The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/VfB-Stuttgart-c40879 manager is targeting all three points against the Royal Blues on Saturday despite having a depleted squad for the clash.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bruno-c8098 Labbadia has insisted that his side will play for a win against Schalke on Saturday, January 21, when the two teams meet to get their Bundesliga campaign underway after the winter break.
The manager wishes to finish in the top six this season after a mixed first six months of the ongoing campaign. Labbadia is facing injury woes and will have to rely on most of his reserve team players for the fixture against Die
Knappen.
Three of Stuttgart’s first choice players, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Shinji-Okazaki-c33366 are unavailable due to injury.
Therefore, Labbadia has to make use of the alternatives, but still is confident of achieving success against the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Royal-95-c40387 Blues at the Veltins-Arena.
While talking during the pre-match press conference, the 45-year-old tactician further stated:
"We have got to compensate for the loss of these five players. We have at least got a good new alternative with Gotuko Sakai, but he still needs time to get used to the pace and the tactics."
On the other hand, the tactician revealed his desire to keep hold of the midfielder, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Zdravko-Kuzmanovic-c37865, who is currently on Juventus’ radar. The Italian giants want to sign the Serbian international at the end of this season,
but Labbadia claimed that the midfielder is going nowhere.
He insisted that the club has no intentions to part ways with the 24-years-old, who is surely the integral part of the club’s starting XI.
"We don't want to lose Zdravko. There is no intention of selling him. He has developed well here over the years and was an active member of our team in the training camp, but I have not been discussing this issue with him recently
- only Schalke is on our mind because making a good start is important," Labbadia concluded.
The Swabians are currently eighth on the league table with 22 points, 12 points adrift of their Saturday’s opponents.
Tags: