Unlikely duo keep Stuttgart high in a kit for Bundesliga collectors

Photo: Ronald Wittek/EPA

They looked stunning as they walked out in their black and white marbled tops, with the gold club badge just above the heart. This weekend, Stuttgart was ready to run high.

The kit itself, designed by renowned local artist Tim Bengel, retailed for €189.30, with only 1,893 limited edition units available (the fact that it is “an art object and collector’s item” is the reason for the price increase, the club has mentioned press release), both a nod to the year of the club’s founding and an attempt to raise money for social projects in the region. The white swirl? He represented the head of Filderkraut, the white cabbage superfood from the Baden-Württemberg region, a recurring theme in Bengel’s work. VfB represents the region with pride and looks chic, a departure from recent years.

Related: Serhou Guirassy from Stuttgart: ‘Kane has pushed Bundesliga strikers to raise their level’

The sweeping away of Werder Bremen, another once-big name in German football, on Saturday afternoon was typical of the new reality. Expected, graceful, routine. After their 2-0 win, Sebastian Hoeness’ team are in third place, five points behind the leaders, but five points ahead of current fifth-place holders Borussia Dortmund, who they defeated in a 2-1 draw last month. victory that was much more extensive than it seems on paper. It’s intoxicating stuff. The last thirteen seasons, two of which were spent in the second tier, have produced a single sixth-place finish. No one in the club’s corridors is talking about a full move to the Champions League – sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth has only talked about enjoying “a carefree season” – but this is something to enjoy. The Cannstatter Kurve sang “Nach all der Scheiße, geht’s auf die Reise, Stuttgart International”, which translates to “After all this shit, let’s go on a journey, Stuttgart International”. They could get used to this.

Of their eight home games in all competitions, this was a seventh win. It brought Stuttgart to 30 points. They only managed 33 all last season – in 21 more games than they have currently played. The turnaround is remarkable, especially considering they lost arguably their three best players in the summer: Konstantinos Mavropanos, Borna Sosa and Wataru Endō, with the latter unexpectedly leaving for Liverpool on the eve of the Bundesliga opener.

The story continues

Much of the success in the opening weeks of the season in Stuttgart was down to the extraordinary form of Serhou Guirassy, ​​their centre-forward who outplayed Harry Kane until he succumbed to a hamstring injury. He wasn’t at his clinical best against Werder, but he remained calm. He had to wait almost three minutes to take the penalty that ultimately produced his 16th goal of the season, but the robbery did not affect his nerves as he set up Michael Zetterer, with the goalkeeper diving to the left as the Guinean striker. carefully lifted the ball to the center of the goal.

You could say that Guirassy’s injury ultimately made Hoeness’ side a little more durable. It certainly worked for Deniz Undav. Loaned out by Brighton to get more playing time – Roberto De Zerbi’s words at the time of the temporary transfer that the Premier League club “looks forward to welcoming him back at the end of the season” were notable – he struggled to get minutes in the opening weeks of the campaign, with Die Schwaben starting much better than expected with only Guirassy on top. Saturday’s opener, which was eagerly gobbled up after Zetterer failed to hold on to Waldemar Anton’s shot from distance, took Undav to eight goals from his first 10 Bundesliga games. Only five of them have started.

The lineup for Saturday’s game was an indication of how much he has given his coach to think about. It was the first time Undav and Guirassy had been paired together, and against a defense as malleable as Werder’s it almost seemed unfair. The past few weeks have also underlined what a thoughtful coach Hoeness is. After starting the season in a 4-2-3-1 shape, Stuttgart changed following Guirassy’s injury. It was difficult to imagine that one player, be it Undav or someone else, would effectively replace him while he was away, so the coach experimented with the kind of 4-2-2-2 that Leipzig have made popular in recent years . Guirassy and Undav, who worked brilliantly with Silas and Chris Führich, were impossible for the visitors to comprehend.

Kudos also to Wohlgemuth, who celebrated one year in his role on Sunday. “It was a strenuous and busy year with many experiences,” he said, looking back on it last week, “with events that would normally take place in five years. But because of the concentration of (these events) they brought us together. That might be part of the reason why some things are working for us now.” He has also made his own mistakes, he admits. The first was the immediate recall of Bruno Labbadia for a disastrous second spell as coach, which yielded just two Bundesliga wins in four months as the team sank to the bottom of the table. Hoeness laid the foundation for this campaign under the unbearable pressure of the impending catastrophe in the previous one.

Darmstadt 0-1 Cologne, Stuttgart 2-0 Werder, Leipzig 2-1 Heidenheim, Mönchengladbach 2-1 Hoffenheim, Bochum 3-1 Wolfsburg, Augsburg 2-1 Eintracht, Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Dortmund, Mainz 0-1 Freiburg

There will be speed bumps, including the possible exit from Guirassy. Manchester United recently joined the list of big names showing interest in him. He could even be let out of his contract for a relatively cheap fee of €17.5 million and perhaps as early as January, although his participation in the African Cup of Nations would mean that any new club would probably have to wait to bring him into the team to get. However, the final two tests are in the offing, with the visit of leaders Leverkusen on Sunday followed by a trip to Bayern a week later. But before Bundesliga service resumes, Dortmund arrives again on Wednesday for a last-16 DfB-Pokal tie, one in which VfB may even be slight favourites. With Bayern and Leipzig already left out of this season’s competition, another win over BVB this week would have the Cannstatters dreaming of Berlin and beyond.

Whatever the results, Stuttgart is breathing rarefied air, in a different dimension to that of last (or any recent) season, with the coming matches to be enjoyed as “weeks of celebration”, as Gregor Preiss of Stuttgarter Zeitung wrote after the victory on Saturday. The right to that state of mind is already a prize worth cherishing, especially this season.

Discussion point

• With Bayern’s Saturday match against Union Berlin snowed out, the big attraction was Sunday’s late game, with league leaders Leverkusen still unbeaten but dropping points for the second time this season – at home to Dortmund. The visitors held the lead for most of the match after Julian Ryerson’s early goal, but spent most of the match defending (mainly very well), with Victor Boniface tapping in an equalizer from returning substitute Patrik’s position Schick. “When they come here and just defend, you can see the respect they have for us,” Granit Xhaka told DAZN.