Introduction: How do these articles work?
Each Sunday I examine a different team in detail and look at why they’re a good team for FIFA 14’s career mode. The teams are broken down into the following categories:
- Tier 1: Teams in tough divisions that can push on to challenge for silverware
- Tier 2: Teams that will have to fight for survival in a challenging division
- Tier 3: Teams that start in a lower division but can hope to get promoted and work their way up higher leagues
- Tier 4: Teams that start right at the bottom of the pile, with few funds or high potential players
We return to Germany this week to have a look at a team that can challenge for silverware – VfB Stuttgart.
VfB Stuttgart (Tier 1)
Contents
- Why choose VfB Stuttgart?
- Lineups
- Recommended purchases
- Suggested sales
- Future considerations
Starting transfer budget: £6,000,000
Starting wage budget: £70,000
Default formation: 4-2-3-1
Board expectations: Qualify for the Euro League, reach cup round of 32
Key player: Vedad Ibiševi?
Best young prospect: Timo Werner
Why choose VfB Stuttgart?
I received a great suggestion from Malik Conn to do an article on a Bundesliga team, and I was tempted – sorely tempted – to write up a guide on FC Schalke 04. I know a lot of people would choose them, but in the end they had so much young talent that it would be too easy.
While looking for an alternative, I came across VfB Stuttgart. They have some amazing young players (including one of the best prospects in the Bundesliga), plenty of established talent, but enough competition to give you something to think about. A number of their best players will start declining in a couple of seasons, but with half the league able to outspend you it won’t be easy to bring in replacements. Still, they’re in a great position to move up the league and perhaps, in a couple of years, wrest the title from Bayern or Dortmund.
Their key player is Vedad Ibiševi?. He has the poacher speciality, and with 87 finishing and 85 positioning you’ll find he’s constantly in the right place to finish off your attacks. He’s also strong and good in the air, and his four star weak foot and powerful shot means he can score from distance too, whichever side the ball comes to him. Despite all that, he’s 28 and FIFA will make him start declining fairly soon, so you’ll have to start thinking about a replacement sooner or later.
The best young prospect at VfB Stuttgart is Timo Werner, who starts at 69 OVR at age 17 and has 85 potential. He’s extremely fast (88 acceleration, 89 sprint speed) and has great balance and agility, so getting past defenders should be a breeze. He also has excellent finishing, so could be deployed up front or as a second striker if needed. He will grow into a tremendous player but you’re likely to get plenty of offers for him, so whether you want to make some money from him is up to you.
Strongest starting lineup
Here is VfB Stuttgart’s strongest starting lineup, with OVRs in brackets. I’ve adjusted the formation to 4-4-2 to get as many of their best players on the pitch as possible.
Suggested formation and starting lineup
This lineup accommodates all of VfB Stuttgart’s highest potential players, and I’ve reverted back to the 4-2-3-1 lineup to get them in. The players’ potentials are in brackets.
Recommended purchases
Key signings required: CB, LB, ST
As I mentioned above, a few of VfB Stuttgart’s best players are in their late 20s and so will decline soon, so it’s a good idea to look to strengthen for the future if you want to win silverware in the future.
NOTE: I’m making these purchases without selling players so that you can see what it is possible to do with this budget. It was quite tricky to get the following players for the amounts I did (a fair amount of reloading was required), so just be aware that these prices are the best I was able to get, not necessarily the prices I paid at the first attempt. I find a good idea is to bid around £200,000 under the prices I’ve given below, then work your way up £100,000 at a time.
The first thing to do is to go to the budget allocation screen and slightly adjust the ratio so that it’s now 67:33. This will give you £6,458,799 in transfer funds and £61,176 in wages. Now that that’s done, let’s make some purchases.
Stefano Denswil
Club: Ajax
Position: CB
OVR: 72
Potential: 79
Age: 20
Cost: £1,500,000
Wages: £15,000
The first key area to sort out at VfB Stuttgart is at centre back. Although Antonio Rüdiger has 82 potential, they only have two other centre backs in the squad. They have 76 and 74 potential respectively and are aged 27 and 29, so you’ll only get a couple more years out of them before they start to slip.
To fix this issue I decided to buy Stefano Denswil of Ajax. He’s young, has a good starting OVR and excellent potential (which I think he can exceed as well). He’s got all you want from a centre back, being strong, good at tackling and possessing aerial presence. But as well as that, he starts off with decent passing and sprint speed for a centre back, and once he starts growing these are going to make him a player who is able to play out from the back and start attacks.
I actually did manage to get him for £1,300,000 on one occasion, but that seemed to be a one off. So in that regard, £1,500,000 should be enough to get him in most cases, and his wages are £15,000.
