Not many spectators left the Stuttgart stadium before the final whistle. After the 0:2 by Bremen’s Marvin Ducksch in the 77th minute, almost all VfB supporters knew that this day would end with their ninth defeat of the season and their club would therefore slip to relegation rank 16.
And that although it looked like a draw for a long time in a game that was balanced in the first round. But then, after an hour, VfB could not clear the ball until Bremen’s Jens Stage had put it in the Stuttgart goal, gratefully assisted by Konstantinos Mavropanos, who served the ball to the Dane when he tried to clear. It was the first of two great shots that gave Werder the away win over their direct competitor. “We don’t have enough points,” admitted VfB coach Bruno Labbadia, who “didn’t want to blame the team”: “The effort was right.”
Although the game ended 0:2, VfB did not offer a bad game apart from the largely helpless attack in the final quarter of an hour and presented themselves in any case stronger than clubs like Hoffenheim, Schalke or Hertha BSC, with which they are still being measured in the fight for staying in the class .
Such games like to end 0:0 – but not if a defensive line is clumsy
Genki Haraguchi, who was poached from Union Berlin shortly before the end of the winter transfer period, was in the starting eleven when he made his league debut in a VfB shirt. The Japanese showed a decent game in midfield, which, as hoped, he gave a little more calm and stability. And as if he were aware that a bit of spectacle is also helpful for an optimal debut, in the early stages he had a scene that was made to make himself popular with the 47,700 spectators: in dire need he promoted there a long ball from Niclas Füllkrug with a long jump to the side, which Anthony Jung would otherwise have used to lead Bremen a fraction of a second later.
Leonardo Bittencourt was also granted a shot that allowed VfB keeper Florian Müller to collect points from the crowd (15′). At this point, however, VfB had already had a good opportunity. Serhou Guirassy, who was substituted in the middle of the first half with an adductor injury and walked to the car limping badly after the game, was denied by Jiri Pavlenka (9′).
A foul that Nikolas Nartey committed a few centimeters from the edge of the penalty area on Niklas Schmidt, who had previously run away from three Stuttgarters, then caused discussions. The Bremen team found a free kick and a yellow card to be insufficient compensation, especially since Marvin Ducksch’s free kick just missed the Stuttgart goal (42nd). So it was an even game for almost an hour, in which both teams didn’t want to lose.
Such games like to end 0:0. However, not if a defensive is clumsy like in the first Bremen goal by Stage. Even with the ultimately decisive 0:2 winning goal by Ducksch – whose shot landed precisely in the far corner – the VfB defense in the majority did not provide the necessary resistance, as well as Labbadia complained: “We get the 0:1 out of nowhere. Both goals we played a piece and then lost the game with two shots on Sunday.”