Football Season Guide

The relegation that was suffered by the giants Stuttgart served as a wakeup call for the Board and with a completely reshaped structure and personnel the club is hoping to restart their glorious days. Not only all scouts and sport directors were replaced but at the helm the Mercedes-sponsored team appointed experienced Jos Luhukay. It was logical after a drop in divisions to see mass exodus of star players and Stuttgart couldn’t do anything to keep the likes of Kostic, Werner, Rupp, Didavi, Tyton, Rudiger, Harnik, Die and several others. However, the new gaffer still has an impressive squad at his disposal that was also smartly strengthened for very little money. Terodde arrives to the club as a Golden Boot winner in Second Tier for the past two seasons and his great stats in this division will most definitely boost Stuttgart’s scoring record. Zimmer, Grgic, Hosogai and Kaminski are also talented players that are expected to play major roles this season. The fact that both Maxim and Ginczeck are also staying, at least for now, means that up front Stuttgart will have a giant striker in the middle with two very quick and able to find pockets of space supporting strikers. 3-4-3, 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 are the formations used so far in the pre-season and Luhukay is still weighing his options. 19-year-old playmaker Max Besuschkow is now member of the first team and he is one of the possible rising stars this season. Captain Gentner will be the main figure in midfield, while Langerak should be the new number one. Sunjic and Baumgartl are chased by clubs from the top flight but at the minute they show no interest and if they stay they will be the likely pair in the heart of the defence, with Kaminski the third man that can always fill in. Insua will operate on the left flank, the full-back can be very effective as aggressive left midfielder too, while on the other side of the pitch Luhukay has plenty of options with Zimmer, Klein and Grosskreutz in his ranks. So far they rotate in the friendlies and it is yet to be seen who will prevail in the battle for starting berth. Stuttgart are a team too good for this division according to many pundits and the common opinion is that the squad will manage to achieve immediate promotion, with the attacking options available suggesting that lots of goals will be scored on the way.