As fate would have it, VfB Stuttgart will have to turn to Tiago Tomas to lead the line against his old club in Saturday’s Bundesliga fixture. Stuttgart get set to face Wolfsburg away this weekend. For the first time this season, the Swabians will have to contest a league fixture without injured lead striker Ermedin Demirovic.
Demirovic suddenly went from a third-choice striker to Stuttgart’s only No. 9 following two events that occurred within a single day: Nick Woltemade’s transfer to Newcastle and Deniz Undav’s injury. Demirovic scored three goals and pocketed two assists in his six consecutive league starts.
Speaking at his Thursday pre-match press conference, Hoeneß conceded that Undav is not yet fit enough to start. Moreover, the injury Jamie Leweling incurred on international duty leaves Hoeneß without one of his preferred starting wingers.
These two losses render it highly unlikely that Tomas will be starting on either side of the attack. The recently returned former Wolfsburg man will have to take up a position he hasn’t played regularly at since the tail end of his last stint with Stuttgart in the spring of 2023.
In the two seasons spent at Wolfsburg, Tomas featured in the center of attack on a pair of rare occasions, Even then, the Portuguese youth international was used as a fall No. 9 by VfL coaches Niko Kovac and Ralph Hasenhüttl.
Hoeneß did his best to try and keep Tomas’ upcoming positional deployment secretive at the press conference. The fact that Hoeneß literally has no-one else to turn to nevertheless means that he will have to use Tomas as a center forward, just as his predecessor Pellegrino Matarazzo did.
Tomas also featured as the lone center forward in a friendly against Elversberg over the October international break. Hoeneß commended the 23-year-old for “doing well” in the test fixture.
“Tiago’s flexibility is a great benefit for us,” Hoeneß said on Thursday. “Medo [Demirovic] is a center forward, while Tiago is not in the classic sense. “Tiago uses his speed to evade defenders and tries to run into space in the half-spaces. He simply has a different profile. That will alter our game somewhat.
“We hope that he will present himself in the best possible light back at his old club,” Hoeneß continued, being sure to add that he probably wouldn’t stick with Tomas for the full 90 minutes. “I have to make sure that he not only gets through this game, but is available for the next few weeks.“
