to last season, even though we now have a better squad in terms of personnel.“

Anton was the captain. Guirassy was someone who decided games.

Isn’t it also about leadership qualities?

“That’s something you have to take into account too. Waldi [Anton] is a player who, as a coach, takes a lot off your hands both on and off the pitch. Serhou is very valuable for a team with his inner drive to always do a little bit better.

We must not forget Dan-Axel Zagadou. We miss him not only because of his enormous sporting qualities. Daxo’s warm-heartedness makes him a unifying element in our squad. We’ve already lost some things that need to be replaced.”

Obviously Deniz Undav and Chris Führich are in a slump.

Are these two pros who need you to take a sympathetic approach or to crack the whip?

“Our challenges are not limited to Chris and Deniz. Regardless of the two, it is always important to consider the individual situation and develop the right feeling for how to address the players in each moment.

Angelo Stiller is a player who can also have a leadership role.”

In January, he was often harshly attacked. Does your team not cope well with toughness?

“In Angelo’s case, there were indeed four or five games in which he was fouled and a sending off would not have been wrong. What was particularly noticeable at the beginning of the year was that we often had to play against opponents who were sitting deep.”

Stiller came to Hoffenheim with you from Bayern II, now to VfB.

Is he the key player for your possession-oriented style?

“He is a key player simply because of his position. We play a footballing approach, we want to play our positional game, so he plays a central role. He is good on the ball, sets the pace, and has a feel for the right number of touches.

Sometimes you need one more touch to bind the opponent again, then you play it away. That’s exactly what Angelo can do.“

Can he mature into a figure for the DFB team like Bastian Schweinsteiger or Toni Kroos were?

“Schweinsteiger and Kroos were two of the greatest players that German football has ever seen, and they have enjoyed stellar careers worldwide. That’s why there’s always a risk with such comparisons that you ascribe too much to a player.

“I believe Angelo is capable of even more than he has shown so far. He has always been able to raise himself to the next level and then raise his game even further

“I saw it when he went from the U17s to the U19s, played in the Youth League with the older players at Bayern as a younger player, then went from the U19s to Bayern II in the third division and had exactly the same calmness and composure in his game.

“I saw exactly the same thing very quickly in Hoffenheim, and in the end we see it again now, most recently in the national team’s game against Italy.“

We have already talked about Zagadou. He has resumed training, but he has an almost dramatic injury history behind him.

How realistic do you think it is that he can get back to the level he was at in the 2023/24 first half of the season?

“I firmly believe that it can happen. In our season as runners-up, Daxo was a very important factor for seven or eight months. Until his injury, he was the player who won the most duels and was extremely strong in the air.

And, as already mentioned, Daxo is a unifying element in the team and a real leader, which I naturally hope to see again.”

Finally, the million-dollar question: the balance of national competitions has come under a fair amount of pressure in all major leagues.

Is it still possible for a club like VfB Stuttgart to win titles or does a coach inevitably have to switch to one of the really big clubs to achieve this?

“Leverkusen is the great example. They won two titles [league and cup] last season.

“Of course, Bayer has been a top team in the Bundesliga for quite a while, but you would have thought that if Bayern don’t win the league, it would be the turn of Borussia Dortmund or RB Leipzig.“

GGFN | Peter Weis