At Borussia Mönchengladbach, coach Gerardo Seoane is patiently given time to manage the change. However, the Rhenish derby at 1. FC Köln is important for the continuation of this mood.
Fans of traditional clubs often dream of past, more successful times. And we like to use these dreams as a benchmark for the current sporting situation. The mood around Borussia Mönchengladbach However, after the big upheaval in the summer, it is characterized by an almost astonishing sense of reality, even in the stands.
What can be seen from this is that the “foals” in the Football Bundesliga So far, the results have not been convincing – there are only six points after seven match days, which is half as many as in the previous season under Daniel Farke at the same time. However, there are no calls (yet) to consider replacing those responsible if necessary.
Gladbach’s recent derby record can be improved
The performance in the Rhenish derby at 1. FC Cologne on Sunday (3:30 p.m.) could of course be critical for Borussia’s current remaining credit with its fans. A derby defeat would at least significantly shorten the patience in the midst of the upheaval.
Because the recent Gladbach derby record can definitely be improved. Although BMG managed a 5-2 home win in the first leg of the 2022/23 season a good year ago, Cologne has scored points in four of the last five derbies. There were three FC wins and one draw with only one Gladbach triumph. Borussia’s last success in Cologne was over three years ago.
And Marco Rose’s big rotation of the starting eleven in February 2021, when Gladbach was still playing in the Champions League, showed that coaches can quickly lose the fans’ favor due to a botched derby. After the 2-1 defeat, the fan project confronted the coach in an open letter: “You don’t play with the derby!” Rose’s successor Adi Hütter even scored no points against FC in two duels.
Efficiency and intensity still problems of the “foals”
So Seoane’s team is responsible. As a source of encouragement for the Rhenish derby, the Gladbachers are hungry for goals – only two teams have so far had more shots on goal than Borussia (110).
The downside: Only 13 hits were achieved. Lack of efficiency is an accusation that the team has to listen to. Gladbach can take solace in the fact that arch-rivals Cologne needed the most shots to score – on average, only one in every 21 shots ended up in the net.
However, Gladbach also has deficits in terms of intensity. Only two teams have less fast runs than the “Foals”. FC, of all places, is in third place in these statistics, although the sporting performance of the bottom team in the table (one point) has been disappointing so far.
There are also hopes for offensive engine Honorat
High crosses could be the method of choice, as headers have so far brought Gladbach four goals (three of them from corners), which is the third-best return in the league. This also brings summer signing Franck Honorat into the spotlight, as the Frenchman hits very decent standards.
The 27-year-old has also provided the most assists on goal of all Bundesliga players (27) and is always keen to put his colleagues in the spotlight.
Personnel situation in midfield relaxes
In Cologne, coach Seoane also has more options in the midfield alongside Honorat than before. Julian Weigl, Christoph Kramer and Florian Neuhaus were able to train fully with the team again, and as the “Rheinische Post” also reported, defender Nico Elvedi was there for the first time his knee sprain ready to go full throttle again.
