DFB Cup 2023/24, round of 16 against Wolfsburg: Seoane in demand as a craft artist in Gladbach

Borussia Mönchengladbach has been waiting for a title for 28 years, in the 1995 DFB Cup final the opponent was VfL Wolfsburg – as is now the case in the round of 16 on Tuesday (December 5th, 2023, 8:45 p.m., live on the first and in the live stream and live ticker on sportschau .de). But there are major personnel concerns, and suddenly players have to bear responsibility who were recently completely left out.

The example of Florian Neuhaus shows how quickly things can happen at the moment for the “Elf vom Niederrhein”. Before this season, the ten-time senior national player extended his contract with the “Foals” early after months of negotiations because he wanted to finally take on more responsibility and stabilize and advance the team, which was in transition.

His new coach Gerardo Seoane was very pleased about this. He really appreciates Neuhaus’ footballing quality, but recently apparently didn’t really know where to use it. On the 9th and 10th Bundesliga matchdays, this meant that the midfielder didn’t play a single minute against Heidenheim (2:1) and in Freiburg (3:3), and in the two games after that he played 13 minutes against Wolfsburg (4:0) and 17 minutes in Dortmund (2:4). Last Saturday in the 2-1 win against Hoffenheim, Neuhaus was suddenly in the starting line-up – and even led Borussia onto the field as captain.

Ten players injured, sick or injured

Shortly before kick-off, Julian Weigl had signed off with muscle problems, but he was wearing the armband beforehand, but only because the actual captain, Jonas Omlin, was out for several months due to shoulder surgery. Seoane doesn’t just have to work in midfield at the moment, striker Jordan Siebatcheu is missing from the attack with a torn muscle fiber.

His backup Tomas Cvancara also signed off on matchday against Hoffenheim, but there is now slight hope for him, as well as for Weigl and defender Maximilian Wöber, that they will be in the squad for the cup round of 16. “It will be a test of patience”said Seoane on Monday afternoon, the decision for all three professionals could only be made shortly before kick-off.

Veteran Kramer will also be important again

Defense chief Ko Itakura (ankle surgery), Stefan Lainer (retraining after cancer), Tony Jantschke (torn muscle), Lukas Ulrich (shoulder surgery) and Hannes Wolf (torn meniscus) have not been there for a while and will certainly not be able to play on Tuesday.

But Seoane is not the type of person who would lament publicly; he prefers to praise the players who now have to take over. Neuhaus was one of them against Hoffenheim, and veteran Christoph Kramer is now more in demand than ever.

Seoane on the situation of the 2014 world champion: “Chris has had some good appearances in the last few games, especially against Hoffenheim, his experience really came into its own in the final phase. If you miss a few weeks of preparation, you’re missing a bit of the foundation, but through training and the test match in the During the international break, Chris got back into the rhythm and is now back to 100 percent. So he is always an option for the starting eleven at the moment.”

Talent Chiarodia in the fast lane

The 19-year-old Fabio Chiarodia, who the Gladbach team plucked from Werder Bremen during the summer break, is also improving from week to week. “It took Fabio a good two months to really arrive here and fight for a place in the team. He is a very talented player who has made progress both with and against the ball. When Fabio plays, I have a good feeling”praises Seoane.

But he also admits to the learning process on the pitch: “But I also know that a young player can make a mistake sometimes. In one situation or another he had a few difficulties in direct duels with experienced strikers. But Fabio has enormous potential and we are absolutely convinced of his qualities.”

Plea suddenly leading figure

In these short weeks, the team is supported by substitute keeper Moritz Nicolas, Nico Elvedi in defense, Rocco Reitz in midfield and Alassane Plea in attack, who in previous years often cooked his own soup and only used his outstanding skills in very measured doses. For example, Plea also shone three and a half weeks ago in the clear league win against Wolfsburg, which, according to Seoane, meant the cup reunion on Tuesday “It gives you a good feeling, but nothing more”.

It is a well-known phenomenon in Gladbach that such an easy 4-0 win dulls the acuity of the senses a little. But with all the injury worries, complacency is actually out of the question, and the name Wolfsburg in particular immediately brings back very fond memories of an extremely ambitious Gladbach generation and what can be achieved in this competition: On June 24, 1995, Stefan Effenberg, Uwe Kamps, Heiko Herrlich and Co. beat the “Wolves” 3-0 in the cup final in Berlin. Since then, they have been dreaming in vain on the Lower Rhine of holding something metal up to the sky again, and now they have even greater hopes for Gerardo Seoane’s handicraft skills.