“Of course, we deserved to lose.”

Dortmund lead-striker Niclas Füllkrug found himself in no mood to make excuses when discussing his side’s second consecutive league defeat. 

The 2-1 scoreline by which VfB Stuttgart topped Borussia Dortmund on Saturday afternoon was nothing if not highly deceiving. Sebastian Hoeneß’ Swabians effectively dominated proceedings for much of the 90 minutes. Stuttgart racked up 4.39 xG to Dortmund’s 1.12. Had Chris Führich not spurned two sure-fire opportunities – one of from the spot and another from open play – the match could have been over much sooner.

BVB striker Niclas Füllkrug didn’t mince words when speaking to the Sky microphones afterwards. The marquee summer signing did wish to emphasize that his team possessed the talent level to do much better, yet made no effort to sugarcoat the poor performance he had just been a part of. The 30-year-old conceded that Dortmund “demonstrate our limits against better teams.”

“Of course we deserved to lose,” Füllkrug said, “[Stuttgart’s dominance] was even more extreme in the first half than in the second. We were lacking in so many areas. Stuttgart surprised us a bit tactically, but one has to remain honest.”

“We lacked intensity and tenacity all over the place,” the German national team striker continued, “We didn’t get any pressure on the ball. A vastly superior Stuttgart side made it impossible for us.”

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