The international break presented Die Eisernen with a chance to wipe the slate clean and look to recover from their miserable start to the season, but just beyond the quarter-hour mark here, a familiar sinking feeling befell the hosts.
Anthony Rouault was allowed to drift into space on the inside-right, and his floated delivery into the area was nodded home by Europe’s most prolific marksman, Serhou Guirassy. That was the Guinea international’s 15th goal in nine appearances for Stuttgart this term, more than any other player in Europe’s traditional top-five leagues.
From joy to despair for the Swabians striker, Guirassy was forced off injured on the half-hour mark. That didn’t help an already cagey opening period that saw the goal as the only shot on target, with Union a shadow of their former selves in almost every department, but they especially lacked a threat in the final third.
A triple change at the break helped Union establish a greater foothold in the contest, but they remained short of ideas in the final third. They were fortunate not to fall further behind on the hour-mark, with more shoddy defending spared by a smart double save from Frederik Ronnow to keep out Jamie Leweling.
The improved hosts kept coming forward though, but their quality in front of goal badly let them down. After Sheraldo Becker had burst down the left and produced a sumptuous cross to pick out David Datro Fofana, the Chelsea loanee spurned his side’s best chance of the match, blazing high and wide from close range. That miss carried a heavy punishment, as Stuttgart sailed up the other end and doubled their lead.
Silas burst behind the Union defence, and when faced with the onrushing Ronnow, showed tremendous composure to sit the goalkeeper down before slamming home.
A sixth victory in succession was wrapped up late by a Deniz Undav header, keeping Stuttgart within a point of Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
A first-ever H2H defeat on home soil only added to Die Eisernen’s misery however, as an eighth consecutive defeat leaves them just points clear of the bottom three - a far cry from their top-four finish last term.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Anthony Rouault (Stuttgart)
