Borussia Dortmund's perfect start to the new Bundesliga season continued with a fourth win from as many games on Satruday as Maximilian Beier's strike downed VfB Stuttgart.
As it's been the case under Kovac, substitutes were involved here too as Konstantinos Karetsas and Jobe Bellingham helped create the winning goal.
Stuttgart had more shots on target in the match and Dortmund made them pay for their complacency late on with one moment of genuine quality.
Here are the player ratings for the BVB:
Gregor Kobel - 8: Dortmund's MVP with five crucial saves on the night; a third clean sheet in four games too!
Joane Gadou - 7.5: A total beast in defense, tracking down every movement in and around their area with great vigilance and authority and thwarted a promising counterattack by Ermedin Demirovic in the first half too; six clearances and one interception to his name.
Waldemar Anton - 7.5: Gadou was aptly complimented by Anton, who also held the fort well and didn't give Stuttgart players much time or space to work into, inside their box.
Nico Schlotterbeck - 8: Continued his fine run since returning from injury; kept his composure whenever Stuttgart applied pressure and displayed exemplary positional awareness. Also registered 11 defensive contributions on the night.
Julian Ryerson - 7: Continued supplying the forwards with one inviting cross after another, but went off in the 82nd minute with an apparent injury which Stuttgart capitalized on to build pressure on BVB from the right.
Joey Veerman - 7.5: The Dutchman once again made a big statement with his line-breaking passes to find teammates in advanced positions; completed 48 of his 55 passes and created one big chance too.
Felix Nmecha - 7.5: Buoyed by his late brace in the last game, Nmecha led Dortmund's press here and made some promising runs inside Stuttgart's area; also laid two key passes, both of which could have led to an assist but Nwaneri was offside and Karetsas shot it wide.
Daniel Svensson - 7: Had a good game at both ends of the pitch and made some crucial recoveries too.
Ethan Nwaneri - 6.5: Didn't get involved much, but whenever on the ball, Nwaneri was a force to be reckoned with; made one key pass, two crosses and mustered one shot in the match too. He also had the ball in the net once, but it was ruled out for offside.
Maximilian Beier - 8.5: Continued his fine start to the season with a late match-winner.
Serhou Guirassy - 6: A frustrating evening on his return to his old stomping ground; attempted three shots of which two were blocked.
Substitutes
Konstantinos Karetsas - 6.5
Jobe Bellingham - 8
Fabio Silva - 6.5
Ramy Bensebaini - 6.5
Marcel Sabitzer - 6
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