LOOK AHEAD: Borussia Mönchengladbach

Friday evening, floodlights – Borussia are in town! We are going to host the famous “Foals” from the Lower Rhine region whose season so far has been rather underwhelming with relegation worries replacing the race to Europe. Here is our LOOK AHEAD to our clash with Gladbach:

THE TEAM

Things looked considerably better for the Foals not so long ago. But this season, Mönchengladbach are lagging behind their own expectations. The club is a long way apart from qualifying for Europe and is instead facing relegation despite the team from the Lower Rhine starting the current season largely unchanged. The squad stayed together, but has had to cope with repeated absences due to injury, for example, skipper Lars Stindl or striker Marcus Thuram.

Gladbach have already conceded 51 goals. In winter, director of football Max Eberl, who has since announced his retirement for health reasons, brought in Marvin Friedrich from Berlin, partly due to Matthias Ginter having announced his departure for the summer. Just like Denis Zakaria, who was sold to Juventus Turin during the winter transfer period.

But the ups and downs have continued for the Foals in the new year. The away victory over covid-struck Bayern was followed by a clean K.O. in the cup at the hands of second-division team Hanover. Gladbach failed to beat their direct rivals from Bielefeld, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, with a 6-0 drubbing at Dortmund in between. But most recently, the Foals bagged an enormously important three points against Hertha. Is this a sign of their form picking up now?

THE HEAD COACH

Adi Hütter erwischte einen perfekten Start in seine Karriere als Profitrainer. 2014 übernahm er RB Salzburg, das österreichische Pendant zu RB Leipzig. Prompt wurde seine Mannschaft Meister und Pokalsieger. Auch mit Young Boys Bern, die Hütter danach übernahm, holte er die Meisterschaft. Und das, nachdem der Klub zuvor 32 Jahre nicht mehr an der Spitze der Schweizer Super League stand. Kein Wunder also, dass der Coach bei vielen Bundesliga-Vereinen Begehrlichkeiten weckte.

Adi Hütter got off to a perfect start in his career as a professional coach. In 2014, he took over at RB Salzburg, the Austrian equivalent of RB Leipzig. His team promptly won the championship and the cup. Next, he won the championship with Young Boys Bern after the club’s 32-year absence from the top of the Swiss Super League. No wonder that Hütter caught the eye of many Bundesliga clubs.

After three successful years at Eintracht Frankfurt, the Austrian moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach in July 2021. But things are not yet running smoothly for the Foals, although the newly declared goal of staying in the top tier should certainly be achieved. However, Hütter will not be able to directly coach his team “anne Castroper”. The coach tested positive for Covid-19 last week and will consequently miss the game in Bochum. A curious constellation, as we will also be missing Thomas Reis due to his Corona illness.

DIRECT ENCOUNTERS

The Blue-and-Whites have already played Borussia Mönchengladbach 74 times. The two clubs do not really give each other an inch with the record almost even. VfL Bochum won 22 games, while the Foals are on 28 wins.

Our last competitive match victory dates back to March 2009 in the Bundesliga – which was also a Friday evening. Dennis Grote scored the goal of the night after just under half an hour and ensured a blue-and-white 1-0 away win which proved vital for staying up. VfL finished the season in 14th place in the table, one point ahead of Gladbach.

In the first half of the current season, we were narrowly beaten 2-1 at Mönchengladbach. The Foals were the dominant team in the first half but in the final phase – Danny Blum had pulled one back from a free-kick – we came close to equalising. A great chance by Milos Pantovic in injury time was thwarted by Gladbach’s keeper Sommer, who saved the three points for his team.