After a hard-fought win on Thursday against Ferencvaros, it was not going to be any easier against an albeit depleted Stuttgart. Any doubts quickly fell away however as Andrich rose up high to connect with a textbook Bakker cross to give us the lead in just 90 or so seconds - the fastest goal scored this season in the Bundesliga. Asserting ourselves early has become something of a theme in the Seoane era with Schick tapping in a second after a brilliant piece of skill by Wirtz, flicking the ball over Kempf before charging towards the penalty area in the 19th minute. We were truly dominant - our team didn't give them space to breathe, relentlessly attacked, with the ball almost exclusively in Stuttgart's half. It honestly looked like it could have been a real thrashing - until the 31st minute when Andrich, recklessly carried out what can only be described as a horror tackle, catching Coulibaly high up on his leg and with his studs showing. It was a clear red card even without the VAR. Understandably that was a game changer - it didn't take too long before Coulibaly tapped in a rebound from a Stuttgart set piece, despite Hradecky making a classy save to deny the initial well-placed header. It was a foul tempered defence vs attack - both Frimpong and Bakker collecting yellows - and half time could not have come quickly enough.
The second half resumed and so did the general flow of the game with Stuttgart continuing to control proceedings. We showed excellent team spirit however - every player was back defending and didn't really let much get past them. As the half went on, we settled back into the match, starting to create chances again - especially on the break with Wirtz and Diaby proving real menaces to the Swabian back line. There were also a couple of injury scares however. Aranguiz was down for a prolonged period of time, particularly nerve-wracking given Palacios' recent injury against the Hungarians and of course Andrich's suspension, not to mention the fact he had recently recovered from a calf problem. He thankfully managed to finish the match. Schick however couldn't, having to be eventually substituted off after what was a painful 50 minutes. Again it luckily appears to be nothing too serious. His replacement was Hincapie which meant a Bundesliga debut for our young Ecuadorian - a debut which was nothing short of a success may I add. Our third goal came after a number of well-worked counter attacks but all the credit has to go to Wirtz, intercepting a loose ball at pace, racing through on goal, with Diaby in support, before smashing it into the bottom-right corner. The goal gave us a new lease of life and security and from then on, we played like we had 11 men on the pitch at times. We deservedly won the three points in the end, even if the scoreline didn't properly reflect what was probably our toughest test yet.
Both this game and the game against Ferencvaros are cause for optimism in that we can still pull results out of the bag even if our play didn't merit it - a sign of a great team. Tah is showing his old self again and with Wirtz and Schick, have a reliable source of goals. That we scored 2 goals from 2 shots in the first half showed Leverkusen to have a clinical side not really seen before. Next up is Mainz who have probably been the surprise team so far this season. Hopefully we can play with both Aranguiz and Schick as to miss either of them would of course be a big blow. Let's go Bayer!
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