Julian Brandt: Borussia Dortmund players to blame for 5-1 defeat to Stuttgart

Julian Brandt refused to blame Nuri Sahin's tactics for Borussia Dortmund's defeat to VfB Stuttgart, and instead lamented the team's poor performance.

Borussia Dortmund's away day blues in the Bundesliga continued on Sunday evening as they were handed an embarassing 5-1 defeat by VfB Stuttgart. The Black and Yellows were no match for the high octane Stuttgart side and were thoroughly outplayed in all departments.

Julian Brandt reflects on Borussia Dortmund's defeat to Stuttgart

The tactics of Nuri Sahin also came under criticism, with fans unhappy with the head coach for playing so many players out of position. But for Julian Brandt, who captained Borussia Dortmund on Sunday, the players should be held responsible for the result. "We're quite rightly going through hell now and we're going to take a lot of criticism over the next few days," Brandt told Sky Sport after the game.

Brandt added that Borussia Dortmund would have suffered a similarly humiliating defeat on Sunday even if Pep Guardiola was coaching the team. "You could have put Pep Guardiola on the touchline today. If you play with so little passion, it's only us players who are to blame."

Borussia Dortmund's form away from home in the Bundesliga has been poor for quite some time now. In fact, BVB have lost three and drawn one of their last four away games in the league, conceding 12 goals in the process and scoring just two.

Nuri Sahin will certainly have his work cut out as he looks to fix his side's away form in the Bundesliga ahead of the trip to Union Berlin in two weeks' time. It is worth noting that Borussia Dortmund did beat Club Brugge away from home in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.