After their European antics in midweek, VfB Stuttgart completely and comfortably beat Borussia Dortmund 5-1 at the MHP Arena in an amazing performance from VfB.
The atmosphere at the MHP Arena was tense from the start, former Stuttgart centre-back Waldemar Anton booed every time he touched the ball and Stuttgart fed off this atmosphere the game got off to an early start when Deniz Undav was played through and gave VfB the lead. Stuttgart continued to get the better of Dortmund throughout the first half as the visitors struggled to gain any hold of the game.
Then, Stuttgart doubled their lead through Ermedin Demirovic for his 4th of the season. Heading into half-time, Dortmund would be happy that they had Gregor Kobel in goal as without him, it would have likely been more than a two-goal deficit.
In the second half, if you were a Dortmund fan you would think it probably couldn’t get any worse after the first half and Dortmund had a good period of possession but Stuttgart dealt with it easily and then made it 3-0 just after the hour mark through Enzo Millot who continues to have a great start to the season. Dortmund then made it, briefly, less embarrassing for themselves when Serhou Guirassy scored his first Bundesliga goal for Dortmund.
Despite being 3-1 up, Stuttgart did not put on the breaks and in the 80th minute substitute El Bilal Touré made it 4-1 and then before the end of the game, Deniz Undav got his second of the game to make it 5-1.
A great all round performance from Stuttgart, it is fitting that the players that stayed at the club in the summer in Millot, Maximilian Mittelstädt and in a way Undav all significantly outperformed Anton and Guirassy at the MHP Arena. Stuttgart did not let the loss in Madrid in midweek get to them and were solid defensively and played free-flowing, fun-attacking football, something Dortmund probably wished they could also do.
If you asked me which Bundesliga team you should watch if you wanted fun football, and the type of football that best defines FUẞBALL, it would be Stuttgart. The win sees them move into 7th after a slow start to the season, but they are clearly in their stride now and will be difficult to stop.
While Dortmund showed progress on the attacking front against Heidenheim last Friday, that all seemed to disappear today and the defensive issues that were shown were also exposed by a better team.
VfB face Wolfsburg next Saturday, while Dortmund face Bochum.
VfB Stuttgart XI:
Alexander Nübel (5), Josha Vagnoman (6), Anthony Rouault (5), Jeff Chabot (6), Maximilian Mittelstädt (7), Atakan Karazor (6), Angelo Stiller (6), Jamie Leweling (6), Deniz Undav (7), Enzo Millot (8), Ermedin Demirovic (7)
Others: Fabian Rieder (6), Dan-Axel Zagadou (5), Anrie Chase (5), El Bilal Touré (6), Chris Führich (-)
Borussia Dortmund XI:
Gregor Kobel (6), Julian Ryerson (5), Waldemar Anton (4), Niklas Süle (4), Nico Schlotterbeck (4), Felix Nmecha (-), Pascal Groß (5), Marcel Sabitzer (5), Julian Brandt (5), Karim Adeyemi (5), Serhou Guirassy (5)
Others: Jamie Gittens (5), Yan Couto (5), Ramy Bensebaini (5), Emre Can (5),
GGFN Man of the Match: Enzo Millot (8)
This could really of been given to the whole Stuttgart team but Enzo Millot continues to have a great start to the season. After winning silver with France at the Olympics, Millot hit the ground running and in six games has three goals and two assists. The Frenchman, along with Josha Vagnoman caused issues for Dortmund’s left-hand side throughout the first half and the substitutions made by Nuri Sahin did not improve the situation.
Deniz Undav continues to have a great week as in the past three games he has four goals. While Maximilian Mittesltädt proved to be a marauding full-back and assisted the opener from Undav as well as Demirovic’s goal.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
