Chin up Stuttgart!

In the aftermath of VfB Stuttgart's destruction at the hands of Barcelona in the second leg of their Champions League tie on Wednesday, it would be easy to say that the German team is in a very poor state and its immediate future is far from rosy.

Stuttgart took to the pitch looking as though they were expecting to get thrashed. After the rough and tumble of the first ten minutes when adrenaline alone fuelled the German team's attempt to wrest control of the game from the reigning European champions, Stuttgart were chasing shadows. First they ran out of ideas, then they ran out of options and then – after a moment of Messi brilliance which is so common these days to be almost mundane – they lost interest.

On the rare occasions they got forward, Stuttgart looked lost. When they managed a counter-attack, the Germans found all their attackers unwilling to make surging runs beyond the Barcelona defense. This lack of forward movement meant that the passes had to either go across the pitch or backwards, allowing the Spanish team to get back in numbers. As a result, all attacking impetus was lost.

When Stuttgart did find some space on the wings, the delivery of their crosses was poor, with Christian Traesch being the worst offender in a first half in which, despite being 2-0 down already, Stuttgart still had a chance.

Traesch can only really be singled out for his poor delivery because he appeared to be the only Stuttgart player identified as the provider of in-swinging crosses. Stuttgart seemed to forget that a soccer pitch has two wings, leaving Aleksandr Hleb to gamely run in support on the left, only to see play constantly fed to the right. Hleb's desperation to get involved in anything creative for Stuttgart led to the Belarusian drifting into the centre of midfield which left his covering defender Stefano Celozzi exposed.

Elsewhere, game-changing players like Sami Khedira, Cristian Molinaro – who was excellent in the first leg – and Cacau were anonymous. The rest faded into a lethargic ebbing tide of white as Barca hit goals three and four to seal their place in the quarter-finals.

It was quite a damnable performance by Stuttgart.

And yet, behind the huge disappointment and the painful reality of the seemingly massive gulf in quality between Christian Gross's team and the Spanish artisans of Pep Guardiola, there is reason for optimism in Stuttgart.

VfB focus on league with relegation battle behind them

While their involvement in European competition is over for this season, and only a major collapse of those teams above them in the Bundesliga will lead to them featuring again next year, Stuttgart can at least look forward to the 2010/11 campaign as members of the top division. This was not a foregone conclusion by any means at the turn of the year.

Stuttgart were a team fighting a relegation battle before Christmas. As well as lacklustre performances on the pitch, there was team dissent, supporter unrest and a loss in faith in the management. Markus Babbel, who had overseen the previous remarkable campaign which had led to Stuttgart's involvement in the Champions League, was removed and Christian Gross was installed as coach. The change in fortunes and attitude was immediate.

With no disrespect to Babbel, who performed a miracle in taking Stuttgart from the bottom of the league to third in the 2008/09 season, VfB was the physical embodiment of his frustration and failure to stop the decline. Gross came in and lifted the mood, instilled confidence with a run of necessary wins and dragged Stuttgart up the league and away from disaster.

Stuttgart now play with flair and a rapid counter-attacking system which allows everyone, defenders included, to join offensive moves and provide assists and goals. As a result, Gross has taken them from third from bottom to ninth, losing just twice in the last ten games.

New coach building for success with flair and belief

Not only has Gross managed to restore Stuttgart's belief in themselves in the Bundesliga but he also marshalled them into the knock-out round of the Champions League when it looked like they would fail to advance. In truth, no-one gave them a cat-in-hell's chance of getting past Barcelona once they qualified from Group G.

And yet, Barcelona were the ones relieved to come away from the first leg in Stuttgart with the game still in the balance. There was no fear in Stuttgart that night and before Cacau met Cristian Molinaro's pinpoint cross, they could have been 3-0 up. Stuttgart zipped the ball around and created space like, well, Barcelona. It was only the effort that they had expended in the previous 51 minutes that led to the tiredness which allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to equalise.

All of which points to Wednesday's performance being a very bad day at the office for Stuttgart – and very few teams come away with a smile on their faces after visiting Camp Nou. And while Christian Gross has made many positive changes since taking over, Barcelona exposed many of the frailties the Stuttgart coach still needs to address.

Given the progress made in terms of quality and spirit since the turn of the year in the Bundesliga, imagine what effect Gross could have on Stuttgart when given a full season at the helm. Who knows - he may even get them back into a position where they have a chance of avenging Wednesday night's 4-0 mauling at the hands of Messi and Co.

Author: Nick Amies

Editor: Susan Houlton