Football Season Guide

Stuttgart had a poor campaign last year but have tried to put the pieces in place for this season to be much better. They were close to relegation until Huub Stevens turned things around for them with some good wins late in the season, however Stevens chose to leave the club and in his place comes Armin Veh. Veh has a fantastic reputation in Germany and guided Eintracht Frankfurt to the top division before leading them into the Europa League for last season. He should be the ideal man to steady the ship but their squad has changed little since last season. Of their squad from last season just Ibrahima Traore, Arthur Boka and Cacau have left and they have been replaced by Adam Hlousek, Florian Klein and Daniel Ginczek. In addition William Kvist and Raphael Holzhauser may get another chance to prove themselves after being sent out on loan last year while Oriol Romeu could be a surprise package on loan from Chelsea. The transfers allow Veh to have plenty of flexibility when it comes to selecting formation with both his favoured 4-2-2-2 and Stuttgart's typical 4-2-3-1 likely to be employed this season. The Stuttgart squad is also relatively large so Veh could well experiment with his first team although there are a few players who will be crucial to their season. Goalkeeper Sven Ullreich was one of the few players to have a consistent season last term and he is without doubt their number one but the defence in front of him could be considered vulnerable. Captain Christian Gentner will be the key man for them however but has been hit with injuries in recent years, however if he can stay fit then he will be crucial to their season. The addition of Ginczek up front puts pressure on Vedad Ibisevic who had spells last season when he was unplayable and the two in combination could yield plenty of goals. While Stuttgart have the quality to avoid a relegation fight there are a lot of question marks behind some players in the squad and they may have to settle for a safe mid table position.