Serhou is clearly the biggest success story: Stuttgart coach Sebastien Hoeness

Sebastien Hoeness became Stuttgart manager in April 2023

VFB Stuttgart are sitting second in the Bundesliga after eight matches. They are on a six-match winning run and face Hoffenheim. Sebastien Hoeness, the current manager of Stuttgart gave an exclusive interview ahead of facing his former club. Sebastien Hoeness has a 66.67% win rate with Stuttgart.

Your team receives a lot of praise. What do you think of that?

“Yeah, it’s a pretty extraordinary time at the moment, but I’m not getting caught up in all the praise that we’re getting, because obviously I’d like the focus to stay on the process and the work we’re doing.”

Did the positive mood around the team and the positive headlines make your work easier?

“We’ve played eight games and we know this business. Not so long ago, Stuttgart were stuck in a relegation fight for two years. It couldn’t have been tighter. Last season I got to experience it, just how long we were right on the edge, and on the other hand, there are lots of people here at the club who know what it’s like to go down, and that helps.

Obviously, we’re still happy, all this is confirmation of the work we’ve done and the effort we’ve put in - the fact we’re playing well and winning, and others are noticing it too. It’s our job to keep showing that and so it’s important not to lose our focus and not to listen too much to how people judge us.”

Did Stuttgart experience a resurgence over the summer?

“Yeah, that’s right. I’d like to say first, from my perspective as a fan I didn’t get the impression that fans were getting battered over and over, I think the fans here were very supportive, but I know what you mean, the difference is huge, of course, in terms of our performances, how we’re seen. But that’s sport, I can only repeat myself, sport is something you play in your head, and obviously, it has to do with trust and confidence, results help with that too, and those are things we didn’t have so much of in the seasons prior to this one – we never played badly but the results weren’t going our way, and then things could go in the other direction. We’re at the other end of the spectrum, it also started with the first win in the cup against Nürnberg, like a shot from a starting pistol where everyone said ‘OK, perhaps something is going on here’, then we win the game in Bochum, and that’s how certain dynamics and moments develop, which are now lasting a bit longer so it’s not just a ‘moment’, it’s over a longer period. And obviously, part of that is the fact that there are things we’ve worked on as a team for weeks and months now.”

What role do the learnings from the avoided relegation play in your current success?

“Definitely another important factor, the fact we overcame that tough period together. That definitely helped. With the relegation play-off, after the Hoffenheim game, lots of people were hoping we’d do it automatically, and then it was a bit disappointing because we had our fate in our own hands. But then we pulled together as a team and I think we showed an amazing reaction in both games. Obviously, that brings you together, to get through something like that as a group and then to celebrate it together. That definitely didn’t do us any harm, quite the opposite - it made us all stronger.”

Can your team deal with the current hype?

“Yeah, firstly the knowledge that you can’t please everyone, that’s important. Despite that, football is psychology, or a lot of it is, and so it plays a role in my thinking when it comes to giving people tasks, or having individual conversations. That’s all part of it, that’s leadership for those who are at the front and who have the responsibility.”

What is the best compliment you have ever received?

“The nicest for me are the wins, and the very best are the wins where we’ve also put in a good performance. That’s what really makes me happy. On the bus back home, watching the game, thinking ‘OK, we won, we played pretty well’, looking at things in the video analysis, that’s what really makes me proud and happy. Obviously, if you get complimented every now and then when what you’re doing gets noticed and gets attention, then you take it and I’m happy about that, that’s just human, but I can’t pick out one compliment that’s been particularly special for me or anything.”

What do you think about the compliments from Uli Hoeneß?

“Of course, it’s great. I was happy when I heard that. You take it. But of course, it’s also important to take things in your stride there.”

What is the secret behind the ‘Hoeneß DNA’?

“I’m the wrong person to ask about that! That’s not my area of expertise. What I can keep doing is gaining experience. I’ve had the chance to pick up a lot of things, and experience things, I saw it very often with my father when he was talking on the phone when I was kid, not knowing who was on the other end of the line, hearing my father, and from that I suppose I took a lot. Now my father is someone who’s experienced it all of course, and for me, he’s a great person to talk to, I trust him 100 per cent. The thing he’s done for me is let me experience it with him, as a manager, he knows the job well, and so for me obviously it’s really helpful.”

What is your impact on the team’s development?

“I’d have to say there was one at the end of the season, and the other is the start of this season. Obviously we’ve had a great run and picked up a lot of points, and it’s all down to what we had at the start – the right mentality, I think, the way the players are good, that’s where I started from. I wouldn’t have taken the job otherwise and I wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise, because it would have been hopeless, you have to be honest. But I was fully convinced that the players, firstly they were good enough and secondly that they were in a position to implement my ideas and the way I wanted to play football. Both have proved themselves to be 100 per cent true – the team has an unbelievable amount of good players and a really good leadership structure, and on top of the players have gained a lot of self-confidence over the weeks. We know that you experience it in every sport: when you don’t have confidence, even the best players don’t shine. We’ve been able to develop that confidence, and we’ve managed to get over the recent history.”

How did you manage to bring back the positivity to the club?

