First win of the season for Stuttgart?
Now VfB Stuttgart have also been hit – they suffered their first setback of the current season against SC Freiburg last weekend. After a season-long run of six games without defeat, the defeat against the Badeners was the end of this positive series. The exciting question for this matchday is now how VfB will react to this setback in the away game in Cologne.
FC Köln had a successful last season. With his courageous playing idea, FC coach Baumgart succeeded in awakening Cologne from its slumber. After years of mediocrity, seventh place and the associated qualification for the European Cup was celebrated almost like a championship by the frenetic Cologne public. This success now needs to be confirmed in the second year of his tenure.
In keeping with the record season, Cologne celebrated their first home win against Stuttgart in over twenty years. Baumgart and his team will now be looking to repeat this feat this Sunday. The best analyses, odds and predictions for the upcoming match can be found in the article
Cologne – statistics & current form
Steffen Baumgart has turned the Geißböcke’ style of play upside down after taking over last season. As in his previous coaching positions, Baumgart approaches the games with the Geißbock eleven with full risk. With high, aggressive tackling of the opponent and the goal of scoring many goals, even if this is at the expense of his own defence. And success proved him and his tactics right. Instead of 34 goals in the previous season, FC scored 52 times in the league and thus climbed from relegation place in the previous season to sixth place.
The resulting qualification for the European Cup was one of the greatest successes in the club’s recent history. Last Thursday’s victory over Fehervar meant that the club also qualified for this year’s Conference League. After taking an early 2-0 lead, Cologne were also able to save their energy for the upcoming home match in the Bundesliga.
Second home win in a row against Stuttgart?
In addition, Baumgart managed to end a home curse against VfB that had lasted for over 20 years. For the first time since the 2000/2001 season, Cologne won a home match against the Swabians under Baumgart’s direction. Now that the home curse has come to an end, the aim is to record the second home win in a row against Stuttgart. And the chances of that are not bad. While Cologne have got off to a good start and are still unbeaten in the Bundesliga, VfB are now eleven away games without a win.
Cologne won their first home game against promoted Schalke, and also picked up a point each in Frankfurt and Leipzig. Even the departure of goal-scorer Modeste has not been a factor so far, six goals in three games is a more than decent figure in the Bundesliga. If a home win against VfB is to be achieved, however, others will have to provide the goals this time, as Modeste scored all four of FC’s goals against Stuttgart last season.
Last season, Cologne won two of the three matches against VfB, both of them by nil. In any case, Cologne has shown itself to be strong in its own stadium under Baumgart. FC have won ten of the 18 home games in his era so far. For Cologne against VfB Stuttgart, the betting therefore once again goes to an FC victory. Baumgart will only be missing Mark Uth on Sunday.
Predicted line-up of Cologne:
Schwäbe, Schmitz, Kilian, Chabot, Hector, Skhiri, Schindler, Ljubicic, Kainz, Tigges, Adamyan
Last matches played by Köln:
European Conference League Qualification
25/08/2022 – Fehervar FC 0 – 3 1. FC Köln
Bundesliga
21/08/2022 – Eintracht Frankfurt 1 – 1 1. FC Köln
European Conference League Qualification
19/08/2022 – 1. FC Köln 1 – 2 Fehervar FC
Bundesliga
13/08/2022 – RB Leipzig 2 – 2 1. FC Köln
07/08/2022 – 1. FC Köln 3 – 1 Schalke 04
VfB Stuttgart – Statistics & current form
New season – old woes. While it was still possible to draw a positive conclusion after the first two games of the season that they remained unbeaten in the first two games of the season for the first time in eleven years, the situation must be reassessed after the defeat against Freiburg last weekend and only two points after three match days.
Certainly, two games were against European Cup contenders against whom points are certainly not necessarily planned this season, but especially the late equaliser in the last away game in Bremen was painful. A win would have put the bonus point against Leipzig in a completely different light.
As it is, VfB is already back in the bottom of the table after three matchdays. In addition, the possible departures of top goalscorer Kalajdzic and left-back Sosa during this transfer period are causing additional unrest. Both trained individually on a side pitch during the test against St. Gallen during the week.
