Leipzig and Rose have no answers as Stuttgart’s daydream continues

Photo: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images

August seems like a long time ago. On the balmy evening that Harry Kane was introduced to the ecstatic Allianz Arena, it was really RB Leipzig who ran the show, and how.

Back then new arrival Xavi Simons was dumbfounding his new fans with just how good he was, leaving Germany’s biggest club wondering why they didn’t have a player like that and possibly leaving , Paris Saint-Germain wondering why not ‘. t kept on rather than loaned out. Since that impressive Supercup display from Leipzig, the Dutch midfielder has spent much of the season showing that he can be the best player in the Bundesliga, or pretty close. But on Saturday, at direct rivals in Stuttgart, they had to do without it, barring the fifth yellow card of the season against Leverkusen. And this game was all about dealing with the personnel hand you were dealt – or not dealt, as the case may be.

The home side had their own big absence to deal with, but their response was strong. Stuttgart were this season’s gate-keepers to the top four and were still in the Champions League at the kick-off despite back-to-back defeats giving the impression that they had a bit of overdue balance in their season. Instead, they sent Leipzig home with their tails between their legs, having claimed their first win since top scorer Serhou Guirassy left for the Africa Cup of Nations, powered instead by Deniz Undav’s hat-trick. There had previously been hints that the on-loan Brighton striker’s goals could overtake them, particularly during the period when the Guinean was sidelined with a hamstring injury in the autumn. The fact remains that without Guirassy in the Bundesliga this season, Stuttgart’s record four have been played, four lost. This broke that streak in great style.

Some may have wondered if the quiet opening minutes of the game, part of the latest sponsored protest against private equity investment in the Bundesliga, would be appropriate for the visiting team. But, like a driver frustrated by roadworks on the highway being suddenly released from that obligation, the Cannstatter Kurve roared as their time to hold fire ran out, and Leipzig was under the pump. The 5-2 scoreline was by no means fair to Sebastian Hoeness’s side.

The story continues

So, while the Stuttgart coach and his team can continue to enjoy a pressure-free second half of the season, playing with house money, far away from their typical battles against the drop, there is complete contrast at Leipzig. There are days when they can look like the best team in the Bundesliga. Here, they were rabble. There is no quality to the Champions League, apart from the fond dream for Stuttgart. This, the third straight Bundesliga victory in 2024, Leipzig dropped out of the top four. Leipzig-born and bred Marco Rose, a graduate of Red Bull’s training school, has appeared to be the perfect fit since his arrival in 2022, but the contract extension he signed in July will not to waste it. He needs to change this quickly, as previous holders such as Jesse Marsch and Domenico Tedesco could tell him. This is a club that runs holistically but burns hard with ambition.

The raw materials are certainly there for Rose. Benjamin Sesko is showing signs of being able to do for Leipzig what Undav can do for their opponents. His header, to bring RB back into the game in the first half, was one of those that made you believe he could be unstoppable, rising effortlessly to power home David Raum’s delivery. Slovenia’s young Sesko, however, is learning. Undav’s nostalgia is about more than just confidence, making him vital for Germany at Euro 2024. He is increasingly believed to be the most natural German finisher in the league right now.

Leipzig have such a prolific presence in Loïs Openda, who pulled them back briefly in this game with his 13th goal of the Bundesliga season, but they need more. Rose later told Sky that the key to the results is “all in our heads”. He knows his team needs to clarify those ideas urgently. A club always in a hurry to make progress has not accepted proposals for transitional seasons or development stages – and they won’t start now.

Dortmund 3-1 Bochum, Union Berlin 1-0 Darmstadt, Leverkusen 0-0 Mönchengladbach, Augsburg 2-3 Bayern, Hoffenheim 1-1 Heidenheim, Stuttgart 5-2 RB Leipzig, Werder Bremen 3-1 Freiburg, Wolfsburg 1-1 Cologne , Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Mainz.

Talking points

• Bayern Munich had a very satisfying week, even, with Saturday’s difficult 3-2 win at Augsburg closing the gap to the summit to two points after Wednesday night’s game in hand, a 1-0 win over Union Berlin. There were positives for Thomas Tuchel and company, including a first Bundesliga goal for increasingly impressive teenage midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic and the first of the season for Alphonso Davies.

Harry Kane’s goal, which eventually proved to be the winner, was his 23rd in the league and ended (gasp!) a two-game goalless run. Kingsley Coman’s knee injury was less welcome in the first half, which Tuchel reckons will keep the French winger out “for a while”. Bayern have at least bolstered a real area of ​​need, confirming Coman’s compatriot Sacha Boey, the right-back from Galatasaray, for €30m initially. Raphaël Guerreiro, the winner of the game against the Union, was deployed as an emergency substitute in the position in Augsburg.

• In perhaps the most Bayernesque of recent times, the underachieving champions made it a few more points on leaders Leverkusen, who could only manage a goalless draw at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach despite an almost obscene level of dominance . the most shots on goal in a game in two years and the most passes in a game in four years. The loan signing of Spanish striker Borja Iglesias from Betis should help some of those conversion issues.

• At the bottom, the Union picked up a crucial win after that midweek loss, with Benedict Hollerbach’s goal defeating bottom side Darmstadt, albeit in no great style. Eyes were more focused on the pitch, with coach Nenad Bjelica in the executive box of President Dirk Zingler for the game, suspended after his red card for punching Leroy Sané in the face (twice) in Munich. Bjelica’s fellow assistants Danijel Jumic (as head coach) and Marie-Louise Eta (on media duties) took control of the game and will continue to do so in the next two games of his ban, and the issue is in danger of simmering; Multiple reports have suggested that some players expressed their surprise to the board that Bjelica was allowed to keep his job.

• Speaking of not winning points in style, Borussia Dortmund moved into the top four with a third straight win in 2024, but made a bad start to beat Bochum in the “Little Derby”. Niclas Füllkrug’s hat-trick, including two penalties, did the job after Nico Schlotterbeck gave the impressive visitors an avoidable goal back into the game. The mood in the BVB camp is one of realism, with more improvement clearly needed but the run against “exactly the type of opposition we’ve had problems against” was nothing to sniff at, as it was wish to express Füllkrug.