Our next opponents: A new number nine for Gladbach

Position

Even if nobody on the Lower Rhine really wants to say it out loud: Last season proved to be a disappointment for Borussia Mönchengladbach. For a long time, the team coached by Dieter Hecking hoped to qualify for Europe but a second half of the season with many disappointing results saw Gladbach finish in ninth place – exactly the same position as the year before. “We were very offensive in our approach to our targets last season. We suffered a bit because of that,” said Hecking in an interview with kicker in the pre-season – and he avoided setting a concrete target for the coming campaign. But one thing is clear: Mönchengladbach want to do better than last term and hopefully qualify for European competition. The Foals did make a promising start in their first competitive match: In Round One of the DFB Cup, Mönchengladbach enjoyed a real goal fest against Bremen Oberliga club BSC Hastedt with an 11-1 victory that was the biggest win in the weekend of Cup football.

Personnel

Hastedt are clearly no yardstick but it does show that Borussia Mönchengladbach enjoy attacking football. A lot of hard work was done in that area over the summer. In that respect, an important part of completing the puzzle was the signing of the Frenchman Alassane Plea (pictured above). The 25-year-old, who moved to the Lower Rhine from Nice, is by all accounts the most expensive signing in the history of the club – and that has led to a change of style for Borussia. As Plea is a classic number nine, a central striker and he will be used in that position. Gladbach have not had a player like that for years with their system including one or false nines like Raffael or Lars Stindl up front. However, the signing of Plea could mean the end of the almost obligatory 4-4-2 formation the Foals almost always play under Hecking. In the DFB Cup game in Bremen, Borussia played a 4-3-3 formation with Plea as the central striker flanked by the the skilful duo of Raffael and Thorgan Hazard. The win proved Hecking right: All three players scored hat-tricks. Except for the return of the classic number nine, other new signings are typically Gladbach: The right back Michael Lang strengthens the Swiss contingent in the squad although he is currently sidelined with a torn lateral ligament. Andreas Poulsen (from Midtjylland), Keanan Bennetts (from Tottenham Hotspur), Torben Müsel (from Kaiserslautern) and Florian Neuhaus (returning from loan spell at Fortuna Düsseldorf) all represent promise for the future – although the last named player did impress with Fortuna in the second division last season and he could well be in with the chance of a regular spot in the starting eleven.

Problems

The departure of Danish central defender Jannik Vestergaard to Southampton did involve a healthy addition to the club’s coffers but has left a huge gap in the centre of the Borussia defence. There are two new options to play alongside Matthias Ginter: Nico Elvedi, who mainly plays at right back, and stalwart Tony Jantschke, who has often suffered injury set-backs in the past. There is definitely a question mark over whether either player can match the quality of Vestergaard particularly in terms of aerial ability. Hecking will have to manage without a mainstay of his team at the start of the season: Skipper Lars Stindl is still recovering from an ankle injury he picked up on matchday 32 last season, which also cost him a place in Germany’s World Cup squad. The 29-year-old is not an option for the game against the Werkself.

Potential

This season, Borussia continue along an establish path with the signing of a number of young players. Last term, Michael Cuisance and Denis Zakaria, brought in from abroad at a young age, demonstrated their huge potential to develop like players such as Poulsen and Bennetts. At the same time, home-grown talent will not be neglected. Borussia are hoping to bring through players to the first team from their academy like ter Stegen or Dahoud. One candidate to make that move is the 18-year-old defender Louis Beyer. The Germany U18 international played from the start at right back in the DFB Cup win against Hastedt and he impressed over the 90 minutes of his first team debut. As new signing Lang is sidelined at the moment, Beyer could be a candidate for the starting eleven against Bayer 04.

Prediction

The Borussia squad is strong enough as ever to qualify for Europe; the signing of Plea creates an additional option in attack. If the defence can cope with the loss of Vestergaard and Gladbach – in contrast to last season – remain more or less free of injury through the campaign then a return to the European stage is definitely possible for the Foals.