VfB Stuttgart
| 1-0 | Ibisevic | (3. Min) |
1. FC Nürnberg
| 1-1 | Drmic | (6. Min) |
Alexandru Maxim
Stats 
Vedad Ibisevic scores against Nuremberg.
Third draw in succession
VfB continue to await their next win. The hosts took an early lead against 1. FC Nürnberg, but the visitors from Nuremberg hit back with a quick reply. In a moderately entertaining game, the crowd in the Mercedes-Benz Arena saw plenty of chances but no further goals for VfB, who as a result played out their third consecutive draw.
Thomas Schneider was forced to make changes to his starting eleven due to the suspension of Antonio Rüdiger and Gotoku Sakai’s muscular problems. The coach had goalkeeper Sven Ulreich, who had recovered from a hand injury, available to him again. Georg Niedermeier was back in the team for the first time since his knee ligament injury and he joined starting eleven debutant Karim Haggui at the heart of the VfB back four.
Just as in Hamburg, VfB again got off to the perfect start. With just three minutes on the clock, Alexandru Maxim was felled in the FCN penalty area and Vedad Ibisevic stepped up to confidently fired the resulting spot-kick into the top corner and hand his side an early advantage. The joy of the home supporters was to prove short-lived though, when Josip Drmic poked his shot in off the upright to level the scores just three minutes later.
In the 13th minute, VfB had their next chance to take the lead, when Vedad Ibisevic threaded a wonderful pass through to Martin Harnik, who was denied by the advancing Rafael Schäfer in the Nuremberg goal.
Vedad Ibisevic: "The chances were there but we simply didn’t make them count." Post match comments
As the half progressed, Thomas Schneider’s side continued to dominate the play but there was no denying the difference in the FCN approach under their new trainer. In spite of that though, VfB had the better of the chances, such as Ibrahima Traorés dipping cross, which struck the inside of the post (23’), or from an Alexandru Maxim effort which found the net but was called back for off-side (30’).
With the half nearing its end, the game fell into something off a lull but, just seconds before the break, the hosts had their next opportunity to take the lead. Martin Harnik rose at the back post to get on the end of another Alexandru Maxim delivery, but the Austrian international’s header went centimeters wide of the upright and the sides went into the break locked at 1-1.
No way through
The second period again began promisingly for VfB. From a corner, Christian Gentner got a header in at the near post but failed to make a clean connection with the ball and duly failed to really threaten (52’). A series of niggling fouls and interruptions destroyed the flow of the game by midway through the second half, as the visitors shored things up with a packed defence.
Timo Werner and Konstantin Rausch were introduced to add a fresh attacking element, replacing Ibrahima Traoré and Arthur Boka but, the next chances on goal were from Nuremberg and Sven Ulreich was twiced forced to make important saves (71‘/72’). On the night though, the visitors were generally harmless and VfB lacked the necessary final ideas to break down the FCN defence. In added time, a combination between Alexandru Maxim and William Kvist bore no fruit and VfB were left with a single point at the end of their third consecutive draw. Next week, Thomas Schneider’s men will be in action once again on Friday evening, away to Borussia Dortmund.
