Ya Konan Has Lots To Smile About After His Sparkling Form This Season.
Hannover’s head coach Mirko Slomka has no real reason to be pleased with his side’s performance on the night, but he’ll be delighted with another three points. Didier Ya Konan, who has burst into life this season with an already impressive 7 goals and 4 assists, added another two to his tally to secure the win for Hannover. While the second may have been offside, Hannover could have had five inside the last 10 minutes of the match and really they deserved the win in the end. Georg Niedermeier was on hand to score for Stuttgart, but that was more down to a massive goalkeeping error and a bit of luck than anything else.
If Stuttgart’s relegation rivals FC Koeln and Borussia Monchengladbach win this weekend, then today’s visitors will be bottom of the league. While it definitely sounds like a disaster, it may not be curtains just yet for Stuttgart. At this same stage last season, Stuttgart were in exactly the same position points-wise and table-wise as they are now. If it wasn’t for a massive turnaround in form in the second half of the season, they may have been relegated last year. They’ll be hoping for another big swing in fortune, but lightning doesn’t strike twice.
Christian Gross was the man who lifted Stuttgart to sixth after an awful start last season, and he’s already been axed after losing six of Stuttgart’s first seven Bundesliga matches. With the inexperienced Jens Keller at the helm now and not much changing, it might be time for the Stuttgart higher-ups to employ a more experienced, long-term choice. It’s ridiculous sacking a coach after such a short space of time; that really dents the stability in a squad.
Whatever Stuttgart decide to do, they better do it quick. Things aren’t getting any better, and it won’t be long before Stuttgart’s better players start looking for a way out.
