VfB Stuttgart’s U23 team impressively demonstrated at Rot-Weiss Essen why they are among the strongest teams in the 3. Liga.
No! VfB Stuttgart’s reserve team was not satisfied with the 1-1 draw at Rot-Weiss Essen. The Bundesliga club’s reserves were too superior, too dominant, to concede a goal so late in the game.
“It was a top-notch game from us. We played it out really well and had great chances. That’s why we’re very unhappy with the 1-1 draw. We didn’t let them intimidate us and stuck to our game plan,” Mansour Ouro-Tagba told “Magenta Sport.”
The player on loan from 1. FC Köln, who had found the net five times in the six matches leading up to the Essen game, caused the Red-Whites major problems. “Yes, I had my chances. As a striker, you always think you have to keep going because the next chance will come. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to score,” said the 20-year-old Togo international.
His coach wasn’t entirely satisfied with the draw in Essen either. Nico Willig summed it up: “I’m not happy with the 1-1 draw. We played a great away game. We kept the opponent away from our goal for 87 minutes. There were no critical situations in front of our net. That was strong. Unfortunately, only until the 87th minute.”
The way we played has something to do with self-confidence. The crowd was very quiet, and I think that speaks in our favor.
Nico Willig
The fact that Stuttgart played with such maturity in Essen-Bergeborbeck didn’t surprise the VfB II coach at all. The fact that the Hafenstraße cauldron wasn’t one this Friday evening, on the other hand, did: but the visitors made sure of that.
“The way we played has something to do with self-confidence. The crowd was very quiet, and I think that speaks in our favor. We just needed to be a bit more effective; then next time we’ll score two goals and head home as winners,” emphasized Willig, who, with his talented Stuttgart squad, has 26 points after 17 matchdays and is just four points behind Rot-Weiss Essen.
For VfB Stuttgart II, which is now unbeaten in three games, the remaining matches this year are at home against Hansa Rostock and then, to close out the year, at VfL Osnabrück. It remains to be seen whether the VfB gems will also silence the Bremer Brücke.