Stuttgart head coach expresses frustration over loss of Nick Woltemade | OneFootball

VfB Stuttgart head coach Sebastian Hoeneß found himself discussing absentees at his Friday pre-match press conference. Several key players are missing ahead of Stuttgart’s forthcoming Bundesliga fixture against Borussia Mönchengladbach tomorrow. Though Hoeneß didn’t really want to talk about it, there were ultimately some words offered up on Nick Woltemade’s impending departure.

Hoeneß sounded very much like he did almost precisely two years ago when commenting on captain Wataru Endo’s surprise late departure. The then VfB skipper seized upon a late offer from Liverpool in the final days of the transfer window. Stuttgart could not refuse a €20m offer from the red. At the time, Hoeneß called Endo “irreplaceable“.

As it turned out, however, Hoeneß old Bayern Munich protégé Angelo Stiller filled in for Endo just fine. New captain Waldemar Anton led the team to a surprising second-place finish in the 2023/24 Bundesliga campaign.

Even after Hoeneß lost Anton (Borussia Dortmund), Anton’s fellow defensive stalwart Hiroki Ito (Bayern Munich), and leading goalscorer Serhou Guirassy (aldo Dortmund) one year later, Stuttgart still captured the DFB Pokal.

“I don’t think this is the first time I’ve said that I wanted to keep the core [of the team] together,” Hoeneß remarked on Friday. “It was about keeping the squad together over the course of several transfer periods. We’ve failed to realize that.

“Everyone will understand that Nick’s departure is on a totally different level,” Hoeneß continued. “Of course he would have played a central role and would have started [against Gladbach]. It’s a different situation now, but we have time to react.

“The fact remains that we still have three days [in the current transfer window left,” Hoeneß concluded. “We will work intensively in order to put the best possible squad together.“

Heading into the weekend encounter, Stuttgart will again have to do without central defensive starters Julian Chabot and Luca Jaquez. The two centre-backs incurred injury in last weekend’s league loss to Union Berlin.

Hoeneß was forced to turn to Finn Jeltsch and Ramon Hendriks for a “cold start” in Tuesday’s Pokal fixture. Defensive woes were apparent throughout as Stuttgart conceded four goals against 2. Bundesliga opponent Eintracht Braunschweig.

GGFN | Peter Weis