Sebastian Hoeness’ side are back in the top four but face test to keep hold of top talent again this summer
K
öln had been here before. “It’s not the second time, but the fifth or sixth time,” said forward Marius Bülter, “that we’ve sat in the locker room after a game, not able to blame ourselves much, but still left with zero points.” His coach, Lukas Kwasniok, described it as “Groundhog Day,” after “a more than decent performance against top opponents”.
Their words are the signal, if it were needed, that Stuttgart really have arrived at the top of German football. Effzeh’s players and coaching staff alike felt that this fitted snugly into a growing list of hard-luck stories; last week’s home loss to RB Leipzig, last month’s game with Bayern Munich when the champions didn’t take the lead until late on, or even the autumn defeat at Dortmund where they were beaten by Maxi Beier’s goal deep into stoppage time.
That Sebastian Hoeness and his players are now viewed among the Bundesliga’s shot callers and big ballers speaks volumes for how far they’ve come. Time will tell but it feels like this could be a pivotal weekend for VfB, a feeling given credence by what happened next. Saturday’s win took Hoeness and company into the top four; the two points surprisingly dropped by Leipzig at home to Wolfsburg on Sunday allowed them to stay there. This is what being one of the big boys is all about.
