Trainer question remains open
© Imago
The great opportunity for Eugen Polanski begins on Sunday and perhaps the last one for Roland Virkus. At Borussia Mönchengladbach, after the separation from coach Gerardo Seoane, there is plenty of pressure on the boiler before the game at Bayer Leverkusen. This now applies all the more to sports director Virkus, who has been criticized for a long time. The grumbling in the area has long been heard internally.
It is not only since Seoane’s separation at the beginning of the week in the club has also been talking about Virkus. How much the 58-year-old is under pressure is visible and audible. When Virkus stepped in front of the cameras and microphones this week to explain the circumstances of the SEOANE leave and the preliminary transport of Polanski to a professional trainer, it quickly became clear how uncomfortable Virkus had to feel in his skin.
“If you have to release a trainer, it is always a defeat,” said Virkus and quickly added: “A defeat for the whole club.” The time of separation could not have been more unhappy. In individual club bodies, Seoane was already in the summer after the opportunity for Europe, playful in spring.
Despite the seven winless games in the end of the season, Virkus recorded the Swiss instead of taking the chance for a new beginning in summer and giving a new coach the season preparation. “It was clear to us that due to the development in the middle section of the previous season, he had earned a chance and that he continues with the development with the start,” Virkus explained this.
One can say sarcastic that Seoane also did this: only that the negative development of the end of the season continued. In the meantime, the five -time champion has been winning over the season for ten games and has been goalless for five games. The last Bundesliga goal so far shot the long injured Tim Kleindienst in early May-almost five months ago. This misjudgment is charged internally.
Virkus with unhappy hand at Borussia Mönchengladbach
The successor to the one era, which shaped one era, had had an unfortunate hand since Adi Hütter’s end in the summer of 2022. Daniel Farke was separated after only one year and after Seoane, Virkus struggled for a good two years with the fact that the Swiss never really arrived at Borussia and the fans: “If you are honest: he didn’t get a lot of loan. And I can’t understand that.”
Now it should at least straighten Polanski. Virkus is considered a sponsor of the 39-year-old former Borussen professional, who in turn assessed the squad that compiled by Virkus and who has so far disappointed. “I don’t see the very big problem in this team. You can actually do everything, it is only important to implement it,” said Polanksi, who, despite the continuing load inhibition of the Borussians, announced that he wanted to win at the runner -up on Sunday.
The next coaching decision – whether it is now called Polanski or otherwise – should sit. There have long been rumors about an interest in the Elversberg sports director Nils-Ole Book, whether as a Virkus replacement or as his support is unclear. Apparently there are various opinions on the strategic orientation in the association. Book has been responsible for the fortunes at the Saarland since 2018, led the club from the regional league to the relegation to the Bundesliga. Again and again he managed to develop the team further. The outcome and success of the coaching question should be decisive. Nothing will happen in both personnel issues until the next international break.
Anyone who listened exactly this week could perceive that Virkus is well aware of his situation. “I think I don’t have to explain to anyone what the club means for me. And I do everything I do for this club. And I will continue to do so,” said Mönchengladbacher, among other things.