Thomas Schneider's Kvist of fate
Stuttgart - As a fully-fledged Danish international, it seems almost incomprehensible to think a fit and able spent over four months on the VfB Stuttgart sidelines.
Clean slate
All the while, the Swabians were caught in a tailspin, scraping a 12th-place finish last term and facing total wipeout just three games into the new campaign. Something had to give.
A Matchday 3 defeat to struggling FC Augsburg proved the final straw, and head coach Bruno Labbadia was gone. Later that very same day, sporting director Fredi Bobic introduced Thomas Schneider as the man to kickstart Stuttgart's stuttering heart.
First on the agenda was the UEFA Europa League, but try as he might, VfB's new coach fell short of reversing the damage of the first-leg loss to HNK Rijeka a week earlier. Fortunately, the Swabians were able to seek solace in the wider picture and the prospect of being recast in the Schneider mould.
"In the past"
Of those to reap immediate reward from the Schneider rewrite was Kvist. "It wasn't an easy time for me," the long-forgotten Dane said of his time under Labbadia. "Hopefully that's in the past now. I'm happy the new coach has faith in me."
The Stuttgart midfielder went straight into the side that drew 2-2 with Rijeka and kept his place on Matchday 4 as the Swabians belatedly broke their Bundesliga duck for 2013/14 with a dominant 6-2 win over 1899 Hoffenheim. Fresh and invigorated, Schneider's Stuttgart were up and running.
"A better idea"
"I really like his [Schneider's] ideas," explained Kvist. "Compactness, tactical discipline and organisation - it all makes us more clinical. When it comes to the games, we have a much better idea of how to go about things."
Rejuvenated after being brought in from the cold, we will have a better idea of whether Kvist can re-establish himself as a Swabian mainstay in Friday's Matchday 5 opener away to Hertha Berlin.
Christoph Gailer/ Christopher Mayer-Lodge
