Stuttgart pours cold water on the Yellow Wall as Dortmund falls at home #2543
Stuttgart 2 Dortmund 1FT
On Saturday afternoon we would have a monumental clash on our hands. As a Champions League, Dark Horse appears from the shadows again against a German giant that has let themselves down. Dortmund against Stuttgart clash. We’re here in Dortmund as Dortmund where football around here is very much the culture and the attention of the city. Dortmund is the home to Westfalenpark a famous park of beautiful scenery an expensive park, a tourist destination, and a beautiful green forest in this region of Germany. Along with the Dortmund Zoo with so many different animals. The perfect way to spend an afternoon, the Florian Tower which overlooks the entire city. It may not be the most touristy city in Germany, but the city still has plenty to offer outside of the football. Dortmund is famous for being Europe’s densest cultural landscape with 1,000 industrial monuments, 200 museums, 250 festivals, 120 theatres, and three musical theatres. Then on top of all that a very famous football in town with the German football museum not far away. It is also the home to Dortmund and Schalke. If you were to ask the locals, they would say, that the best part of Dortmund is where we are today: the historic Signal Iduna Park and the famous Yellow Wall. Dortmund have been a walking disaster this season. After oozing out on the title two seasons ago and then making the Champions League final last season. This season they took an even further step back. It started from the very first decision they made at the start of the summer appointing Sahin it ended up being trial by fire Dortmund spent a lot of money this summer to put together a formidable side. They have the pieces. They just haven't been able to link up in the way we all expect them to as they are not in the top half this season. Mike Tullberg came in for three matches as an interim manager. They have come up with a permanent solution as Nico Kovac has come. The former Wolfsburg, Frankfort + Bayern Munich manager has a ton of experience in the Bundesliga however this is an obstacle. They will be at home but this isn't going to be a walk in the park. On the other side of the coin, Stuttgart had statistically their best season in club history last season. They finished second in the Bundesliga ahead of Bayern Munich. Their squad was completely raided in the summer as they lost a good amount of pieces from last summer. They recouped some of those losses with some decent acquisitions, but yet again despite being against the odds. They are back in a Champions League race again, even without the pieces that got them there last season. Sebastian Hoeness has done a fabulous job with Stuttgart He may be the best coach in the Bundesliga right now. Setting up for a timid affair in front of the yellow wall as Champions League contender Stuttgart are set to take on last season's champions League finalists Dortmund. As kickoff awaits for a battle between heavyweights.
Dortmund was going to have their hands full. It was going to be the ball movement of Dortmund against the counter-attacking play of Stuttgart. In the 6th minute, Stuttgart got off to an aggressive start. Chris Führich delivers the ball over to the right side Jamie Leweling collects the ball before trying to strike at Dortmund's goal. Dortmund defended it very effectively getting in the way of the strike as it comes off of the Dortmund defense. Despite the early chance coming from the visitors. In the 11th minute Serhou Guirassy delivers a headed pass from inside the box over to Ramy Bensebaini as he strikes from the side of the box He puts too much on it as it glides over the goal. Dortmund had a lot of the ball. They moved it fairly well, but it wasn't exactly a full volume of high chances in the early parts of the first half. Eventually, things would start to open up just a little bit further. In the 22nd minute, Jamie Gittens strikes from outside the box. It is well taken Alexander Nübel makes an excellent save to keep Dortmund at arm's length. He came forward again in the 27th minute Jamie Gittens gave it another strike as he followed through from outside the box it came close to finding the corner again but was just pulled wide in the end. In the 30th minute, Dortmund won themselves a free kick. Julian Brandt strikes from outside the box. Lifting it over the right side, not the best free kick from the playmaker. Dortmund continued to try to infiltrate the opposing defense Stuttgart didn't offer enough going forward but they did bang around defensively making things as complex as possible for Dortmund. In the 37th minute, Julian Ryerson drops an excellent ball into the box Karim Adeyemi strikes it with intention. It looks like it was going to be the opener Alexander Nübel makes a ridiculous save. Stop in Dortmund from taking the lead. In the 41st minute, Jamie Gittens give that another try from the side of the box. However, it was no match for Alexander Nübel as he had the edge again making the stop. In the 45th minute, Dortmund gave themselves one more look from possibly capitalizing and taking the lead Karim Adeyemi puts his foot through a ball from inside the box from close range. His lace is cut through the ball but lifts the ball over the goal. Unable to find the opener. The first half comes to a close as Stuttgart and Dortmund still in and deadlock.