Bernat
Club: Valencia CF
Position: LB
OVR: 71
Potential: 81
Age: 19
Cost: £2,300,000
Wages: £25,000
VfB Stuttgart actually have a fair few left backs, but aside from Konstantin Rausch they really aren’t good enough to carry you into the future. If Rausch gets injured or tired you’ll have to rely on the ageing Arthur Boka or the sub-par Tim Leibold and Philipp Mwene. Instead, I’d sell one or two of them and bring in a better alternative.
My choice was Bernat of Valencia CF. He’s a player I’ve admired for a while, so it’s good to be able to recommend him today. What makes him so useful is his flexibility, and he can easily play at left back or further up the pitch. He’s got pace and stamina, and is just as good creating attacks as he is stopping them. His three star skills are also quite unusual for a full back and could come in useful on forays forward. And with 81 potential, he’ll fast overtake Rausch and become your first choice left back.
I picked him up for £2,300,000, despite Valencia wanting £3,300,000 for him. His wages, at £25,000, are fairly high but still affordable.
Danny Ings
Club: Burnley
Position: ST
OVR: 71
Potential: 81
Age: 20
Cost: £2,600,000
Wages: £15,000
The final area I wanted to address was up front. As I mentioned, Vedad Ibiševi? is a lethal threat and should serve you well, but beyond him there are problems. Cacau is will soon be retiring, while Mohammed Abdellaoue won’t improve any more. Other than that, there are no young promising strikers in the squad.
So for the final addition to the squad, I brought in Danny Ings from Burnley. He’s extremely fast (89 acceleration, 89 sprint speed) and is fantastic with his feet – his 76 finishing was one of the highest of all the strikers I looked at within my budget. He isn’t massively tall, but with 80 jumping and 70 heading he’ll still be a threat from crosses and corners. He’s the type of player who complements the strong, physical Ibiševi? very well and could form an excellent partnership up front.
Burnley wanted £4,600,000 for him but I got him for close to half that, at £2,600,000. His wages are £15,000 and he wanted a squad role, but simply giving him ‘Squad rotation player’ should satisfy him.
Those transfers leave us with £58,799 in transfer funds and £6,176 in wages. If you wanted to bring anyone else in or spend money on a scout, you’re probably going to have to sell some players. Let’s see where we can trim the fat.
Suggested sales
Arthur Boka can be sold for almost £1.5m
Bringing in a new left back means the team is overflowing in this position, so selling some unneeded players will bring in some extra cash. Of those, Arthur Boka will net you the most. Selling him could bring in around £1,300,000, which is great for a player who will sadly only decline in both OVR and value. Leibold and Mwene are only worth £80,000 each, but selling them would at least reduce the amount of players demanding game time.
VfB Stuttgart also have more goalkeepers than they really need, and none of the reserves have particularly high potential. Selling either Kevin Müller or Thorsten Kirschbaum (both potential 72) would bring in around £200,000 – £250,000. Not a huge amount, but it adds up and, as before, would reduce the number of players complaining about a lack of games.
Selling off those low-potential goalkeepers is good, but you may want to replace them with a better quality one, which I’ll come to next.
Future considerations – get a new backup goalkeeper
I feel most of the positional problems have been sorted out now for VfB Stuttgart, but there is one other thing left. The OVR difference between a first choice player and his understudy is most pronounced when it comes to the goalkeepers – Sven Ulreich’s 79 OVR is followed by Kirschbaum’s 68. If Ulreich gets injured before an important game, you could have a problem.
Because this isn’t a desperate problem (at least the team actually has backup goalkeepers, even if they aren’t amazing), I’ll try to keep the costs down. Luckily there is the perfect option in Fabian Giefer of F. Düsseldorf in Bundesliga 2. He’s 23, starts at 73 OVR and has 80 potential. His contract is expiring so he can be picked up for free in January, and by the time he arrives he should have gone up to around 75 OVR, maybe more. This makes him the perfect backup to Ulreich and greatly reduces the gap in quality between him and his understudy. Giefer’s wages are £20,000, which should not be a problem once you’ve sold a couple of players.
As I said, you could probably get away without buying Giefer if you wanted to save your money. I felt it was not a huge problem, but it was something that you may want to address in any case. Considering you can get him for free, though, he’s a very tempting prospect.
So that’s it for this week’s guide to VfB Stuttgart. They’re in the perfect position to build for the future and challenge for the Bundesliga title, having a mixture of talent and areas to improve. If you thought they were an interesting choice or want to tell us your experiences with them, be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.
I’d also like to hear if you have any thoughts about the format of the article itself. Did you find it useful? Conversely, do you think it was missing something that you’d have liked me to include?
And don’t forget to follow FIFA Scouting Tips on Twitter and like the Facebook page for all the latest scouting tips and tricks!