A fantastic performance from Gladbach's midfield men and two great goals from Raffael and Oscar Wendt meant that Gladbach extended their fine run of form with a fourth win in a row with a two-nil win against Stuttgart.

Lucien Favre's side went into the game in great form, having won three games on the bounce for the first time since January 2012 and in Max Kruse have the most potent players in the league, however Stuttgart are Gladbach's bogey team and have only beaten the home side twice in their last thirty attempts. Stuttgart themsleves were in fine fettle, with the only loss of Thomas Schneider's reign coming in the shape of a six-one drubbing to Borussia Dortmund. Despite the loss, VfB have three of the most impressive Bundesliga players this term, Alexandru Maxim and Vevad Ibisevic both lead the assist and scoring charts respectively, while Timo Werner became the youngest ever Bundesliga player to score a brace after his exploits against Freiburg before the international break. 

The game started off with both sides playing costless-flowing football with Maxim and Ibisevic combined to give the Foals defence a headache, but it Granit Xhaka who went closest early on, twice hitting rasping drives from otuside the box to no avail. Sven Ulreich was called into action soon afterwards, as some wonderful passing from Gladbach seen Raffael play through Herrmann whose inital shot was saved and the rebound was wasted by Kruse. The away side's high pressing game was paying dividends, but their passing was letting them down at times and VfB looked increasingly dangerous on the counter. With both teams having efforts that had Ulreich and ter-Stegen wary of their surroundings,the latter was forced into two fine saves from young Timo Werner, whose runs were giving the Gladbach defence nightmares, the first was a great save to stop Werner rounding him and the second an equally important save with his feet. Against what could be described as the run of play, the away side took the lead as Stuttgart trying to play out from the back were forced to clear long, the ball fell to Kramer who played the ball forward, initally cut out poorly by Rüdiger was pounced upon by Herrmann, who did fantastically to play in Raffael who rounded Ulreich and slotted home for his sixth of the season. The goal seemed to knock the wind out of the home side's sails, with Arango stinging the palms of Ulreich and Kruse going close also, VfB were more than happy to hear the half-time whistle in the end.

The second half followed on from the end of the first, with Kruse testing Ulreich early on after some slick passing down the left and a lovely back-heel from Raffael set him costless, the Brazilian himself then had Ulreich scrambling as he headed over from eighteen yards. Stuttgart called upon Traoré and Abdellaoue to try and pull themselves out of a hole, reverting to a 4-4-2 diamond, with Maxim at the head and Gentner protecting the back four. During the game, Gladbach too had switched between the usual 4-2-3-1, to 3-5-2 and 4-4-2, highlighting the immense flexibility that Favre's side possesses. Ulreich was called upon again to deny Kruse with a flying save while the game began to deteriorate into a nitty-gritty affair with everyone getting their fair share of bumps and bruises, it looked as if it would draw out into a one-nil win. However, great play down the Foals left side resulted in Herrmann cutting back for Wendt who controlled the ball expertly and smashed home a thunderous half-volley to leave Ulreich with no hope. The rest of the game was a formality, as Gladbach invited on the pressure from the home side and broke at will, with the Foals having multiple attempts to add to the lead.

A fantastic three points for Gladbach as they consolidate fourth by beating their bogey two goals to nil, a magnificent performance all round from the team, but I feel the work done in the pivot by Xhaka and Kramer was immense and either of those were my man of the match. While for Stuttgart they suffer their second defeat under Schneider, despite not beng drastically over played for large parts, they lacked a cutting edge to really punish Gladbach.

Stuttgart: Ulreich; Schwaab, Rüdiger, Niedermeier, Rausch; Kvist (Abdellaoue 64'), Gentner; Leitner (Traoré 45'), Maxim, Werner; Ibisevic

Subs not used: Kirschbaum, Haggui, Sakai, Harnik, Sararer.

Gladbach: ter-Stegen; Korb, Jantschke, Stranzl, Wendt; Kramer, Xhaka; Herrmann (Rupp 75'), Raffael (de Jong 89'), Arango (Hrgota 87'); Kruse.

Subs not used: Heimeroth, Brouwers, Daems, Nordtveit.

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About the author
Jonathan Walsh
SoccerSight IFA commentator. VAVEL deputy editor-in-chief/VAVEL Bundesliga editor-in-chief and writer. Email: [email protected]