Borussia Mönchengladbach will have to do without 39 of 52 goals this season and is about to start again. The foals and Gladbach’s fans are also in an identity crisis.
Two quotes from sporting director Roland Virkus can be used to illustrate the situation Borussia Mönchengladbach is in at the moment. The first is a good six months old and reads: “The pandemic has thrown the club a little off its path. It will be my task and ours to go the Borussia way again.”
The second is red hot: “I understand that some fans are worried at the moment. But we’ve only just started to rebuild the squad. You can only evaluate the transfer period when it’s over,” Virkus said last week sports picture.
Virkus actually had a point there, because at the time of his statement it was not yet official what Borussia had recently announced: Franck Honorat was the successor to Jonas Hofmann, and Tomas Cvancara cost 10.5 million euros to replace striker Marcus Thuram.
The worries of the supporters will probably have been reduced a little with these two newcomers. However, the people around the Foals are just as far away from a spirit of optimism or even euphoria as the team was recently from the European Cup places.
Gladbach has to do without 39 of 52 goals this season
The fact that this is the case is mainly due to the past two and a half seasons. During this time, the Gladbachers played far below their expectations and worn out two coaches, Adi Hütter and Daniel Farke. So now the next new start begins, which this time Gerardo Seoane is responsible for on the coaching bench.
The Swiss has to do without 39 of the 52 goals that Borussia scored last season. The fact that in addition to the loss of Hofmann with Thuram (Inter Milan), Lars Stindl (Karlsruhe) and Ramy Bensebaini (Dortmund) you had to let top performers go without even seeing a cent transfer fee caused a lot of frustration among the supporters.
“We won’t be able to replace the regular players who have left us one-for-one. It’s more about taking care of talents and promoting them. We experienced European Cup times here a few years ago and adjusted contracts accordingly, that’s not an issue at the moment. We can only spend what we earn,” Virkus once again unmistakably made clear.
Gladbach is also in an identity crisis
The Gladbach restart also has a lot to do with reflection. The fat years, with the games in the round of 16 of the Champions League against Manchester City as the highlight, are over. There is a lack of money and consistency, almost logically they have only placed in the middle of the table in the Bundesliga. This status quo has to get into everyone’s heads around Gladbach.
It currently mainly contains the many disillusioning experiences of the recent past. In the previous season, the team stagnated under Farke, there was no further development of individual players or even the squad. Instead, the team broke down far too often in the past season due to setbacks and resistance. One rarely got the feeling that the extremely fickle eleven could pull themselves together and do something. At the end there was the worst point average since 2011 (1.26 per ).
This worrying state of affairs accompanied the entire last year, caused displeasure among the fans and a cracked relationship between supporters and club. Gladbach is therefore also in an identity crisis. Even if it sounds clumsy: In the coming year, it is important to get everyone back on the same boat and to walk the new path together unconditionally.
Gladbach and his fans: Don’t make the VfB mistake!
The Gladbach fans are about to call out: Don’t make the VfB mistake! Whether in Stuttgart, at Hamburger SV or Schalke 04 in recent years, at the locations of real traditional clubs people have often clung to unrealistic expectations for too long and feasted on the glory of bygone times.
However, the demands of Borussia have simply changed a lot. The competition is no longer called Leverkusen and Wolfsburg, but Mainz and Hoffenheim. If they succeed in acknowledging these realities, the foals and their fans undoubtedly have great potential to positively channel their power and create an energetic, optimistic mood.
To do this, Virkus and Seoane must continue to deliver. The former Leverkusen coach could have come at the right time – keyword Borussia way. “I worked for eight years in the youth team. It was all about getting players into the first team and instilling values in them,” said the 44-year-old when he introduced himself to his time in FC Luzern’s youth department. In addition, the coach brought Guido Streichsbier, a long-standing DFB youth coach, to Borussia who will be responsible for individualization and talent development in the future.
Gladbach: Gerardo Seoane’s work must bear fruit quickly
With the homegrown Simon Walde (18) and Ibrahim Digberekou (18), two players have already been awarded professional contracts. However, these are only small pieces of the puzzle, the further squad planning remains a kind of mammoth task. Another centre-forward, a central attacking midfielder and reinforcements for central defense would still be good for Borussia. But in less than four weeks the competitive season will begin.
Seoane has to make sure that he quickly forms a unit and, above all, a stable framework in order not to prolong the bad sporting news even further. Especially since it is not unlikely that midfield engine Manu Koné will still migrate to generate a high fee for the clammy club.
It’s a bit like open-heart surgery. Most importantly, the eleven from the Lower Rhine under Seoane will show a different face, one shaped by passion and resilience. Of course, only time will tell if this succeeds – but in addition to the pure coaching work, it also depends on Virkus’ transfers and the dedication of the fans.
Borussia Mönchengladbach: All departures of the foals
