Stuttgart's surge to continue

"Stuttgart have been revitalised by Jurgen Kramny, and they're chasing a fourth straight win."

Eintracht Frankfurt v Stuttgart
Saturday February 6, 14:30

The Bundesliga is developing a laudable tradition of promoting coaches from within, and anyone worried about the effect Pep Guardiola's departure will have on German football should rest easy. The depth of talent when it comes to coaching in Germany is impressive.

Pal Dardai is working wonders at Hertha Berlin, Andre Schubert took Borussia Monchengladbach from the relegation zone to the top four, and Martin Schmidt transformed Mainz from relegation candidates into a side currently residing in the top eight. All were formerly youth or reserve team coaches.

The latest man to grab his big chance with both hands is Stuttgart's Jurgen Kramny. His predecessor Alex Zorniger was given his marching orders after just 13 Bundesliga games in charge, and Kramny has nearly doubled the points total since taking the reins.

Stuttgart are far from perfect, and there is plenty of work to do to avoid the drop, but Kramny has made marked improvements. The team played in a haphazard way under Zorniger, like a playground kickabout, but there is now a solid tactical plan for the players to stick to. Experienced centre-backs Georg
Neidermeier and Daniel Schwaab have replaced young guns Toni Sunjic and Timo Baumgartl, Lukas Rupp and Geoffroy Serey Die have shown boundless energy in midfield, and attacking talents Filip Kostic and Timo Werner have been revitalised.

The star man is unquestionably Daniel Didavi. The attacking midfielder helped save Stuttgart from the drop last season, and with his contract set to expire in the summer, he wants to sign off by keeping them safe again. Didavi has been directly involved in nearly half of the club's 27 Bundesliga goals, and he's netted four of the ten goals scored since Kramny took charge.

Stuttgart are chasing a fourth straight win, and I fancy them against an inconsistent Eintracht Frankfurt side.

Although Armin Veh's men have taken four points from their first two games of 2016, and new Mexican signing Marco Fabian has hit the ground running, I still think they are too reliant on skipper and star striker  

Alex Meier. The Eagles have won their last two home matches, but they had failed to win in five at the Commerzbank Arena before that, and they are defensively vulnerable.

Opta tell us Stuttgart have only lost on one of their last ten trips to Frankfurt (including a 5-4 win in this fixture last season), and with all departments of the team performing well under Kramny, I think they can edge this relegation six-pointer.




Hannover v Mainz
Saturday February 6, 14:30

Hannover are rock-bottom, and I wonder if new coach Thomas Schaaf is starting to wonder what he has got himself into. He has overseen defeats to Darmstadt and Bayer Leverkusen, and H96 have now lost five Bundesliga matches on the bounce.

Arguably the club's best defender, Marcelo, defected to Besiktas in the winter window. All of the strikers the club signed in the summer failed to make an impact, and now hopes are being pinned on veteran Hugo Almeida and the out-of-form Adam Szalai.

Schaaf loves to play on the front foot, and he has talked about trying to get his players to perform with more freedom. With Marcelo gone and the defence statistically the third-worst in the league, I expect attack to be the order of the day.

Mainz edged out Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 last Friday, but they gave up a lot of chances, and were grateful to keeper Loris Karius for making two superb saves. Although Die Nullfunfer's last four Bundesliga games have featured fewer than three goals, I think this could be the weekend where the likes of Yunus 

Malli and Yoshinori Muto get the space to return to form.

Eight of Hannover's last ten league games have contained three goals or more, and I'm going for that again.


Hoffenheim v Darmstadt
Sunday January 7, 16:30
Live on BT Sport Europe

Hoffenheim are having their worst ever Bundesliga campaign, and their eight-year stay in the top flight is in serious danger of coming to an end. They've only won twice all season, and they are only off the bottom rung courtesy of goal difference. Guess what? We're backing them to win this weekend.

Before you call for psychiatric help, consider the following. Hoffe have put in two encouraging displays against quality opposition since the winter break. They drew 1-1 with Bayer Leverkusen and arguably should've won, and they pushed mighty Bayern Munich hard in a 2-0 defeat at the Allianz Arena. At 1-0 down, Andrej Kramaric and Eduardo Vargas both blew big chances to equalise, but at least those opportunities were carved out.

I like the look of striker Kramaric, who is on loan from Leicester City. He has pace and is willing to run at people, and if he can unsettle Bayern, he can unsettle Darmstadt. In defence, Hoffe have improved under Dutch coach Huub Stevens, with their goals-against average dropping from 1.90 to 1.00.

Darmstadt have unquestionably overachieved under the astute guidance of coach Dirk Schuster, but I've always felt they would have a sticky spell at some stage of the campaign, and I think they're in the midst of it. The Lilies have lost three of their last four Bundesliga games, and on the road they've now lost three of the last five.

Given Hoffenheim's dreadful results this term, it's difficult to make a cast-iron case for a home win, but I'm basing this tip on the steadily improving performances since Stevens took the reins.


Kevin will be commentating on Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen, Schalke v Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim v Darmstadt this weekend - you can follow him on Twitter @kevinhatchard