The 2007 Bundesliga champions are on their third coach of the season, were blown away at home to Nürnberg and have slipped to a worrying 17th place

A cold, drab Saturday in February, a construction site, a lower-end of the table match. The surroundings were decidedly prosaic but the drama worthy of one of those hammy Martin Scorsese flicks about conflicting loyalties and confused identities.

For Leonardo DiCaprio read Julian Schieber, 22, from the Swabian town of Backnang. On a mission deep behind enemy lines – or as an enemy behind friendly lines, maybe – the striker was desperately trying to do the right thing without necessarily knowing what that was. His uncertainty reached a climax late in the second half when he encouraged Stuttgart's Serdar Tasci to get up from the pitch after a foul. "Come on Serdar, come on," Schieber shouted, all too aware that he himself had metaphorically floored the former Germany defender to begin with and that he had been his mate's chief tormentor that afternoon.

First the forward scored a header when Tasci got his angles all wrong. Schieber, on loan at Nürnberg, had promised he would not celebrate a goal against his hometown club and looked positively uncomfortable after putting the visitors 2-0 up. "He laid on the floor as if struck down by melancholy," wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung about the unusual sight in the partially rebuilt Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Six minutes after the interval, he set up Nürnberg's third and decisive goal with a fine pass to Timothy Chandler. Schieber seemed even less happy and who could blame him? He was not just defeating his own club, he was plunging them into a full-blown existentialist crisis. "It was very difficult for me but I had to give everything for my current team," he said later, by way of apology.

Stuttgart conceded a fourth (Mehmet Ekici, 62) and simply gave up. One of the wealthiest, most ambitious clubs in the Bundesliga are 17th in the table and the apocalyptic scenario of relegation looks a distinct possibility. A shocked Stuttgarter Nachrichten witnessed "signs of a downfall": the team, they felt, were "unable to activate the self-preservation drive". Chandler summed it up best. "We didn't expect Stuttgart to be this bad," the 20-year-old midfielder said.

VfB supporters, it is fair to say, are demanding and pretty inpatient at the best of times. These days, they do not know who to boo first. On Saturday they turned on Tasci, jeering him at every touch. It made a change from the traditional anti-board chants but did not exactly help matters. "We wanted [to win], but couldn't," was Bruno Labbadia's attempt to explain the inexplicable capitulation.

At another club, the 45-year-old would be fearing the sack at this stage, but he is already the third coach of the season and probably their best. The odd tactical mistake or line-up mishap aside, there is little he could have done – the playing staff are simply unrecognisable.

"€8m man Zdravko Kuzmanovic is a pantomime footballer," added Stuttgarter Nachrichten. "He's always around but never quite there. Cristian Molinaro, an Italian international for a short time, seems like a kind of boy scout on an orientation walk. Matthieu Delpierre has the jumping power of an aircraft carrier and Tasci is about as mobile as a ticket booth."

The sporting director, Fredi Bobic, can point to a storm of injuries, out-of-form key players (Delpierre, Cacau) and general loss of confidence – "we have mental problems". But Stuttgart's troubles surely go deeper. After winning the championship in 2007 with a young, exciting team, they have lost their way, skidding from one knee-jerk decision to the next and getting it all wrong in the transfer market.

Horst Heldt, now in an unidentified role at Schalke that seems to entail the rummaging through Felix Magath's box of "funny" spectacles, is one of the main culprits. His list of flops is long and unsightly, like Lady Gaga's decommissioned olfactory organ.

It was not a very good idea to let successive managers choose their favourite players and now Bobic has happily chipped in too. Getting the over-the-hill Mauro Camoranesi from Juventus was some kind of masterstroke. The 34-year-old's contract was torn up after only seven disappointing experiences. Equally brilliant: Bobic jumped on the Shinji Kagawa bandwagon and signed Shinji Okazaki from Shimizu S-Pulse in January, but neglected to sort out the paperwork in time. Four games into the second half of the season, the striker is still sitting in the stands, waiting for Fifa clearance.

