VfB Stuttgart has continued its series of winless games without top scorer Serhou Guirassy. In the absence of the Guinean international, the Swabians also came away empty-handed at their fourth attempt and lost 0-1 (0-0) to VfL Bochum. As with the defeat a week earlier in Mönchengladbach (1:3), coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team once again lacked penetration. Matus Bero’s goal (50th minute) brought another setback to the third-place team in front of 26,000 spectators in the Vonovia Ruhrstadion.
In contrast, VfL confirmed its reputation as a strong home team and took another step towards staying in the league. For the sixth time in a row there was no defeat in front of our own crowd.
The long half-time break caused a lot of discussion. Because visiting fans had blocked escape gates and escape routes with fence flags, referee Bastian Dankert initially did not whistle the game again. Despite several loudspeaker announcements, the banners were not taken down, and VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß also talked to the supporters in vain. The teams returned to the field a quarter of an hour late to warm up. The VfB players ran to their fans and tried to influence them – without result. Referees and officials from both clubs discussed intensively on the field. According to Sky, the fire department was also consulted. Finally, Dankert whistled to start the game, even though the flags had not been removed. Apparently the escape gates could be opened despite the banner.
“Serhou is extremely important for us as a team and often scored the first goal. But he’s not there, so talking about him so much doesn’t help us. We are also in a position to win games with the boys,” Hoeneß said on Sky before the game, hoping for an end to the negative series. The coach’s confidence seemed justified.
Without Guirassy, Silas, Woo-yeong Jeong and Hiroki Ito, VfB got off to a better start. Deniz Undav (5th, 10th) had two chances to take the lead in the first few minutes. On his first attempt, the attacker failed because of VfL goalkeeper Manuel Riemann, on his second attempt he headed the ball next to the goal after a cross from Josha Vagnoman.
In contrast, the Bochum team, who had to do without Keven Schlotterbeck and Kevin Stöger for a short time, needed longer to get up to speed. As is so often the case, they fought their way into the game and made things difficult for their stronger opponents with passionate duels. That’s why it became increasingly a disjointed game with combinations that weren’t well thought out or worth seeing.
In the end, the banner could simply get stuck in the place in question. : Image: picture alliance/dpa
For a long time, neither VfL nor VfB managed to get close to the goal in any promising way. With a high rate of missed passes on both sides, the action mostly took place in midfield. It wasn’t until the 37th minute that the entertainment value increased when Undav sent a free kick cross from Angelo Stiller with his outside instep onto the top net. Until the break, the Bochum team had no opportunity and mostly limited themselves to defensive work.
After the unusually long break, this time it was the Bochum team who got up to speed quicker. The first chance to score gave us the lead. After winning a running duel against Dan-Axel Zagadou, Bero put the ball into the net from eight meters.
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This goal enlivened the game immensely. The now more active guests were close to a quick equalizer with two opportunities through Jamie Leweling (58th) and Angelo Stiller (61st). The pressure on the Bochum goal increased from minute to minute. Nevertheless, VfL remained dangerous on the counterattack. But Bero narrowly missed the goal in the 81st minute. In the hectic final phase, the Revierklub saved the narrow lead with luck and skill over time.
