Football Season Guide

A season that threatened to go badly turned into an excellent one for Stuttgart in their return to the Bundesliga as an excellent second half of the campaign helped them finish seventh in the league table. The newly promoted side had started the campaign on a solid note but results quickly went against them, and Stuttgart were finding it difficult to pull clear of the relegation zone before the club finally bit the bullet by sacking Hannes Wolf and replacing him with Tayfun Korkut. The change proved to be an inspired one as Korkut suffered just one defeat in 14 games, steering the club not only to safety, but leading a late charge for Europe for which they would have qualified only for Eintracht Frankfurt winning the DFB Cup. A tight defence was key to Stuttgart's fortunes under Korkut, with the club conceding more than a goal just twice under their coach, and will once again be crucial if they are to finish anywhere near the top six of the league table this season. Korkut has further bolstered his defence by bringing in Marc Oliver Kempf, Borna Sosa and Pablo Maffeo from Freiburg, Diinamo Zagreb and Manchester City respectively, though it remains to be seen whether they will be able to break into the first choice lineup. Daniel Didavi and Gonzalo Castro have also been signed to provide depth and guile to the centre of the midfield, an area where Stuttgart were light last season, and Korkut had fielded Holger Badstuber and Dennis Aogo who are more comfortable playing in the defence. With regards to departures, Daniel Ginczek is the biggest name to leave the club after being snapped up by Wolfsburg though the attacker had played a rotational role under Korkut who continues to view Mario Gomez as the first choice striker. Jerome Onguene and Jean Zimmer have also left the club while Orel Mangala and Ebenezer Ofori have been sent on loan to gain experience. Stuttgart had enjoyed good form under Korkut last season, holding their own even against the big clubs, and fans will be hoping for another good campaign this time around though they will be seeking more goals from their team after seeing them finish with the third worst attacking record last season.