Stuttgart's Bundesliga season has taken a troubling turn. The club sit 15th with six points from seven games, a return that falls well short of expectations for a side that reached back-to-back DFB-Pokal finals. The 2-3 home defeat to bottom-placed Borussia Mönchengladbach was the low point, a result that prompted alarm bells at the club and drew sharp public criticism.

Capitain Deniz Undav sits at the centre of the concern. The striker has scored just once in eleven competitive appearances this season and remains without a Bundesliga goal. Lothar Matthäus suggested publicly that the captaincy may be weighing on him, saying he has lost his lightness and smiles less. Matthias Sammer had already questioned whether Undav is the right profile to lead the side, though both stopped short of calling for the armband to be removed.

Coach Sebastian Hoeneß has responded firmly. Training sessions are longer and more intense, individual errors are now addressed in front of the full squad rather than privately, and no starting place is guaranteed. The club also reportedly banned players from driving personal luxury cars onto the training ground, a measure designed to sharpen collective focus.

A 1-0 DFB-Pokal win at Paderborn provided some breathing room, but the real test arrives Saturday when Stuttgart travel to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. In Europe, the picture is brighter, with seven points from three Champions League matches keeping continental ambitions very much alive.