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VfB Stuttgart left Saturday’s 2-1 Bundesliga defeat at Hoffenheim frustrated not only with their own missed opportunities, but also with what they considered an inconsistent application of VAR. The principal source of anger came midway through the first half when Angelo Stiller collided with Hoffenheim defender Ozan Kabak inside the penalty area.
Stiller and Kabak appeared to collide knee-to-knee, with the midfielder immediately going down in considerable discomfort. Referee Sven Jablonski allowed play to continue and no VAR intervention followed. For Stuttgart, that was difficult to understand.
“It wasn’t a fortunate moment for us,” sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth remarked in the mixed zone afterwards. “He gets a clear hit on the knee in the opposition penalty area. For me, that was a clear penalty.”
Head coach Sebastian Hoeneß reached the same conclusion.
“You immediately see how his knee flails away,” Hoeneß added at the post-match press conference. “There’s no delay between the contact and the sensation of pain.”
Stuttgart question lack of VAR intervention
Stuttgart’s frustration was heightened by Hoeneß’s subsequent conversation with Jablonski. According to the VfB coach, the referee acknowledged that he had not properly seen the incident himself. That, in Hoeneß’s view, was precisely the type of situation in which VAR should have provided assistance.
“Then he has someone in the [VAR] cellar who can see it for him,” Hoeneß said. “And who can at least give him the opportunity to reassess it.”
The lack of intervention became even more difficult for Stuttgart to accept because video assistant Tobias Welz did become involved in another penalty-area incident shortly before halftime. On that occasion, Stiller-replacement Yanik Spalt appeared to handle the ball after an effort from Adam Hlozek.
Jablonski initially allowed play to continue before Welz sent him to the monitor. The review ultimately established that Hlozek himself had handled the ball earlier in the sequence. Stuttgart were therefore correctly awarded a free kick. The final decision was not the source of Wohlgemuth’s complaint.
The sporting director instead questioned why VAR considered that sequence worthy of intervention while the Stiller collision had passed without review.
“With the handball, from my point of view, there was nothing to interpret at all,” Wohlgemuth said. “Then everyone gets confused. It gets annoying!”
Stuttgart await news on Stiller
The consequences of the earlier incident extended beyond the unsuccessful penalty appeal. Stiller initially attempted to continue but was eventually forced off approximately ten minutes later. The injury came in the midfielder’s 100th Bundesliga appearance for Stuttgart.
Hoeneß said after the match that Stiller had suffered a hematoma to the knee, though the full extent of the problem remained unclear.
Losing Stiller also affected Stuttgart’s performance. Wohlgemuth described the Germany international as the team’s “rhythm-setter,” and VfB struggled at times to reproduce the same fluency after youngster Yanik Spalt replaced him.
Stuttgart nevertheless created enough chances to leave Sinsheim with considerably more than they ultimately collected.
Hoffenheim struck twice through Adam Hlozek on counterattacks, while Stuttgart failed to convert several opportunities of their own. Deniz Undav squandered perhaps the clearest late chance when, rather than shooting from close range, he attempted to square for Dzenan Pejcinovic and played the ball behind his teammate.
Hoeneß consequently summarized the defeat by saying Stuttgart had lost the match “in both penalty areas.”
