Everton vs Stuttgart: Pre-Season Test Highlights
The MHP Arena is not easing anyone gently into pre-season. Forty-five minutes before kick-off, the lights dim, the music thumps and Stuttgart roll out a wrestling-style introduction for every member of their squad. Flames, individual walk-ons, personalised songs – even the mascot gets star treatment.
Fritzle, the club’s alligator, leads the way, bouncing around the touchline and posing for photos, including one with a robot. It’s theatrical, loud and very German.
Everton’s entrance? A jog onto the pitch to almost no fanfare at all. While the Stuttgart MC continues his on-pitch interviews, the visitors simply get on with their warm-up. No fireworks. No soundtrack. Just a Premier League side trying to sharpen up in the heat of southern Germany.
Heat, Noise and a Test of Nerve
The MHP Arena, sitting on the banks of the Neckar River, is a striking mix of old and new. On this sweltering afternoon it feels like a cauldron. The stands fill early, the noise builds, and the sense grows that this is no gentle training exercise for Sean Dyche’s side.
Stuttgart’s World Cup hero Bilal El-Khannouss is missing from the squad, rested after his exploits with Morocco, but his presence still lingers. He was given a hero’s welcome by the home crowd earlier in the week, a reminder of how quickly reputations can change in tournament football.
Today, though, the focus is on those who are here – and on an Everton team sheet that hints at both experimentation and intent.
Branthwaite and O’Brien: A Partnership in the Making
The headline from Dyche’s XI is clear: Jarrad Branthwaite and Jake O’Brien together at centre-back. It is a pairing many around the club have wanted to see and, crucially, both players are fit enough to start again after featuring in Hamburg.
Branthwaite, linked so often with moves away, now finds himself starting on consecutive weekends, a sign that Everton are determined to build rhythm and resilience at the heart of their defence. O’Brien, meanwhile, is finally in his natural position. No more shuffling across the line. No more compromise. Centre-back, as it should be.
That decision forces a familiar problem elsewhere. With no new right-back signed – a gap in the squad that has become such a talking point even Prime Minister Andy Burnham has weighed in – someone has to plug the hole. Today, that someone is Merlin Röhl, asked to tuck in and make the best of an awkward assignment on the flank.
A Midfield Puzzle and a Glimpse of the Future
There’s another subtle shift to watch. With Iroegbunam, Armstrong and Hackney all named in midfield, the shape looks far more like a 4-3-3 than a 4-2-3-1. It offers Everton a different balance: three central players who can rotate, press and protect that new-look back line.
Hackney’s inclusion is another positive sign on the fitness front. His start, alongside Branthwaite, suggests Everton’s medical team are happy with how their key men are progressing after Hamburg.
Further forward, there’s encouragement too. Dibling starts, and this feels like a crucial week for him. Pre-season can transform careers, and a run of form now could push him firmly into Dyche’s thoughts when the competitive fixtures return.
Up top, the workload continues to be shared. Beto and Thierno Barry again alternate duties leading the line, a job share that keeps both sharp and forces defenders to adapt to two very different profiles of centre-forward across the 90 minutes.
A Club Split Between Two Venues
While Everton test themselves against Stuttgart here in Germany, Goodison Park stirs back to life. At 3pm, Preston North End face Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup, marking the return of men’s senior football to the Grand Old Lady.
The new pitch at Deepdale is still being bedded in, so the tie has been switched, giving Goodison its first meaningful action since Everton’s 2-0 win over Southampton on May 18 last year. One club, two matches, and a fanbase spread across borders and competitions.
Germany, Hamburg and the Next Step
This is Everton’s second pre-season outing in Germany, a week on from their 2-1 win in Hamburg. Since that trip, Christian Nørgaard has signed, adding bite and control in midfield, but the right-back issue still looms large over recruitment plans.
Inside the away dressing room at the MHP Arena, shirts hang neatly, boots line up in rows and the usual calm-before-the-storm rituals play out. Outside, the stadium hums, Stuttgart’s squad are introduced one by one to a raucous crowd and the pyrotechnics continue to crackle.
Everton walk into all of that without the fireworks, without the choreography, but with something far more important at stake: clarity. Clarity over partnerships at the back. Clarity over shape in midfield. Clarity over which of these players can carry pre-season form into a campaign that will not be as forgiving as this sun-soaked afternoon in southern Germany.
The noise belongs to Stuttgart. The questions belong to Everton. Who, by the end of this tour, will have answered them?
