Stuttgart - VfB Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel believes his players are to blame for his side's poor start to the Bundesliga season.

After finishing third last season, Stuttgart currently languish in 13th place following the 2-0 home defeat to Werder Bremen on Sunday, which resulted in club manager Horst Heldt coming out to give Babbel a vote of confidence.

Babbel said his German players seemed more concerned about making it into Joachim Loew's squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa than building on the successes of last season.

"It's not good enough to only dream of the World Cup, the club should be the priority," Babbel told Wednesday's Bild newspaper.

"The international players should realise why there were called up in the first place." (dpa)