The international break is over and the VfB squad is back together again. The Cannstatt club kick off a busy run of fixtures away to SC Freiburg on Saturday (15:30 CEST), with 3,500 Stuttgart fans set to make the short journey to the Black Forest. VfB’s first two league games took place before the end of the summer transfer period, but now that the window has closed, head coach Sebastian Hoeneß is pleased to finally have some “clarity” on the personnel front. “We now want to look forward, look for solutions and develop things,” he said. “Aside from the lads who form our backbone, we’ve brought in players with a lot of potential. We’re looking forward to what lies in store.”
While recent signings Badredine Bouanani and Bilal El-Khannouss are vying for a place in Saturday’s matchday squad, Hoeneß still has a few absentees to contend with. Silas (broken metatarsal), Justin Diehl (muscle injury), Leonidas Stergiou (fitness) and Deniz Undav (knee ligament) remain sidelined, while goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow is out with a knee problem. Ameen Al-Dakhil and Luca Jaquez were involved in parts of training this week but won’t be involved in the trip to Freiburg. Tiago Tomas (ill) is a doubt, but Jeff Chabot and Noah Darvich are available after returning to full fitness.
Hoeneß spoke of “Freiburg’s DNA” when discussing VfB’s upcoming opponents, adding: “After [losing] their first two games, they will want to roll up their sleeves and make life difficult for their opponents. That’s what defines them as a club and as a team. It’s going to be a tough, demanding game, but we want to give them headaches.”