"The team performed well after conceding the early goal, only the final ball was lacking," said Peter Bosz in the wake of the match in Stuttgart. "As strange as it might sound, I believe this game was a step in the right direction in terms of the attitude we showed," explained Marcel Schmelzer. Here we bring you the initial match reactions.

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Peter Bosz: "The defeat really hurts. We came here to win, so we're very disappointed. When you see the goals we conceded, it borders on the ridiculous. It hurts because we actually put in a relatively good performance in the first half. The team performed well after conceding the early goal, only the final ball was lacking. The second half wasn't as good. We need to keep going, we won't give up."

Marcel Schmelzer: "Stuttgart were very clinical and mercilessly took advantage of our individual errors. We gave them chances on two occasions and they took full advantage. It's somehow emblematic of the spell in which we find ourselves. We said in the run-up to the match that we wanted to make a new start. Then we conceded extremely early goals at the beginning of each half. That didn't make our task any easier. Nonetheless, I believe that as strange as it might sound, this game was a step in the right direction in terms of the attitude we showed. We simply need to stick together and keep trying to come out the other side."

"I'm proud of my team"

Hannes Wolf (VfB Stuttgart coach): "Our tactics paid off perfectly. The early goal in the first half naturally played into our hands, thereafter we got a bit lucky in several situations and didn't defend so well until the break. But we were much better in the second period, we should've actually scored a third goal. I'm extremely proud of my team." (djg)