By IANS
Berlin : VfB Stuttgart coach Armin Veh has warned fans there are no quick fixes as the faltering German Bundesliga football champions prepare to host Bayer Leverkusen Saturday, reports Xinhua.
Stuttgart has lost the last five matches in the Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League as its season has gone from bad to worse.
The club’s chances in Europe are all but over after a third straight defeat in Champions League Group E, going down Tuesday night to Olympique Lyon of France.
In the Bundesliga it is already 16 points behind leaders Bayern Munich, as it sits in 14th place with 10 points.
Unless there is rapid improvement it can look forward to a relegation battle rather than a fight to retain the title but Veh is not promising anything ahead of the tricky game against Leverkusen.
“It could get a lot windier around here yet,” he told reporters after the home defeat to French champions Lyon.
“The Bundesliga is absolutely the priority for us now. We just don’t have the class at the moment to compete with the best teams in Europe.”
The coach will also have to do without the suspended Fernando Meira and Pavel Pardo, as well as injury victim Arthur Boka.
Schalke 04 shared Stuttgart’s fate in the Champions League midweek, going down 0-2 at Chelsea.
Saturday they host Werder Bremen, who had better fortune in their match Wednesday as they revived their hopes of qualifying from the group phase by winning 2-1 at home to Italy’s Lazio.
Werder is Bayern’s closest challenger on the domestic front with 20 points — six behind the leaders — while Schalke is also in decent shape in fifth place with 17 points.
Bayern will bid to extend their unbeaten start to the season on a visit to Borussia Dortmund Sunday.
Bayern’s hopes of maintaining a bright start will rest on how well the players recover from Thursday night’s UEFA Cup exertions at Red Star Belgrade.
Franck Ribery and Luca Toni missed the European game because of injury but could be fit in time for Sunday.