Labbadia wants set-piece improvement

The Swabians lost 4-2 at Hannover to all but end any lingering hope of securing a place in Europe next season via the Bundesliga, and Labbadia knows precisely what he needs to improve.

"With set-pieces we were catastrophic. Without set pieces we were good," he said.

"The disappointment today is huge since we have thrown this game away.

"We showed that the win over Hertha Berlin had given us momentum, but then we messed things up on set-pieces.

"At least we did not give up and we said during the break that we wanted to score two goals and we did that, but it was still a game that is hard to explain and which we need to forget about quickly."

Stuttgart's director of sport Fredi Bobic was even more critical of his side's defending.

"We had defended well in recent games, but we have forgotten it already," he said.

"We have been brutally punished for our mistakes."