15.30 Kickoffs: Stuttgart earn first win behind Silas brace, Frankfurt crush Leverkusen 5-1.
There may have only been four simultaneous kickoffs win the 202/23 German Bundesliga's tenth matchday, but the smaller slate of matches produced an incredible cumulative total of 17 goals!
VfB Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt are riding high after lopsided wins over VfL Bochum and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, respectively. Stuttgart move out of the relegation zone with their 4-1 win. Eintracht move into the top four following a 5-1 rout.
Both Bayern and Dortmund can still knock Eintracht out of the Champions' League places before the weekend is out.
VfB Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt are riding high after lopsided wins over VfL Bochum and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, respectively. Stuttgart move out of the relegation zone with their 4-1 win. Eintracht move into the top four following a 5-1 rout.
Both Bayern and Dortmund can still knock Eintracht out of the Champions' League places before the weekend is out.
In his first match in charge of the team, VfB interim trainer Wimmer made three changes to Pellegrino Matarazzo's final XI. Suspended players Serhou Guirassy and Atakan Karazor were replaced by Enzo Millot and the once again fit Borna Sosa. Wimmer also made a significant change to the system, sacrificing defender Hiroki Ito for striker Luca Pfeifer. Tiago Tomas and Pfeifer began in a two-striker set, with Silas and Sosa reprising their old wingback roles. VfL Bochum trainer effectively kept the XI and formation from last week's big upset win in Frankfurt in place, inserting only the once-again healthy Kevin Stöger in place of Patrick Osterhage.
The hometown crowd at the Mercedes Benz Arena were quickly given something to cheer about when an early penalty enabled the BaWü hosts to claim an early lead. Silas danced past three Bochum markers in the box and VfL defender Danilo Stores was forced into a tactical foul. The Congolese talent took the spot kick himself to put his team up 1-0 in the 3rd. Buoyed by this dream start, the hosts proceeded to sparkle on both sides on the ball. Two minutes after Millot just missed the 2-0, Silas set up Naouirou Ahamada brilliantly for the actual second tally in the 22nd.
To their immense credit, the Westphalian guests did not allow the early deficit to rattle them. Letsch's men kept calm and were able to generate a few half-chances in pursuit of the pull-back-goal. Stöger and former Stuttgart attacker Philipp Förster combined beautifully in the 29th. VfB keeper Florian Müller could only turn a Stöger service intended for Simon Zoller directly into the VfL striker's path. Zoller polished off the chance and it was game on at the half-hour mark. Though there would be no more goals, the first-half came to a fast-paced and entertaining conclusion.
Some stoppages and injury timeouts impeded the flow of the match after the restart. Ahamada actually had to exit the match. Once both teams settled back into the groove, the Swabians continued to make noise with Silas on the right while the NRW squad punched back hard on a few counters. Unfortunately for Bochum, Silas added another goal shortly after their counter-charges had produced some promising chances. Silas bagged himself a brace with the 3-1 in the 64th. The VfL ranks were all out of sorts during Sosa's set-up. VfB captain Wataru Endo added a fourth in the 41st when Letsch's men couldn't clear after a free-kick.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga's 15:30 kickoffs, Eintracht Frankfurt also bested Bayer 04 Leverkusen by a lopsided scoreline. The match at Deutsche Bank Park was actajully a tad more competitive for a longer time. Even those Oliver Glasner's SGE were superior to Xabi Alonso's Werkself for much of the game, Bayer were able to draw level with Frankfurt 1-1 early in the second half. Unfortunately for Germany's red company team, a hail of Eintracht goals followed. Daichi Kamada earned a brace with two converted penalties.
Over at the Volkswagen Arena in Germany's northern Autostadt, VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach played to an entertaining 2-2 draw. A Marcus Thuram brace had Daniel Farke's foals ahead with twenty minute remaining, but a piece of magic from Omar Marmoush restored parity. At the Weser Stadion in Bremen, visiting FSV Mainz 05 topped SV Werder Bremen 2-0. Goals from Marcus Ingvartsen and Jae-Sung Lee proved sufficient to seal the victory.