Stuttgart welcmoed Wolfsburg to the Mercedes Benz Arena for this Matchday 10 clash in the Bundesliga. Both clubs were coming into the match in good form; the Schwabians after a stunning 5-4 victory away in Frankfurt, whereas the visitors from Lower Saxony defeated Mainz 3-0 at the Volkswagen Arena. Die Wölfe were also in midweek action, where they defeated Heidenheim in the DFB Pokal second round.
Armin Veh, who silenced many of his critics on his return to the Commerzbank Arena, made only one change to his sides starting line up; Gōtoku Sakai made way for Antonio Rüdiger. Dieter Hecking and Wolfsburg also only made the solitary change, summer signing Sebastian Jung coming in for Vieirinha.
It would be the away side who would open the scoring, in the 15th minute. As Daniel Caligiuri lay injured, Ivan Perišić capitalised on a mistake in the Stuttgart defence (something we'd see many of throughout the match) and raced in towards Thorsten Kirschbaum in the Stuttgart goal. The Croat beat Georg Niedermeier with ease, before slotting past Kirschbaum; giving the away side an early 1-0 lead.
The away side would trouble Kirschbaum and Stuttgart again just moments later; another Croat in the Wolfsburg ranks, Ivica Olić unleashed a powerful effort which only a mixture of the crossbar and post could stop. The home side where unlucky not to be level going into the break, after a deflected cross from the left flank was met by Turkey international, Sercan Sararer who's effort once again was stopped by the woodwork.
However, Sararer and Stuttgart would live to regret this miss. In the first of the two additional minutes at the end of the half, Kevin De Bruyne whipped in a great ball, following a foul on Olić, his ball was met surperbly by Robin Knoche who powered his header past Kirschbaum for ther second time in the match.
It would get even worse for the hosts just minutes into the new half. After another defensive error, this time from Niedermeier, first half substitiute Vieirinha raced through down the right flank before floating the ball over for Kevin De Bruyne to score Wolfsburgs third and his first Bundesliga goal of the season. The hosts nearly pulled one back in the 53rd minute, after a set piece was met by Rüdiger but his effort was saved well by Diego Benaglio.
Perhaps the most entertaining part of the match came in the 71st minute, when one of the linesmen had to replaced by fourthofficial, Robert Hartmann, due to injury.
Perišić and Wolfsburg would round of their afternoon in the 88th minute. Anohter defensive mishap, this time Moritz Leitner was thje guilty party, led to a breakway for Die Wölfe; Kevin De Bruyne squared leaving Perišić with an easy finish for his second of the match.
Stuttgart can draw some comparisons with last weekends match at Frankfurt; in that they were equally as bad in defence, but that's is where the simiralities end. They need to pick up some form if they wish for this season to be anywhere near successful. As for Wolfsburg, some of their counter attacking play at times was brilliant. If they can keep this form up they could be a serious contender for a top three finish. Dieter Hecking has turned this squad into a well oiled machine and if truth be told they simply outclassed Armin Veh and Stuttgart today.