Sebastian Hoeneß Tactics and Coaching Philosophy

Sebastian Hoeneß is a 42 year old German football manager who is currently in charge of Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart. 

Sebastian Hoeneß is the son of former football player Dieter Hoeneß, and the nephew of Uli Hoeneß, a former international and the former Bayern Munich President. 

Hoeneß began his coaching journey in 2012 at Hertha Zehlendorf’s U-19s. After one season he moved to Red Bull Leipzig taking up a post as U17s head coach.

Hoeneß was quickly impressing some of the top German clubs. Bayern Munich came calling and appointed him head coach of the U19s in July 2017. He would work in this position until June 2019, eventually taking over Bayern Reserves (Bayern II) where he worked until July 2020.

Hoeneß‘ time in charge of the reserves was a roaring success with Bayern II becoming the first reserve team in history to win Germany’s third division. The squad at the time included players such as Joshua Zirkzee, Malik Tillman and Jamal Musiala. Hoeneß also won the 3. Liga Manager of the Season award for his achievement.

His success at Bayern led TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to offer Hoeneß the first-team Head Coach role at the club in July 2020.

Sporting Director of Hoffenheim Alexander Rosen claimed “Sebastian has impressively demonstrated his ability to shape young players into a powerful unit and develop them further individually. He chose an offensive approach that was not only attractive but also extremely successful.”

The Hoeneß appointment meant he became the second youngest head coach in Bundesliga history after Julian Nagelsmann. 

Hoeneß’ first season in charge seen Hoffenheim finish 11th, their worst final league position in five years. The team did manage to end Bayern’s winning streak of 23 consecutive victories, ending their 32-match unbeaten run in the process which went back to December 2019.  Hoeneß’ second season seen Hoffenheim finish 9th but the progress was not deemed sufficient by the club. Despite signing a three year contract, Hoeneß left Hoffenheim after the 21/22 season.

Hoeneß took a short break from management until he became VfB Stuttgart manager in April 2023, replacing Bruno Labbadia.

When Hoeneß took over Stuttgart they were rock bottom of the Bundesliga. He remarkably led the club from bottom of the table into the relegation play-offs of the 22/23 season, ultimately beating Hamburg to secure survival. The 2023 summer transfer window seen Stuttgart lose key players in Wataru Endo (who was club captain) to Liverpool and Konstantinos Mavropanos to West Ham. This weakened the squad in Hoeneß‘ eyes but Stuttgart however did some great business themselves. They went on to sign players like Sehrou Guirassy from Rennes, Woo-Yeong Jeong from Freiburg, Angelo Stiller from Hoffenheim and Deniz Undav on loan from Brighton. 

In March 2024, Sebastian Hoeneß went on to extend his contract with Stuttgart until 2027 and the club had a very successful season. Guirassy and Undav contributed to 37 goals and assists, helping Stuttgart secure Champions League football for the first time since 2009/2010 by finishing second. This was an incredible achievement for Hoeneß and the club, their best finish in the Bundesliga since 2007. The club also managed their most wins in a single season with 22.  Hoeneß even celebrated Champions League qualification by making a statement on the microphone with the club ultras at the MHP Arena.

According to datamb.football VfB Stuttgart (for the 23/24 season) versus the Top 7 League teams were in the;

▫️93rd percentile for Goals

▫️92nd percentile for possession

▫️91st percentile for attacking

▫️82nd percentile for defending

TACTICS AND COACHING PHILOSOPHY

Hoeneß’s VfB Stuttgart team often start with a ‘back three’ or ‘back four’ depending on the opposition and their usual shape in build up is a 4-2-2-2, 4-2-1-3 or 4-2-4. The defence will be patient to bait the press then look to create gaps to progress the ball. The goalkeeper, centre backs and full backs and the ‘double pivot’ will combine to dictate the build up, looking for movement between the lines to connect the play using central combinations. Angelo Stiller has been one of the stand out players who have aided Stuttgart in really improving this area of their play.

If teams intensively look to disrupt Stuttgart’s build up with a man to man press they won’t be afraid to go long. They execute this very well, with the forwards controlling the ball, or midfielders winning the second ball quickly. 

From this position they will attack quickly from either flank, not allowing the opposition to recover. Hoeneß’ teams will use the fullbacks for progression, either with ball carrying, creating one v ones or overloading to isolate. The full backs are always making runs to exploit space in behind.

When the opposition team are very compact and providing little space, Stuttgart have no problems playing more direct to exploit the gaps. In these scenarios they demonstrate good counter pressing leading to high possession regains.  Hoeneß’ teams perfectly combine patient build-up with direct attacking football. Their football is fluid, brave and dynamic but they still place an emphasis on controlling games— averaging 60.3% possession last season. His teams deploy a high defensive line but they execute it perfectly more often than not. 

Last season Stuttgart had the second best defence in the Bundesliga with just 39 goals conceded from 40.8xG. They also had 12 clean sheets, the second most in the league.

HOENEẞ IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE

So would Hoeneß’ style of play work at Manchester United? You could argue that Hoeness’s game model is very similar to what Erik Ten Hag wants to achieve at United. They play very vertically, supported by a high defensive line looking to counter press and punish teams quickly on the transition. He wants movement and rotations and his philosophy is ‘principles over patterns.’ Hoeneß believes the unpredictability of the opposition can be countered by creating, moving and exploiting space. Appointing Hoeneß might make for a smoother transition from Erik Ten Hag’s style of play to what the German would want to implement. One thing’s for certain is that  Hoeneß has shown at only 42 years of age he is a great tactician, leading a very exciting project at Stuttgart. The German is now getting the recognition he deserves as one of Europe’s top coaches. A move to the Premier League is undoubtedly a possibility for Hoeness and he might just find himself on the shortlist of Manchester United’s board.