Borussia Mönchengladbach: Christoph Kramer raves about Daniel Farke

Gladbach in upheaval

“Things have really changed and moved,” summed up midfielder Christoph Kramer (quoted via “foosball”) the first few weeks after new coach Daniel Farke took office at Borussia Mönchengladbach. After the sportingly disappointing season under Adi Hütter and in the course of the ongoing upheaval in the squad, a spirit of optimism has developed in the Lower Rhine, attested the 31-year-old, who is going to Borussia for the sixth year in a row.

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Hütter resigned from his position with the “foals” in the summer after just one year, 37 games and a point average of 1.38 (for an overview: all Gladbach coaches by point average). His team’s tenth place also meant the worst season placement in the Bundesliga since 2011, far too little for the club’s claims. “It’s also not a good reference for the team when a coach is fired. In the end we players stand on the pitch. We had a very difficult season overall, with everything that happened, including the thing with Max Eberl and the atmosphere. That’s why it was important for the club and exactly the right decision to press the reset button,” said Kramer.

Eberl’s successor, Roland Virkus, had already announced in the spring that there would be a change “over several transfer periods” in view of the looming disappointment in sport. Squad planner Steffen Korell had previously admitted that he had to sell one or the other player “without being able to replace them with an equivalent”.

Kramer wants to “really enjoy football again” at Borussia Mönchengladbach

At Borussia, which not least due to the transfer of Ko Itakura has generated a loss of 5.5 million euros to date (for an overview), new coach Farke is already setting the first audible scent marks. “Everyone has the feeling that something new and sensible is emerging. With the trainer, a new stimulus was set and a new mood was created. I don’t want to go into detail, but my feeling tells me: it will be fine. The trainer is good. I notice it in the training sessions, in the speeches, how he takes us with him. What football he wants to play. It all makes a lot of sense,” Kramer enthused. Although the intensity of training under the 45-year-old is tough, the team is benefiting from the return to the ball possession approach. “I think that we do it a little easier with our player types and from a different basic order when we have the ball. The approach is more towards football and the strengths of our players.”

Kramer wants to “go all out” in the coming season: “I want to really enjoy football again. The past season also left its mark on me.” A future on the Lower Rhine is conceivable for the 2014 World Champion even after the contract expires in the summer of 2023. “Of course, I can basically imagine extending it. I’ve never made a secret of that either. But I don’t have to decide that alone. So much can happen in football in one year,” says Kramer, who wants to make the upcoming season a successful one for Borussia.

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