Stuttgart Vs Köln [3–1] – Bundesliga 2025/2026: Sebastian Hoeneß’s Blueprint For A European Push – Tactical Analysis

Saturday’s Bundesliga fixture between VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Köln offered a compelling tactical narrative that underscored Stuttgart’s evolution under Sebastian Hoeneß, a performance that combined structured aggression with clinical execution to secure a 3–1 home victory at the MHPArena.

From kick-off, Stuttgart sought to impose a coherent style of play built around early territorial control and incisive vertical sequences, translating possession and build-up dominance into tangible opportunities.

Against a resilient Köln side that aimed to disrupt those patterns with transitional counters, Die Schwaben’s strategy ultimately prevailed, powered by moments of individual quality and strategic clarity.

Ermedin Demirović, operating as the spearhead of Stuttgart’s frontline, emerged as the match’s defining figure.

His early opener in the 15th minute was symptomatic of Stuttgart’s overarching intent to link incisive midfield progression with verticality in the final third.

Even after Köln’s brief resurgence through Ragnar Ache late in the second half, Stuttgart’s tactical framework remained resilient.

A remaining belief in their attacking transitions enabled them to reassert control, with Ermedin Demirović’s second and Deniz Undav’s stoppage-time finish sealing the result.

This match was not merely about the scoreline; it was an interplay of strategic adjustments, pressing triggers, and phase transitions that emphasised Stuttgart’s ability to convert positional coherence into decisive scoring moments.

In this tactical analysis, we’ll explore how Stuttgart’s structural identity dictated the rhythms of the game and set the stage for a broader post-match analysis of both sides’ tactical executions.

Stuttgart Vs Köln Players & Formations Used

Sebastian Hoeneß decided to line up his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but did it rather asymmetrical once again.

Alexander Nübel started in goal, with Lorenz Assignon playing as the right-back, Finn Jeltsch and Jeff Chabot playing as the centre-back pairing, and Maximilian Mittelstädt playing on the left side, with more attacking assignments compared to his counterpart on the right.

Skipper Atakan Karazor played in the double pivot with Chema Fernandez; Jamie Leweling played as the right winger; Chris Führich played on the left wing; and Deniz Undav played as an attacking midfielder and, at times, as a second striker.

In the attack, Ermedin Demirović once again got the start as the lone striker for Hoeneß.

Lukas Kwasniok, on the other hand, adopted a 4-4-2 formation that sometimes evolved into a 4-1-3-2.

Captain Marvin Schwäbe started in goal, with Kristoffer Lund, Cenk Özkacar, Joel Schmied and Sebastian Sebulonsen playing as the back-four in front of him.

In midfield, Eric Martel played as the holding midfielder, with Tom Krauß playing in a box-to-box role next to him.

Jakub Kaminski played on the left attacking side, with Jan Thielmann playing on the right side.

In the attack, Ragnar Ache and Marius Bülter formed a two-man attack for 1. FC Köln.

Stuttgart Build Up

From the outset, Stuttgart made it clear that they intended to dominate possession and control the tempo of the game with the ball at their feet.

Köln have been somewhat out of form over the last couple of months, but they have always been dangerous due to their intensity and pace on the counter.

Therefore, Hoeneß did not want his opponent to even find themselves in those situations.

When his team had the ball, they played with their usual 2+1-2 structure in the build-up on line one.

They actively included Nübel in their passing game, often allowing him to trigger the play for them, creating a numerical advantage for them against the two strikers of Köln.

The centre-backs positioned themselves at the edge of the penalty area in terms of width; the double-pivot stayed close and narrow relative to the backline.

Mittelstädt on the left pushed very high up the field, with Assignon on the right staying rather flat, but the Frenchman did not have a huge role in the build-up; he was more of an out-option if all other options failed for Hoeneß’s men.

Köln had a clear plan in the press; they did not attempt to retreat and instead let Stuttgart take control.

Kwasniok and his men wanted to get their intensity and grit on the pitch from the start.

The two strikers tried to prevent Nübel from playing passes to the centre-backs, they wanted to force them to play to the midfielders, where Kwasniok had his players ready to pounce forward.

The midfielders of Köln always tried to press forward when the ball got played into midfield, but they got overaggressive with it at times and messed up the timing, opening up the centre of the field.

In the situation pictured above, the midfielders pressed forward too early, allowing Chema to play a pass through the gap between them to Karazor in the space between the lines.

The Stuttgart captain now found himself in a lot of space, ready to either turn around and find another vertical pass or just play a quick lay-off to his midfield partner, who moved forward and then had forward momentum.

This allowed Stuttgart to get behind the first line of press rather easily, and they were able to transition their attacks well from here on out.

Instead of just waiting now or playing a pass towards the outside, Stuttgart had an incredibly vertical approach in this game.

Here, Chema played another vertical pass towards Demirović, who dropped back out of the attacking line.

With three vertical passes, Stuttgart played from their goalkeeper to their striker, and with Köln committing a lot of players forward in the press, they managed to create opportunities from those situations.

Undav missed the early opportunity for Stuttgart after just about 70 seconds in the game, but Hoeneß’s men showed how they wanted to impose their will early on.

When they had to build in line two and were unable to involve their goalkeeper as heavily as they do in line one, Stuttgart dropped Karazor back into the defensive line, creating a back three.