"If anything can save this team, it is their relegation battle rivals who are even worse," wrote Stuttgarter Zeitung, with a vague sense of optimism. Somewhat worryingly, the players seem to buy into this "not bad enough to go down" line, too.

"It's still in our hands," said Tasci. "There are plenty of games left," added Delpierre. It is a pity that the one VfB player who has truly adopted the necessary mind-set for a dog-fight against the drop cannot do anything for them. If he's really unlucky, poor Julian Schieber might soon find himself in the wrong kind of title race, in the Second Division.

"I'm looking forward to his return in the summer," said Bobic.

Talking points to follow

• Only in Germany department: a concerned teacher has asked authorities to look into Julian Draxler's recent appearances for Schalke 04. The 17-year-old prodigy played two night games, in the cup win against Nürnberg and the 0-0 draw against Dortmund, in possible violation of employment law. Article 14 of the youth worker protection law states that minors are not allowed to work after 8pm. Permitted exceptions include baking, gastronomy, work in amusement parks or artistic performances. None of these categories would seem to fit football, let alone Schalke matches. Despite the legal uncertainties, the authorities are unlikely to intervene. "It's not as if we're bussing in a coach-load of 15-year-olds to check tickets late at night," said a S04 spokesperson.

• Draxler was an 84th-minute sub in the laboured 1-0 win over Freiburg – an afternoon match. Jefferson Farfán scored the winner (49min) in a game that was not even remotely as entertaining as Magath's first foray into the crazy world of social networking. The embattled autocrat has started a Facebook page in an effort to be seen as more accessible by the supporters. If only Hosni Mubarak had been as progressive.

• It's the award season and Matthias – no relation to Mad Jens – Lehmann got in on the act(ing). The St Pauli midfielder made out he was hit by Igor de Camargo's hint of a head-butt, fell to the floor and got Gladbach's Brazilian midfielder sent off. Against the 10-man visitors, St Pauli managed to turn the game around and win 3-1. "It's his problem," said Lehmann after the final whistle. "I'd be stupid if I didn't accept such a gift. Why should I not go to ground when we're 0-1 down?" It's the kind of honesty that may yet get him into trouble with the German FA but any retrospective punishment will come to late for De Camargo (one-match ban) and the manager Michael Frontzeck (sacked on Sunday). The Swiss coach Lucien Favre will be entrusted to save the Foals from relegation. It's an interesting appointment. In his last job, he took Hertha BSC down.

• Another slightly disappointing draw for leaders Dortmund (1-1 away to Kaiserslautern) enabled Leverkusen and Bayern to close the enormous gap to 10 and 13 points, respectively. In Munich, the champions had little trouble to destroy Hoffenheim 4-0; the return of Arjen Robben (two goals) and Franck Ribéry had resulted in a more logical line-up with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Müller (one goal) in their preferred positions. Mario Gómez (one goal) struck the only off-note with a new, Alannah Currie-inspired barnet.

• There was even hairier stuff in the Bayer camp, their effortless 3-0 win away to Frankfurt nothwithstanding. The coach Jupp Heynckes had ordered Michael Ballack to warm up for most of the second half, but never brought him on. The next day, Germany's nominal captain picked up a timely knee injury. "It's high time they talk," wrote Kicker about the impending trouble. It's unclear whether Ballack will travel to the Ukraine for Leverkusen's Europa League encounter with Metalist Kharkov on Thursday but a frosty atmosphere is guaranteed. Meteorologists predict temperatures of minus 20C.

Results: Bayern 4-0 Hoffenheim, Stuttgart 1-4 Nürnberg, Frankfurt 0-3 Leverkusen, St Pauli 3-1 Gladbach, Schalke 1-0 Freiburg, Lautern 1-1 Dortmund, Wolfsburg 0-1 Hamburg, Köln 4-1 Mainz, Bremen 1-1 Hannover.

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