Stuttgart still without a clean sheet
The home match against Freiburg once again showed the big problem of the Stuttgart team. At the back, they rarely score a zero, so that they have to score at least one of their own goals in every game in order to win a point. For once, however, this did not happen against Freiburg. It was only the third time this millennium that VfB remained without a goal against Freiburg in their own stadium. At the same time, the series of seven competitive matches in a row in which Stuttgart scored at least one goal of their own came to an end. Thus, an average performance was enough for the Breisgauer to take three points from Stuttgart.
The negative streak of not being able to keep a clean sheet in home games was extended by the defeat against Freiburg. VfB have not been able to keep a clean sheet in 23 home games and are now chasing the record of Homburg (25) and Essen (26). All in all, VfB have not been able to win seven league games. In all previous league games, the team fell behind early on. Cologne vs VfB Stuttgart odds of around 2.30 can be found at betting sites for another early first-half deficit.
Away weakness continues
VfB are also without a win away from home for eleven games now, even though they came close in Bremen. The next official trip now takes VfB to the cathedral city, where they have always cut a good figure in recent years, with the exception of last season. Before last year’s defeat in Cologne, VfB had not lost in the cathedral city since the 2000/2001 season. However, the Rhinelanders won two of the three games in the league and cup against Stuttgart last season, both times VfB failed to score.
Who will score the goals this time is still in question. Presumably, newcomer Pfeiffer will make his first appearance in the starting eleven in place of Kalajdzic, who is willing to leave and has set up all three VfB goals in the league this season. Nevertheless, the Swabians have a positive memory of the last game against FC – the last-minute victory secured a relegation spot that was no longer thought possible. Nevertheless, we underline Cologne’s role as favourites in this match and give a prediction for a home win in Cologne against VfB Stuttgart. Apart from Tomas, Coach Matarazzo will continue to miss Coulibaly, Faghir and Nartey.
Predicted line-up of VfB Stuttgart:
Muller, Mavropanos, Anton, Ito, Vagnoman, Endo, Ahamada, Egloff, Führich, Silas, Pfeiffer
Last matches played by VfB Stuttgart:
Bundesliga
20/08/2022 – VfB Stuttgart 0 – 1 SC Freiburg
13/08/2022 – Werder Bremen 2 – 2 VfB Stuttgart
07/08/2022 – VfB Stuttgart 1 – 1 RB Leipzig
DFB Cup
29/07/2022 – Dynamo Dresden 0 – 1 VfB Stuttgart
Friendly club matches
23/07/2022 – VfB Stuttgart 5 – 2 Valencia
Cologne – VfB Stuttgart Direct comparison / H2H-balance
A total of 102 matches have been played so far in this traditional duel. The overall balance is in favour of the Cologne side with 41 victories, while Stuttgart have won 36 games. The points have been shared 25 times. The goal difference of 165:162 is in favour of VfB. Last season, Cologne won two of the three encounters in the league and cup. However, the Swabians were able to win the duel on the last matchday, which was so important for VfB, and thus achieve the much-celebrated preservation of the relegation zone.
Last year, the home team came out on top in this league duel, which was rather untypical in this duel in recent years. Before the defeat in Cologne last season, Stuttgart had remained unbeaten in the cathedral city since the 2000/2001 season, for a total of twelve games. Conversely, Cologne, with few exceptions, remained unbeaten for most of that period at the Swabians.
Cologne – VfB Stuttgart Tip
From relegation candidate to European Cup contender – Baumgart also wants to prove in his second season in Cologne that last season’s performance was not a flash in the pan and that he can develop the team in the long term. In any case, the performances so far underline the thesis that Baumgart is more than a short-term motivator and that even after the departure of top goal scorer Modeste. Cologne are still unbeaten in the Bundesliga after three matchdays and already won two of the three encounters against VfB last season – to nil.
Cologne are looking for their second home win and with Cologne against Stuttgart, we give the prediction that they will succeed. For players with an affinity for risk, a bet on a win to nil for Cologne is also possible, due to VfB’s offensive personnel problems. The possible fatigue after Thursday’s match in the Europa League qualifiers should also not play a role so early in the season. With Hungary, they also don’t have the longest journey behind them.
With VfB, they now visit a team that has struggled extremely in away matches in recent months. Especially the defence shows big problems. It is also a common thread in VfB’s games that they fall behind early. This has been the case in all three league games so far this season, so it is quite possible that FC will also use this weakness to manage the game after the European Cup exertions following an early lead.
