Stuttgart smash Freiburg on Stevens' return

Stuttgart marked the return of Huub Stevens as the club's new head coach with a 4-1 thrashing at South Western rivals Freiburg.

The 60-year-old Stevens was recalled for his second spell at the club after Armin Veh resigned following Stuttgart's defeat at home to Augsburg last weekend.

The Swabians handed the Dutchman a short-term deal in March with the aim to stave off relegation, which Stevens carried out adequately in his 10-game stint.

In the Black Forest, Stevens brought out an immediate response from his team with two goals from Martin Harnik and one each from Carlos Gruezo and Timo Werner clinching the three points to end a troubled run.

Having started the campaign on a damp note, Freiburg went into the game unbeaten in four. The late equalizer lost at Mainz last weekend denied them a fourth consecutive win in all competitions.

Stuttgart, though, were in disarray at the bottom of the table with their worst start to the season in four decades. But despite a bright start from the home side, Stuttgart landed the proverbial Stevens-sucker-punch after half an hour with Harnik nodding Moritz Leitner's cross into the net from close range.

Bouncing back

Stuttgart had managed to weather the storm, shutting off the route to Freiburg's Admir Mehmedi, the club's top scorer last season. The Black Forest club needed a key player to take the initiative when the chips were down and after 41 minutes, that moment of inspiration came in some style for the home side.

Darida controlled the ball between the Stuttgart midfield and defense, drove towards goal with purpose and then smashed a low shot from 25 yards into the bottom-corner. The Czech midfielder was the standout performer on the pitch, continuing his excellent form in the middle of the park for Freiburg.

Christian Streich's side went for the jugular until the end of the break and Felix Klaus was unlucky not to have put his team ahead as he struck the aluminum.

The Stevens Effect

Just seven minutes after the restart, however, and Stuttgart were back in the driving seat: Sercan Sararer nicked a loose ball in the middle of the pitch and sparked a rapid break, which ended with the Ecuadorian Gruezo slamming the ball high into the net.

Stevens appears to have the winning recipe for relegation-threatened Stuttgart: defend in a deep structure, and then launch counterattacks with searing pace and efficacy.

In the 67th minute, Harnik carried the ball up the pitch and 18-year-old Werner slid the ball under Roman Bürki to add a comfortable margin between the teams. Seconds after the restart of play, Stuttgart broke clear again and the Serb Stefan Mitrovic was shown a straight red card after bundling over Harnik on the edge of the box.

Harnik recorded his fifth league goal of the season in the last quarter of an hour to take Stuttgart out of the automatic relegation positions, at least, temporarily.