Judging by the tradition of this club, Gladbach has had a real coach hopping behind it. With Daniel Farke, calm should now return – the first approaches are promising.
Despite an ongoing contract and qualification for the Europa League, Dieter Hecking had to leave Mönchengladbach in 2019 because the ex-manager Max Eberl, who is no longer in office, was sure that he would create a better future with Marco Rose in the long term. This suggestion failed just as badly as the subsequent idea to implement Frankfurt pressing football at VfL with Adi Hütter, but without the qualified staff.
It has not yet been finally clarified which staff Daniel Farke has available for his idea of the game. With Alassane Plea and on Monday (08.08.2022) also Jonas Hofmann, two fixed points in the offensive game have just extended their contracts until 2025. But the whereabouts of Marcus Thuram and Ramy Bensebaini are just as open as that of goalkeeper Yann Sommer – their contracts expire in 2023. Irrespective of these open construction sites, Farke has a tendency that promises success even with changes in the squad up to the end of the transfer window on August 31: He does not place his football philosophy above the reality that he finds in the club.
Adi Hütter, the Sportschau once learned from his coaching team, did not get along with this team because he was promised new players at the beginning of the season, none of which then came. And because he still tried to counter press with Lars Stindl, Florian Neuhaus or Christoph Kramer very far in front after losing the ball – which contradicts their nature due to the lack of basic speed of these professionals. Farke is now trying to use her strengths: to increase her own ball possession and to find playful solutions.
Noticeable interventions in the game
Of course, only one game of the season has now been completed that, with 71 minutes in excess, does not allow any reliable conclusions to be drawn about the upcoming tasks on Saturday (08/13/2022) at FC Schalke or afterwards against Hertha BSC. In the eight preparatory games, none of which were lost, and the 9-1 cup opener in Freiburg against Oberachern, it was shown again and again that Farke can convey noticeable changes over the course of the game and at half-time.
Now in the 3-1 win against Hoffenheim, the coach, who has two promotions (and one relegation) with Norwich City in the Premier League, explained his intervention like this: “After the early yellow-red card, we wanted to exploit the majority immediately with violence, which meant that too many of our players were in far too high positions too early. So we didn’t have any room to carry the attacks forward with speed. During the break we addressed a lot of content, which the team then implemented perfectly.”
Less secret training
After the very tough first half, the goal shot ratio was 18:2 in favor of Borussia, who of course also took advantage of the increasing wear and tear of the decimated opponent. But Yann Sommer and Jonas Hofmann later both addressed it “very understandable” and “easily actionable input”, which the team received from the coaching team during the break, along with short video sequences. Sommer said about the sports show: “We all like his speech, he takes everyone in the team with him, it all suits the club very well.”
One of Farke’s first messages was to greatly reduce the number of non-public training sessions compared to Hütter. The new coach made it clear in the training camp at Tegernsee: “Gladbach thrives on being close to the fans, so the club can unleash enormous power. That’s why we want to have the spectators there as often as possible.”
No goal for the season
Farke is of course well received in the fan scene. But he also has the advantage of being able to convey credibly more modest goals after many good years with the Champions and Europa League and the subsequent fall to eighth place (Rose) and tenth place (Hutter). “We’ve had a challenging last 24 months. Our financial situation is such that we’re not on a bed of roses like others.”Farke told the WDR. “We can assess that, but we still want to have a decent season.”
That all sounds very down to earth. So far, Farke has seemed as if he doesn’t take himself too seriously – that wasn’t the rule at his post in the recent past either.
Joke about magic and mysticism
And he can laugh at himself, an important quality for the people of the Lower Rhine. When he rushed into the dressing room after the goal to make it 3-1 against Hoffenheim to take a short bathroom break, he later said: “I won’t comment on what I did there. As a coach, it’s always good if you add a bit of magic or mysticism to those around you.” So far, the fans in Gladbach like him for not trying to give that impression.