“I can’t judge what happened before me. I’m happy to hear those things, it’s proof that we’re on the right track, and we’ve done a lot of good things and had success. I think a lot of what we’re doing is very good. It was clear that you could turn one or two of the players around, without that we wouldn’t have made this turnaround. I made my contribution to that for sure, and it wasn’t a small contribution, I know that, but the most important people are the players who are out on the pitch, and they were the ones who had to show it in the decisive moments. They’ve done that, with help from me and from many others who aren’t here, who sit upstairs and who play an important part.”

What do you make of Serhou Guirassy’s season so far?

“Before his injury he was scoring goals and he was very decisive at the top end of the pitch. Absolutely him, but we could name many others too that are really benefiting from the success of the team, and that’s the message from me: when you’re in a place to think and to play for the team, we’ll all be successful and what’s more, successful individual stories will come to the fore. And Serhou is clearly the biggest success story, but there are others: Chris Führich, who suddenly was in the national team setup, Alex Nübel, who’s full of confidence again in Germany, he’s playing well, Waldemar Anton, who just had to be named captain, he’s put in very consistent performances, he leads the team on and off the pitch. There are many others, I’d obviously love to name them all, it would be a bit laughable but there really are so many who play their part, and a couple who aren’t quite in the spotlight, because we have a good understanding of everyone’s roles, across different positions. We have lots of young players, talented players, who know that they have things to work on, then we have older players who aren’t on the pitch as much but who take on the right leadership roles in the dressing room, and on the pitch when they need to show professionalism in training. So it all works well with the team, and the main thing is just to keep supporting each other. For me, if I was asked if there was a secret or a key to success, that’s the key for me - the fact we have that spirit in the team at the moment.”

Are you more nervous going into games without Guirassy?

“We’re nervous, but positively so! We’re looking forward to the next game against Hoffenheim and we’ll take on this challenge without Serhou’s goals, which we’ve done so well to set him up with. We have a few players who have been involved in a lot of goals and have scored their own too. Despite that, we know what impact Serhou was having - 15 goals? Is it 15 goals? 14 goals — to score 14 goals in eight games, and he’s often the guy who scores the first goal of the game, and everyone knows how important that is. But despite that, we’re totally convinced that for the time Serhou is out, we’ll be able to put in good performances, score goals, be dangerous in attack, and keep picking up points, even though Hoffenheim, and then Heidenheim, and then at home against Dortmund are all obviously tough games.”

Do you think you can substitute Guirassy with your other options in attack?

“I believe there’s a bit of a knock-on effect when you’re successful as a team, when you play for others, when you notice that if you invest something or you do something for another player on the pitch, then you get something back. That’s what I believe, I believe in dynamics like that, team dynamics. As you’ve just described, those celebrations together, being genuinely and honestly excited for your teammates, I think that brings energy, and can give you that extra push.”

How did you manage to improve this much over the summer? Was it improving a team or bringing in new external players?

“It’s both. You shouldn’t worry about what it is, because no-one can say what comes first, because as a team we were in a good place at the end of last season and we brought that feeling into this season, but that wasn’t easy because of the players that left, and the three main ones are clear, but we also had Tiago Tomás and Josha Vagnoman who’s also unfortunately out after the U21 EUROs. So, it was important that we brought in an external boost, and that has worked amazingly well, especially at a personal level, the way the players immediately came in and became a core part of the team, they were integrated straight away and so they were in a position to perform straight away. That speaks volumes of the boys who were already here, their openness and the spirit that was there, but the new boys have thrown themselves into it and as I said, that’s the key. They had quality, we knew that, otherwise we wouldn’t have brought them in, even if a few of them weren’t playing the biggest role at their old clubs, we believed in their qualities and we believed we could bring those out with the way we want to play. But the important thing, and I’m happy to repeat myself here, the important thing for us was always that it works on a personal level.”

What do you expect from the game against your former club Hoffenheim?

“I think that’s the special thing, that I was at Hoffenheim not too long ago, and obviously I still know a lot of the players, a lot of the people at the club, and the fact I got to know the club really well over two years. That’s special. Obviously the game is in Stuttgart, perhaps it would have been a bit more special if it were in Hoffenheim, where I took charge of my home games for two years. That makes the game special for me, and surely for Rino too.”

What do you think of Pellegrino Matarazzo?

“I’ve not had too much to do with Rino. We played against each other of course, I’m not sure but I think we had a pretty equal record, in Stuttgart, at Hoffenheim we didn’t play well at home and we won the game in the last minute, but there’s no one special moment I can think of. We had a very civil chat after the game!”

Given that it is your former team, what do you think Hoffenheim will expect from Stuttgart?

“Firstly, I don’t think there are that many secrets to be had because games are broadcast, so you can watch us 100 times over. Obviously then it comes down to details. I don’t think Rino will change his way of playing, I won’t change my way of playing, but of course it’ll be interesting to see how it goes in terms of build-up play, positioning, which spaces we want to take up. That’s what you look out for in a game like this, looking at players, we’ll look to create mismatches against them. Both of us have our ideas, and we’ll see who has the best ones on Saturday!”

What is your favourite Swabian food?

“My favourite is Swabian noodles, my mother’s! But Maultaschen are also something that everyone here should eat.”