VfB Stuttgart
TSG Hoffenheim
| 0-1 | Modeste | (15. Min) |
| 0-2 | Elyounoussi | (84. Min) |
Sebastian Rudy
Stats 
Home defeat to Hoffenheim
Having recovered from a heavy cold, Daniel Didavi returned to the starting eleven, replacing striker Vedad Ibisevic, who had fallen ill. Tactically, the alterations meant Timo Werner joined Martin Harnik in attack, backed by two defensively oriented four-man rows.
VfB better, Hoffenheim effective
VfB looked to put the pressure on early, courageously pressing forward and leaving TSG with little room to operate in. A crowd of 44,000 saw VfB create their first chance in the ninth minute, but following some good combination play between Martin Harnik and Gotoku Sakai, goalkeeper Oliver Baumann turned the Austrian’s header away for a corner.
Hoffenheim had produced little of any real threat until the quarter hour mark, when a free-kick was eventually to result in the guests taking the lead. A Rudy delivery to the centre was met by Anthony Modeste, who made no mistake in eluding his marker and heading home – 0-1. The ‘Cannstatt Boys’ quickly looked to find a way back into the game and came close in the 29th minute, when Florian Klein powered into the centre to meet a pass from Didavi at full speed, but the new signing was unable to control his shot and sent the ball high over the crossbar.
There were further opportunities for VfB to draw level through Moritz Leitner (37’) and Daniel Didavi (44’), but neither effort was to produce the goods and the hosts went in at the break trailing by 0-1.
Desperate VfB surge ends in disappointment
Shortly after the restart, Timo Werner tried his luck (46‘), as did Leitner some ten minutes later, but luck appeared to be against Armin Veh’s men on the day. The coach looked to alter his side’s fortunes with some fresh legs, as Konstantin Rausch replaced Sakai, but by the hour mark, little more than half chances for Leitner and Werner presented themselves.
Florian Klein: "Conceding the early goal makes everything far more difficult."
Post match comments
Fired on by the unyielding support from the ‚Cannstatter Kurve‘, VfB launched everything into attack – introducing Alexandru Maxim and Filip Kostic as further fire-power – but as time pressed on, Veh’s men were forced to take greater risks – a situation which TSG used ultimately to their advantage!
In the 84th minute, the visitors played out a well-executed counter attack and duly doubled their lead through Tarik Elyounoussi – putting the game well and truly beyond VfB. In spite of performing well on the day, the ‘Cannstatter Boys’ were to be frustratingly left empty handed on the back of a 0-2 home defeat!
