VfB Stuttgart
Fortuna Düsseldorf
Tim Hoogland
Stats 
All square with the new boys
On the third match day of the season, VfB and Fortuna Düsseldorf parted their ways at the end of a scoreless draw. Bruno Labbadia’s men dominated the game but lacked any real bite in front of the opposition goal and at times over-played opportunities.
Christian Gentner led his side out onto the pitch against Düsseldorf on the occasion of his 200th Bundesliga appearance. With a crowd of 55,039 packed into the Mercedes-Benz Arena, captain Serdar Tasci was forced to pull out of the starting eleven late on with a slight thigh problem.
Four new faces
For the first time this season, Bruno Labbadia started with central defender Georg Niedermeier in his first eleven. Cristian Molinaro, Tunay Torun and Cacau also made their starting eleven debuts against the side from the banks of the Rhine.
VfB took control from the start, dominated possession and created their first opening with just five minutes on the clock. Tamas Hajnal drove in a shot from 20 meters out and Fortuna keeper Fabian Giefer went full stretch to turn the effort over the bar.
VfB head-coach Bruno Labbadia: “We started very well and put pressure on but the two injuries then knocked us out of our stride. Post match comments
With 16 minutes played, the visitors made their way into the VfB penalty area, but the delivery from Johannes van den Bergh was cut out by Cristian Molinaro. Soon after, Labbadia’s men were on the attack again but from a Hajnal corner, Georg Niedermeier was unable to make full contact with the ball (21’).
A minute later, Robbie Kruse was unable to turn a pass from Fortuna captain Andreas Lambertz past Sven Ulreich. The a shock for VfB as Tim Hoogland collided with Andrej Voronin and suffered a ligament tear to his right ankle which put him out of the game. The full back was replaced by Zdravko Kuzmanovic, who took up a defensive midfield spot, pushing Christian Gentner onto the right wing and William Kvist to right-back.
Doinant VfB
VfB maintained the tempo. Maza and Kuzmanovic combined to set Martin Harnik on his way on the right. The Austrian international drove towards the penalty area and laid square but Düsseldorf’s Stylianos Malezas got in to clear ahead of the prowling Cacau (34’).
Quickest off the mark – Tamas Hajnal
For the second half, Cristian Molinaro was unable to continue following his first half collision and was replaced in the back four by Arthur Boka. Again it was VfB who had the first chance of the half, with a shot from distance by Christian Gentner missing the target (48’).
At the other end, Sven Ulreich reacted well to stop a low drive by Robbie Kruse (49’) and the next good opening also fell to the guests, as Andrej Voronin poked a shot over the bar from close range (59’).
Cacau with the big chance!
VfB continued to press and Gentner came close with a headed effort from a Hajnal corner but failed to find the target (62’). Bruno Labbadia’s men were committed to the cause and constantly looked to press for a goal but often over-played their opportunities and in the end were left to settle for a mere point at the end of a disappointing 0-0 draw with Fortuna Düsseldorf.
