VfB Stuttgart's Marmoush: Fight for the starting place

The 23-year-old, who is loaned by VfL Wolfsburg until summer, has three goals and five assists for the Swabians. A good quota that could easily be a better 1. Marmoush has recently not only shone through the usual tireless efforts and a lot of pace, but also stands out with a negligent exploitation of opportunities. Wrong decisions in the duels before the game, before the goal, before the end. Also in the 2-2 in Munich, where the Egyptian only prepared the Stuttgart leadership by Tiago Tomas (8th minute), but afterwards gave away the huge chance to 2-0 in the 23rd minute. At the break, the ambitious attacker ended.

"He did his job aggressively. He had a lot of striking offensive actions, was always a danger," explains Pellegrino Matarazzo. For the opponent as well as for your own back team, how the trainer criticizes. "I was not entirely satisfied with his defensive performance. We got the goal over his side when he did not close the half area." Nothing that would be unforgivable. But something that was still the decisive factor in sending Marmoush under the shower prematurely and changing the tactical direction of march.

Marmoush or Mangala?

Matarazzo took the attacker out of the game and changed a third six with Orel Mangala. "We not only wanted speed, but also a more pressing-resistant player on the pitch," says Stuttgart's chief instructor. The decision was made on Mangala "to get a different structure on the pitch and a little more possession of the ball". The plan opened, VfB came up. In the second half, the Swabians acted a little more stable and could be a little more courageous in the forward movement. In the shot league game against 1. FC Köln, the US Italian will now have to decide which focus he wants to see on the pitch. The impetuousness and - for both teams - unpredictable pace football of the Egyptian or the reliable but often low -effective ball control of the Belgian.

In any case, a good performance by the national striker against Cologne could possibly help him win the title for the best newcomer to the league. In addition to Marmoush, his Stuttgart colleague Hiroki Ito, Bielefelds Patrick Wimmer, Frankfurt's Jesper Lindström, Leipzig's Dominik Szoboszlai and Wolfsburg's Jonas Wind are also nominated for this award.