Dortmund Match Recap: Dortmund fall to second despite beating Stuttgart 3-1

Dortmund beat Stuttgart 3-1 today. Thanks to Wolfsburg laying down to Bayern however, we do fall to second on the Bundesliga table, tied for points but behind in GD. The BVB goals came from Marco Reus, Paco Alcacer and Christian Pulisic.

The first half was a sorry affair for BVB. We dominated the game but had no creative thinking in our attack. Stuttgart didn’t get many chances but Dortmund couldn’t capitalize on their ineptitude. Alcacer and Reus had some close chances but there wasn’t much more then that. Perhaps the most impressive performance of the half was from Gotze, who made some top tier long passes. Unfortunately Sancho, Paco and Reus couldn’t do much with said passes. The half ended 0-0.

The second half went just a bit better for BVB. BVB legend Gonzalo Castro took down Sancho in the box, giving us a penalty. Reus converted putting us up 1-0. Dortmund make nothing easy however and let Stuttgart score on a set piece soon after. Our set piece defending has been miserable the past two months. Diallo just watched as the ball was knocked in. It just seems BVB do not know what to do when they have a lead. they panicked with a 3 on 1 opportunity. As things started to look dire or the Black and yellows, Paco Alcacer put us back in front at 84’. It was not a pretty goal but a goal is a goal. In ET Christian Pulisic, put the game away with some help from Axel Witsel.

Overall this game should have gone better for BVB. We didn’t look like we knew what to do against one of the worst defenses in the league. We got lucky that Pulisic, who has been quite bad for us the past few months, showed up. Both Paco and Reus missed chances that would have put the game away. Witsel again kept us in it, stopping Stuttgart breakaways and creating the final goal.

We haven't been in second in quite awhile, BVB need to improve vastly to get back into first.