As far as starts to coaching careers go, it’s tough to beat how Thomas Schneider began his tenure at the helm of Stuttgart.
On Schneider’s Bundesliga debut, Stuttgart defeated Hoffenheim with a convincing 6-2 victory, registering more goals in one match than the past three games combined.
But one man’s rise is almost always at the cost of another man’s fall.
Bruno Labbadia became the league’s first managerial casualty of the German season after a 2-1 loss to Augsburg a week ago. Although many viewed the firing as long overdue, the delay or unwillingness, whichever way one chooses to look at it, was largely attributed to Stuttgart reaching the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) final last season, which also qualified them for the Europa League.
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Despite the short-term appearance of success, die Schwaben were still without a point three weeks into the current Bundesliga campaign. They also crashed out of the Europa League following a two-legged playoff loss to Croatian side Rijeka. From individual mistakes to poor tactical decisions, the team had no answers.
With so little to show for their efforts, the club finally decided to pull the plug on Labbadia. Although Labbadia’s days at Stuttgart weren’t always marred by so many negatives, it was clear that his views no longer resonated with the players.
Labbadia took charge in 2010 and helped the club avoid a drop into the second division. That season, Stuttgart ended up 12th, but the best finish under the 47-year old came in 2011-12, when the team placed sixth (and boasted the fourth-best offence in the Bundesliga) and qualified for the Europa League.
Stuttgart had high expectations, and wanted Labbadia to take the team higher up the table.
But Labbadia couldn’t deliver. Last season, Stuttgart only had 12 wins and finished 12th, and scored 37 goals, even less than relegated Fortuna Duesseldorf. Meanwhile, their defensive prowess wasn’t any better, conceding 55 times. Stuttgart was winless until their sixth game of the season, and only won four of their remaining eleven matches.
Within all that mess, they did somehow manage to reach the DFB-Pokal final (which they duly lost to Bayern Munich), as well as the round of 16 of the Europa League, eventually bowing out to Lazio. In any case, these inconsistencies only further reflected what most already knew, that the team lacked depth, creativity, and that Labbadia had lost touch with his players.
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To improve the depth of the roster and avoid exhaustion from competing in three different competitions, Stuttgart brought in eight new players this summer, including Mohammed Abdellaoue and Konstantin Rausch from Hannover 96, Moritz Leitner on loan from Dortmund, Daniel Schwaab from Bayer Leverkusen, Gotoku Sakai from Japan and Sercan Sararer from Greuther Fuerth, to name a few.
The additions were also part of relieving the team’s goal dependency on Vedad Ibisevic. The Bosnian international scored 15 times last season, a little less than half of the team’s total offensive output. But even with the new reinforcements, Labbadia struggled to produce a successful starting 11 and the loss to Augsburg was the final straw.
While there are still lots of questions surrounding Schneider, hiring younger coaches has become the latest trend in the Bundesliga. The 40-year-old is still inexperienced at the highest level, but having previously coached the club’s under-17 side, age is no barrier for Schneider to shy away from implementing changes.
It’s obvious he prefers to inject youth into the squad. He’s not been afraid to start Timo Werner (his assist against Hoffenheim made him the youngest player ever at age 17 to do so in the Bundesliga) or give minutes to Rani Khedira (brother of German international and Real Madrid player Sami Khedira).
A game or two isn’t necessarily a window into the future, but at least with the latest victory it seems the worst is now behind Stuttgart.
Alima Hotakie is a Toronto-based writer. Follow her on Twitter.