MWith Jonas Hofmann returning, Borussia Mönchengladbach managed to redeem themselves after three competitive defeats in a row. On Friday evening, coach Daniel Farke’s team won 3-1 (2-1) against VfB Stuttgart thanks to a quick goal from Hofmann in the fourth minute. In front of 53,178 spectators, goalscorer Marcus Thuram (25th) scored again for Borussia. In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Patrick Herrmann, who had just come on for the exhausted Hofmann, scored the final point. With their first win against Stuttgart in almost four years, Borussia jumped to seventh place in the table at the start of the 13th matchday.
“If you win, then everything is more fun,” said Gladbach’s Christoph Kramer on “DAZN”: “With the early goal, the foot became safer, it’s all in the head. We’ve been scolded for the past two weeks, and that didn’t leave the team unaffected.”
The Swabians, for whom Tiago Tomás (35th) was successful, are still waiting for their first away win this year. The team of interim coach Michael Wimmer remains with eleven points in 15th place in relegation trouble. The key to Gladbach’s success was Hofmann’s early lead, which seemed like a liberation. Only 17 days after his shoulder joint fracture when he was eliminated from the DFB Cup against second division club SV Darmstadt, the national player was back in the starting XI and immediately demonstrated his enormous value for Borussia. After assisting Alassane Plea, he dropped the ball into the VfB goal with a dropkick.
The 30-year-old couldn’t have demonstrated more impressively that, despite his injury, he is ready for the World Cup in Qatar in two weeks’ time. Hofmann’s strength only waned as the game went on. With the early deficit, VfB once again showed their sleepiness at the beginning of the games. Hofmann’s goal was the eighth goal conceded in the first quarter of an hour this season – no other Bundesliga team is currently conceding so many goals so early. The Stuttgart performance increase in the game after about half an hour came too late.
League’s top scorer
The VfB defense behaved in an adventurous manner and not suitable for the Bundesliga when they conceded the second goal, which was played wonderfully. Stuttgart’s interim coach Wimmer had completely replaced the central defense compared to the 2-1 win against Augsburg. In the newly formed defence, Pascal Stenzel initially came up empty against the strong Plea, before Konstantinos Mavropanos, who had just joined the team, caught the eye with a positional error against Gladbach’s striker Thuram.
The Frenchman converted the precise preliminary work of his compatriot Plea into his ninth goal of the season. Thuram is currently the top scorer in the league together with Bremen’s Niclas Füllkrug and Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku.
Only now did Stuttgart wake up and play more forcefully and energetically. The guests took advantage of the defensive weaknesses of young Gladbach right-back Joe Scally before the break. The Stuttgart team tried again and again through his defense – once with success when Marvin Friedrich made a mistake in right central defence. Even veteran Tony Jantschke could not save as a replacement for the ailing Nico Elvedi. The second round was balanced. Gladbach played well and were then able to celebrate the third goal with the final whistle.
Also on Friday there was again trouble about the use of the video referee. After about a quarter of an hour, Gladbach’s Ramy Bensebaini should have been dismissed after a slap in the face by Waldemar Anton. Referee Matthias Jöllenbeck pulled out a yellow card and, after watching the scene on the monitor, also stuck to his decision. As a result, there were repeatedly decisions by the referee that were worth discussing.