Dortmund certainly has been the better side up to this point. However, a lot of credit belongs to Stuttgart for the way they have defended the attacking play coming from the home side, especially Alexander Nubel as he has been on top of everything they've thrown in their direction. As the second half got underway, Dortmund persisted with their aggressive style of play. In the 49th minute he put a nice ball into space Karim Adeyemi followed through but once again put too much on it as it flew over the goal. It seemed as if Dortmund were doing everything they needed outside of putting it in the back of the neck. However, even so, there was a sense that Dortmund's goal was going to come sooner rather than later. For the most part. Stuttgart had just sat back and defended. However, the match was about to twist on its head. In the 50th minute, Chris Führich strikes from the side of the box. It ends up ricocheting off. Anton as it takes a deflection before ending up in the back of their net. It would be ruled as an own goal. Stuttgart has only had a very small amount of shots this afternoon however They now hold a 1-0 lead thanks to the own goal coming from last season's center of defense for Stuttgart Anton as he scores an own goal against his former side. It took some energy completely out of Dortmund. Although the way the game was unfolding hadn't changed dramatically, the approach and style of play of both sides remained the same. However, in the 61st minute, things went from bad to worse for Dortmund. Stuttgart won themselves a corner Jamie Leweling sends it into the box Jeff Chabot strikes his foot through it as it ends up in the bottom right corner. Stuttgart take a 2-0 lead as Dortmund now seen truly in trouble as points are at risk yet again. A few minutes later In the 65th minute Deniz Undav looks to extend the lead even further He strikes me outside the box but this time it was saved by Gregory Kobel. Dortmund drives it up the other end winning themselves a corner In the 66th minute Serhou Guirassy ends up getting a touch to it but lacks something to be desired it has been a very quiet evening for him. In the 68th minute, Jamie Gittens tries it again this time from the side of the box but much like the previous several he falls into the hands of Alexander Nubel as he denies him again. Time was starting to take away in the 74th minute Jamie Gittens tried from outside the box as it Rams into the opposing defense. In the 78th minute, Pascal Gross puts it inside Jamie Gittens drives his foot into it only to face a deflection. In the 81st minute coming off a corner, Dortmund finally came to life. Julian Brandt rifles the strike from inside the box into the bottom corner to give Dortmund a bit of life there just might be some time for a late comeback. In the 89th minute, things got even worse. Julian Ryerson was given a red card. Following an exchange with Angelo Stiller The Norwegian fullback was displeased with the call being made by the referee. He had an outburst and ultimately got sent off. The chances of a comeback now seemed slim to none and none may have just left the building. In the 97th minute however, Max Beier wins a free kick just outside the area near the top left corner of the box. Julie and Brandt step over it. He tries to drive it into the top right corner but puts too much on it as it glides over the corner. The full-time whistle goes as Stuttgart are 2-1 winners as they beat Dortmund in front of the yellow wall.
Dortmund dominated the match in every conceivable way for the most part. However, once again end up with nothing. It wasn't necessarily what Nico what Nico Kovac would have wanted from his first match in charge. They had a lot of control and they just ran into a team that had a plan on how to deal with Dortmund's attack. They made Alexander Nubel work for it. Unfortunately for them that did not matter because he was sharp. Stuttgart defended very well when Nubel. Didn't have to work. They saw a level of protection from the back line. They didn't have very much of the ball. They took less than five shots the entire match. However, the difference is Stuttgart capitalized on two of them. It looked like Julian Brandt had perhaps given them. Hope. The y players in the center players played well but the center forwards struggled on Saturday. Stutzgard played their game effectively and added even more turmoil and frustration to Dortmund as they dropped another at home. Dorman will be granted the opportunity to start to make this thing click under the new manager. This was his first match in charge. There'll be opportunities for him to tweak what he needs to as this was kind of a feel-it-out game. Unfortunately, he was given a raw deal having to play Stuttgart in his first match. Nico is an excellent Ken manager and will do a good job with them if all things line up correctly. However, there are internal things that Dortmund as a team need to correct. Nico will try to be a part of that. Dortmund are in the top three in yellow cards. They also have received the most red cards out of any team this season. That is also a problem. It's one thing if it's due to a tackle that is mistimed and They catch someone awkwardly and they already had a yellow card but it's another when the second yellow card we saw on Saturday came from an outburst Julian Ryderson could have avoided being sent off. It was his loud mouth that ultimately ended up derailing probably the best chance at possibly coming back. At that point, they had minimized it to just a goal. They could have maybe got another one sooner. Maybe to create another chance but the fact that they're in that situation even though he couldn't keep control. After that moment there were another 7 minutes in the game. Dortman's next chance came in the last kick of the match. Without the sending-off. Maybe they create a chance or two and maybe they equalize Stuttgart is tough to break down and they are extremely well coached so maybe not. They had all the opportunities to break through and when this match and it just didn't come off for them. We are seeing progress from this Dortmund side collectively but it doesn't stop the fact that they dropped another two points and still sit in 11th in the Bundesliga table. They will play sporting Lisbon in the Champions League playoff round this Wednesday. Afterward, they will play last-place Bochum Before having to play Sporting again, there are a couple of difficult matches here yet. They hopefully will be able to pick up some ground and start to climb towards the top half of the table. European football this season is going to be hard to come by, especially with results like this. However, with the new manager, he's going to try to get this thing back on track as quickly as we possibly can. Meanwhile, Stuttgart, they are back in the top four again as they will take on Wolfsburg next weekend. They won this thing without having much of the ball and without a lot of chances. Dortmund suffer another hugely disappointing result with a 2–1 defeat against Stuttgart in front of the yellow wall.
