VfB Stuttgart
Borussia M'gladbach
| 0-1 | Herrmann | (71. Min) |
Christian Gentner
Stats 
Restart defeat
VfB began the second half of the Bundesliga campaign with a narrow defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Cannstatt Boys held their own for a long period against the Champions League aspirants, and managed to create chances of their own, but could make too little of the opportunities that came their way and then conceded the knock-out blow in the closing phase.
Before the game got underway Mercedes-Benz Arena, the 46,200 spectators in the ground greeted the players with a rousing welcome and a banner encouraging the team to battle and win, before the entire Arena fell into a chilling minutes silence to mark the passing of VfB idol Erich Retter and VfL Wolfsburg’s Junior Malanda.
From the outset, the visitors put the pressure on, notching up five corners within the first ten minutes. The first real chance fell to Borussia captain, and former VfB defender, Martin Stranzl from a set-piece, but Seven Ulreich was well placed to deal with the effort (3‘). Gladbach had the bulk of the possession early on, but as the match wore on, VfB stabilised consistently.
Huub Stevens: „At the beginning, we didn’t really get into the game well. Mönchengladbach are in a very different situation to us and you could see that until the 25th minute. We then managed to battle our way into the game. I the second half, we made just one error, which you can’t afford against Gladbach. They broke away then on the counter attack and took their chance. Of course we are disappointed, but I said before the game, we still have another sixteen games to play. We are going to need to pull together more in those matches.” Post match comments
In spite of being able to hit on the break on a number of occasions, the home side were unable to carve out clear chances on goal, with the closest call coming from a deflected cross by Christian Gentner which landed on the crossbar (30‘). With half-time vast approaching, Timo Werner tested Yann Sommer with a well struck shot from the edge of the box, but the keeper was equal to it and the defence managed to clear the loose ball. With no further openings being made, the sides went in at the break locked in stalemate.
Gladbach with late decider
The first good chance of the second half fell to VfB. Moritz Leitner delivered a corner from the right, which Timo Baumgartl nodded on to Georg Niedermeier, who could only fire over the crossbar from close range (52‘). Twelve minutes later, Georg Niedermeier again caused a problem in front of the Borussia goal, but the lofty defender was unable to keep his headed effort on target. At the other end, Timo Baumgartl had to be alert to get to the ball ahead of Branimir Hrgota, but in the 71st minute, no one could do anything to prevent Gladbach‘s Patrick Hermann from firing his side into the lead. VfB coach Huub Stevens brought in Alexandru Maxim and Filip Kostic to add a fresh impulse, but the home side were unable to make use of their openings – in spite of having two fantastic possibilities to equalise. Firstly Vedad Ibisevic was too imprecise with his header from a Filip Kostic cross (83‘) and six minutes later, Georg Niedermeier could only hit the bar from a further corner. In the end, Gladbach held on to their narrow advantage and VfB started their Bundesliga campaign in 2015 with a 0-1 defeat.