They did this simply to create a numerical advantage against the two strikers again, and it worked out for them.

Köln rarely was able to get pressure in these situations, and they rarely were able to push forward to press in line one again.

Hoeneß Focusing On The Left Side

Given the asymmetry in his formation, Hoeneß made it clear that his team should focus their attacks on the left side, and they employed two patterns of play to create opportunities for themselves.

Often, Mittelstädt pushed inwards into central midfield, opening up space on the wing for Führich, who positioned himself very wide in pretty much all situations.

Stuttgart always tried to find their left winger when attacking, with all the space he found himself in, Führich then decided what to do next.

On the far side, the other Stuttgart attackers positioned themselves in the backs of the remaining defenders, always ready to make diagonal runs into the space behind the backline.

In this situation, Führich dribbled inwards with his first touch, Mittelstädt made an overlapping run, and this set up the rest of the attacking phase.

Mittelstädt’s run opens up the middle of the field for Führich, and he makes the most out of the time and space he now finds himself in.

With the other attackers making diagonal runs now, Führich chips the ball over the top of the backline, trying to find one of his teammates in stride.

He finds Leweling with his switch, who just squares the ball to Demirović to give Stuttgart the early lead in the game with their second big chance.

More often, when Mittelstädt pushed into midfield, and Führich received the ball out wide, Stuttgart played with underlapping runs from their left-back, allowing Führing to go into 1v1 situations against Sebulonsen and then find his teammate with through passes.

Sebulonsen had huge problems with containing Führich all game long, and the winger made the most out of it most of the time.

Mittelstädt made these overlapping runs a lot, and Thielmann and Sebulonsen had huge troubles communicating if they wanted to switch or not, allowing Stuttgart to penetrate the Köln defence multiple times that way.

Mittelstädt then had a good quality with his crosses, finding his strikers in Demirović and Undav multiple times, but Stuttgart failed to convert their opportunities after taking the lead for the longest time, allowing Köln to hang around in the game somehow.

Köln Adjusting But Coming Up Short

After struggling a lot to create opportunities for themselves in the first half, Kwasniok adjusted his approach on the counter to a more vertical playstyle, and it worked out very well.

Köln did not have a lot of high regains, so they often had to cover a lot of distance if they wanted to counterattack, so they had to find solutions for that problem.

Kwasniok decided to adjust by having his players play vertical passes down the channel in the half-space, where one of the two strikers was now dropping into, while the other striker was making a vertical run to push the backline back.

Köln then played through the triangle, with the striker laying the vertical pass off into the path of the winger on the outside.

They managed to play through the counterpressing attempts of Stuttgart like that, and it helped them to get a better grip on the game overall.

Then, Mittelstädt often pressed inwards against the counterattacks, leaving the space on the wing wide open.

Kwasniok used that to finally create some opportunities for his team in the second half.

Sebulonsen was now making a lot of runs down the wing, and his teammates were able to find him with switches rather often, allowing him to get into good positions on the wing.

Köln managed to create a rather decent amount of crossing opportunities for themselves on the counter that way.

Their presence in the box was very good as well, having at least three players in the box at all times.

Here, Bülter misses the goal from just about six yards out in the end, but Kwansiok’s men have now got their intensity onto the pitch for the first time.

Later, after a bad pass by Chabot, Ache was even able to tie up the game, rewarding his team for a good second half with great motor.

Stuttgart was not shocked by the late goal, however, and just got back to attacking more ferociously.

Once again, they played through their left side, but with different players now.

Bilal El-Khannouss now receives the ball near the sideline, while Ramon Hendriks makes an underlapping run.

While the run was not perfectly timed, the Moroccan international plays a beautiful backheel pass into the path of the Dutch left-back, creating another opportunity for a cross.

Hendriks makes up for his bad run with a beautiful cross that Demirović taps in to give Stuttgart the lead very late in the game.

Deniz Undav later scored the deciding goal in stoppage time.

Conclusion

In the end, Stuttgart’s 3–1 win over Köln stands out not only for its scoreline but for what it reveals about the team’s developing strategic identity.

Structurally, Stuttgart blended controlled possession with well-timed vertical thrusts that disrupted Köln’s defensive rhythms; the balance between territorial dominance and efficient finishing was especially visible in the timing and construction of all three goals.

Demirović’s brace, a composed half-volley and a clinical follow-through on a precise flank delivery, reflected a striker attuned to the team’s transitional triggers and capable of converting phases into tangible outcomes.

Köln’s response, embodied in Ragnar Ache’s late equaliser, hinted at their capacity to capitalise on momentary lapses in Stuttgart’s structure.

Across match phases, possession control, dynamic wing interplay, and midfield contestation gave Stuttgart the edge in dictating tempo and defensive organisation.

The team looks good in the battle for the UEFA Champions League.

As the Bundesliga season progresses, this result offers a strategic template for Stuttgart, one where structural cohesion is married with decisive final–third actions.

For Köln, the match serves as a reminder that tactical executions must align more consistently with transition responses if they aim to close the gap on teams vying for Europe and keep their distance from the relegation zone.

In dissecting this encounter, what emerges most clearly is the degree to which Stuttgart’s tactical intent, when realised collectively, can yield both control and cutting edge in a fiercely contested Bundesliga landscape.