The Wolves’ 3-1 defeat in Sinsheim saw them beaten for the first time this season. The 1-0 lead courtesy of summer signing Tiago Tomas was not enough in the end for Niko Kovac’s side, who now go into the international break on the back of a loss. We’ve again rounded up the key facts and stats after the game:
Hosts more efficient
Tomas may have been clinical with VfL’s first big chance to open the scoring in the 36th minute, but it was Hoffenheim who ran out winners thanks to their greater efficiency in front of goal. The hosts netted three times from 10 chances, whereas the Green-and-Whites came away empty-handed despite 13 attempts on goal. TSG also had a higher xG value (measures the probability of a goal being scored) of 2.02 to VfL’s 1.73.
More than a match
Although the most important statistic read 3-1 to Hoffenheim at the end, the Wolves were better in many other categories: more possession (61%), significantly more passes (523 to 338), a higher pass completion rate (86% to 76%), more crosses (17 to 12) and more successful dribbles (50% to 33%). The hosts won the majority (53%) of the duels, though.
