Gladbach gobble up Stuttgart to highlight Champions League credentials

Bundesliga

Monchengladbach 3 Stuttgart 0
Raffael 69
Neuhaus 77
Pavard og 84

The story of the match
Borussia Monchengladbach fully deserved the win even though all of the goals came in the final 21 minutes as the hosts maintained their surprise position of second in the Bundesliga, seven points behind pacesetters Borussia Dortmund.

Gladbach started quickly with Thorgan Hazard finding Ibrahima Traore and then it was Alassane Plea's turn to test Ron-Robert Zieler in the visiting goal.

It appeared a matter of time before Gladbach would find a way through and Michael Lang's effort was about to break the deadlock before Plea, in an offside position, selfishly smashed the ball over the line to see the effort chalked off.

Zieler also saved from Denis Zakaria and Tobias Strobl but one of the best chances of the half came to Mario Gomez on the counter, only for Stuttgart's experienced striker to fluff his one-on-one against home keeper Yann Sommer.

Gladbach were less threatening at the start of the second half and seemed to be running out of ideas until coach Dieter Hecking made an inspired double substitution around the hour mark, bringing on game-changers Raffael and Florian Neuhaus.

Raffael, who had missed a decent chance on the volley moments earlier, made it 1-0 on 69 minutes after an assist from Neuhaus, who swiftly doubled Gladbach's advantage to take the game away from strugglers Stuttgart.

Erik Thommy was sent off for two bookable offences as Stuttgart's evening got worse and Benjamin Pavard put through his own goal to finish the scoring. Stuttgart's misery was complete when Pavard pulled his hamstring in the act of scoring and the visitors finished with nine men.

Tactics
Gladbach like to get on the front foot and it's a fluid formation with Strobl sitting just in front of Hecking's centre-backs.

The front five are the ones asked to do the damage with the inconsistent Traore keeping the width on the right flank, while opposite winger Hazard comes inside from the left like his brother Eden at Chelsea.

Lars Stindl is a key man in terms of creating from a deeper position than he has sometimes been used in and, on this evidence, it is easy to see why 79 per cent of their Bundesliga battles have finished with over 2.5 goals. That's the second-highest overs return in the German top flight behind Hoffenheim.

Bundesliga standings

Strengths
Attack. Only Dortmund can better Gladbach's 33-goal return from 14 matches and that does not include an astonishing 11-1 romp at Hastedt in the German Cup.

This was not Plea's greatest appearance but the French striker has lived up to his club-record transfer fee with eight goals this season, the same total as Hazard, and they score freely from all over the pitch.

Borussia-Park has been turned into a fortress with ten straight league wins. Six of their seven home victories this season were by at least two goals, which may be of interest to handicap backers.

Indeed, the last time they failed to score at least twice in a home league game was way back in February against Dortmund.

Weaknesses
Most German teams are susceptible to counter-attacks because the ideology is to try to force the issue and the high quality of coaching in the Bundesliga means pressing is the norm so matches usually look as if they are being played with the fast-forward button on.

Gladbach are no different in this regard and they could do with keeping more clean sheets away from home. Bizarrely, their only away shutout came in Munich, where they battered Bayern 3-0.

Goalscorer notebook
Stindl is one to avoid as he is being priced up in his old position as a forward with some firms making him the same price to score first as Hazard and Plea for Saturday's tough trip to Hoffenheim.

The German international has scored only twice this term and is still said to be overachieving on expected goals. Plea and Hazard are much bigger goal threats.

View from the camp
Hecking said: "My team did their jobs excellently after the break. All three subs made a difference – something which didn’t happen last season. Our substitutes can often decide games, which is a real useful quality."

Prospects
Two of Gladbach's three games before the winter break are tough road trips to Hoffenheim and Dortmund which could make odds of
1-2 for a top-four finish seem tight. That said, they have a comfy lead in the race to reach next season's Champions League.

Opposition
Stuttgart did not offer much and will be vulnerable in the short term after losing Pavard, Dennis Aogo and Andreas Beck to injury in this game as well as Thommy to suspension.

Teams
Monchengladbach 4-1-2-3: Sommer; Lang, Elvedi, Jantschke, Wendt; Strobl; Zakaria (Neuhaus 61), Stindl; Traore (Johnson 78), Plea (Raffael 61), Hazard.

Stuttgart 3-4-2-1: Zieler; Baumgartl, Pavard, Kempf; Beck (Thommy 83), Gentner, Aogo (Castro 26), Insua; Donis (Dajaku 75), Gonzalez; Gomez.

Next three fixtures
Monchengladbach: Hoffenheim (a), Nuremberg (h), Dortmund (a)
Stuttgart: Hertha (h), Wolfsburg (a), Schalke (h).

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