Early-risers Stuttgart bid to reignite season
BERLIN (Reuters) - Players at relegation-threatened VfB Stuttgart have been ordered on to the training field before sunrise this week as coach Huub Stevens looks to kick-start their battle against relegation.
With just over three weeks to go until the Bundesliga season restarts, Dutchman Stevens, who took over at the former German champions in November, told his players to set their alarm clocks to wake them up before dawn.
They have to be ready to start work at 6.30am, a very unusual time for professional footballers to be training.
"It is good not only for the body but also for the mind," Stevens told reporters. "Waking up early is good for you."
Stevens, a tough disciplinarian, also started the club's preparations for the second part of the season earlier than any other Bundesliga team, with Stuttgart looking to get out of any relegation trouble early in the year.
The five-time Bundesliga champions also appointed former Werder Bremen coach Robin Dutt as the new sports director this week, replacing sacked Fredi Bobic.
"We need every day, every training," Stevens said. "We want to get out from down there and we can do it but that means hard work."
Stuttgart, who last won the title in 2007, are in 15th place, after spending much of the first half of the season in the direct relegation spots, level on points with Werder Bremen who are 16th and in the relegation playoff spot.
The season resumes on Jan. 30 with Stuttgart back in action the following day against fourth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Mike Collett)
