Lessons from Stuttgart – and why sticking together matters | OneFootball

RB Leipzig came away empty-handed from an important meeting between two direct rivals in the race for the Champions League, falling to a narrow 1-0 defeat in Stuttgart. But the next game offers RBL a very similar opportunity all over again, and a few small adjustments could make all the difference.

These are the lessons we can take from the game against VfB.

1. Fine margins decide the biggest games

The fact that the game in Stuttgart was settled by a single goal says plenty about how close it was. The xG statistics told a similar story at full time: 1.05 for Stuttgart, 0.98 for Leipzig. In other words, based on the quality of the chances, a draw would not have looked out of place. That was also Ole Werner’s view: “It was an even game – a draw would have been fair.”

“In games like this, the details make the difference,” said Ridle Baku. “One small moment ends up costing us the game,” added David Raum. That is often the way it goes when two evenly-matched teams come up against each other, as before kick-off, both sides had the same number of wins, draws and defeats this season.

For long spells, VfB and RBL largely cancelled each other out, though both still had chances. Leipzig hit the woodwork twice through Nicolas Seiwald (53’) and Willi Orban (90’+2). In the end, Stuttgart were the more fortunate side.

2. Sticking together and becoming more clinical

Ole Werner keeps stressing the same message: “It’s about staying focused on ourselves.” That also means sticking together. Especially when mistakes happen, as they did before Stuttgart’s winner, when Maarten Vandevoordt played a misplaced pass with costly consequences. After the final whistle, Willi Orban was quick to back his teammate: “Maarten is an outstanding goalkeeper. In his position, mistakes get punished ruthlessly. It happens – there’s no blame on him.”

Our head coach also wants his side to take “the next key steps in our development during this crucial stage of the season”. The most important one may well be becoming more clinical in front of goal. Aside from the two efforts that came back off the woodwork, there were also big first-half openings for Rômulo (5’) and Christoph Baumgartner (33’).

Sticking together and becoming more clinical – those are the factors that could help the Red Bulls come out on top in the next big game.

3. Another chance comes straight away

One big game is immediately followed by another: the fixture list gives Leipzig an immediate chance to respond, with TSG Hoffenheim visiting the Red Bull Arena on Friday night. It is the perfect opportunity for the Red Bulls to put the bitter defeat in Stuttgart behind them and claim another hugely important win. Hoffenheim currently sit three points ahead of RBL, so victory would bring our boys level with them.

Ole Werner said of the side from Sinsheim: “They’ve been at a similar level all season. We need to show more quality in the decisive moments than we did against Stuttgart.”

With eight games still to play, the race for Europe is still wide open. A home win for RBL on Friday night would make the defeat in Stuttgart feel a lot less painful.

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