Position
"After an intensive review of our start to the season, we came to the conclusion we needed to make a change in the position of head coach," explained Roland Virkus, Borussia's Managing Director of Sport, on the departure of Gerardo Seoane. The end of last season, when the team failed to win any of its last seven games (five defeats, two draws), didn’t meet our expectations, said Virkus. Gladbach had slipped from fifth to tenth place in the run-in and ended up far away from qualifying for Europe.
There has also been a bumpy start start to the current campaign. In the first round of the DFB Pokal, the Foals laboured to a 3-2 win at Regional League club Atlas Delmenhorst. In the Bundesliga, Borussia followed up a 0-0 draw at home to newly promoted Hamburg SV with a committed performance in the following away game at VfB Stuttgart, but missed numerous good chances and ultimately had to return home with a 1-0 defeat. This was followed by a clear 4-0 defeat against Werder Bremen last Sunday. At Borussia Park, the hosts lacked precision and consistency both in defence and attack despite having a large share of the game. "And ultimately also the energy," said Virkus.
The day after the defeat, Gerardo Seoane's tenure of just over two years at Bökelberg came to an end. Borussia president Rainer Bonhof declared: "The move to make a fresh start now is the right one." U23 coach Eugen Polanski takes over the team until further notice. The former Bundesliga player came through Gladbach's youth ranks, played a total of 14 years for the club from the Lower Rhine (54 competitive matches) and later played for Getafe in Spain as well as Mainz 05 and TSG Hoffenheim. Roland Virkus explained the board's decision: "Eugen is a young coach with ambition and energy who has been waiting for this opportunity. He has also earned it with his good work with our U23s. As a Borussian, Eugen knows the club through and through. He also knows the first team through his connection with the U23s. I see no problem for him joining this team now and performing well."
Personnel
The team will have to manage without their top goalscorer and captain for a while: Tim Kleindienst missed the start of the season due to knee surgery. The sorely missed player will probably not be able to make his comeback for the Foals until after the international break in October. Borussia's goal drought is of course also linked to the absence of the Germany international. Kleindienst scored 16 goals last season and set up a further nine. Borussia's game relies heavily on the 30-year-old, and the gap his absence creates is huge. To make matters worse, Alassane Plea moved to PSV Eindhoven in the summer after seven years at Gladbach. The Frenchman was Borussia's second-highest scorer and provider last season with eleven goals and six assists. And yet another key forward is out: Right winger Nathan Ngoumou is unavailable due to a torn Achilles.
Nevertheless, Gladbach created numerous chances in the first few games of the season and put in lots of crosses - but simply lacked a finisher in front of goal. Haris Tabakovic, who was signed on loan from TSG Hoffenheim in the summer, has so far lacked the necessary penetration, as has Shuto Machino, who joined from relegated Bundesliga side Holstein Kiel. The Japanese striker is a versatile forward who can play in the centre or on the wings. Machino netted eleven times and provided four assists for Kiel last season. Things are not yet going so well at his new club. Other new summer signings such as midfielders Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund) and Jens Castrop (FC Nürnberg) have also not yet been able to make a decisive impact in attack. And while Franck Honorat and Robin Hack have been busy on the wings, they have been lacking in the centre - see above.
Kevin Diks is a new permanent fixture in the Gladbach defence. The 28-year-old defender came from FC Copenhagen and can be deployed both in central defence and at full-back. Ko Itakura, a top performer in pre-season as a goal-scoring centre-back (three goals), left Borussia for Amsterdam in the summer and is now able to play for Ajax in the Champions League. Julian Weigl also decided to move on. After three years on the Lower Rhine, the defensive midfielder joined Al-Qadisiyah in Saudi Arabia.
Problems
When will the Borussia attack start finding the back of the net again? The aforementioned problems in scoring goals are, of course, only one side of the story. The other and no less important issue is to prevent goals being conceded. Over the past five years, the Foals have conceded an average of almost 60 goals per season. After the 4-0 defeat against Werder Bremen, coach Eugen Polanski's initial focus in Sunday's away game at the Werkself is likely to be on a stable defence.
Performers
There is a lot of potential in the Borussia squad. They are particularly well equipped in attack. The team has created a lot of chances in the three games without a win so far this season. Gladbach have had the second-most shots on goal (51) of all Bundesliga teams, crossed the ball the second-highest number of times (62) and won the most corners (21). In Kevin Stöger, the squad has a proven set-piece specialist. Borussia also rank among the top five in terms of passing and pass completion, and the team brings plenty of dynamism, enthusiasm and pace to the pitch. Typical "Foal football" - only the goals are missing.
