VFB Stuttgart Season 2022 Match 4

1. FC Köln – VfB Stuttgart

Date: 28th August 2022, 3:30 pm

Result: 0 – 0

I said last week that VfB Stuttgart needed a win today to uplift the team's motivation. That didn't happen. They left today's match with a goalless draw. Attempts have been made to defend this result – "At least we didn't lose" – but let's be honest: this is a disappointing result. After four games VfB Stuttgart is still without a win.

The boys from Stuttgart started the game with a bang. There was an immediate attack. Silas passed the ball to the captain, Wataru Endo, who narrowly missed the goal. For the next 20 minutes VfB kept up the pressure. Ball after ball had to be stopped by Cologne's goalkeeper. If only this momentum had been maintained. The attacks became weaker towards the end of the first half. In the final minutes Cologne had some goal chances, but the score was still 0:0 at half time.

The second half began just as the first half did, with attacks by VfB mostly led by Silas. (In my opinion he was man of the match, but I admit that I'm biased). After the first five minutes Cologne began to put on the pressure, and the match turned in their favour. In the 56th minute Stuttgart's Luca Pfeiffer received a red card for a hard tackle against Timo Hübers. The commentator, who'd been biased towards Cologne for the whole match, called it a brutal foul that should never have happened. I didn't see it that way. To me it looked like an accident that should only have received a yellow card. Pfeiffer was attempting to play the ball, but Hübers got in the way and Pfeiffer couldn't avoid kicking Hübers' leg. But the referee's word is final, and VfB was down to 10 men.

From this point on VfB played more defensively, not wanting to lose the game. This continued for almost 30 minutes. Then VfB began to put everything into a final attack. Despite being a man down, it looked like the VfB players were everywhere. It still wasn't enough. The game ended in a draw.

Stuttgart should have won the game. Even the biased commentator has to admit that Stuttgart was the stronger team. But at the end of the game all that matters is the result written on paper. It's not about should haves or could haves; VfB Stuttgart didn't win. 

The draw means that VfB is still in 12th position in the league table. That's a dangerous position in the early days of the season. Stuttgart needs a win next week to get out of the danger zone.