Gladbach already have the most important win in the bag
The mood at Borussia Mönchengladbach is better than it has been for at least three years. This is due to the team's rising form curve, a coach with no communicative slip-ups and what is already the best and most important Gladbach news of the season.
When Stefan Lainer walked onto the training pitch in Mönchengladbach on Tuesday morning, they were all there. Even those who can't train at all. Jonas Omlin, for example, the injured goalkeeper and captain of the Bundesliga club. Sports director Roland Virkus and sports director Nils Schmadtke come out of their offices. Vice-President Rainer Bonhof also wants to be there when the Austrian right-back steps onto the pitch for the first time in six months.
It is a moment that not only emotionalizes his team-mates, coaching team and Rainer Bonhof, but also deeply touches the many Borussia fans. Just four months after being diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, "Stevie" Lainer is fighting his way back. The 31-year-old Austrian has beaten cancer.
After just eleven match days, it is the best and unbeatable news of Borussia Mönchengladbach's season. And the good news ensures that the mood at the club from the Lower Rhine has improved even further. The impressive 4:0 home win against VfL Wolfsburg before the international break has ensured that VfL from the Lower Rhine are in the top half of the table for the first time this season.
Complicated start, hardly any points
Borussia got off to a bumpy start to the season, squandering a two-goal lead twice in the turbulent 4:4 draw in Augsburg, conceding three goals in one half at newly promoted Darmstadt and could even be happy about that. In the end, the "Foals" still managed a 3-3 draw, but after five matchdays, coach Gerado Seaone's team still found themselves in the basement of the table, having lost all of their first three home games: 0:3 against Leverkusen, 1:2 against Bayern and 0:1 against Leipzig. The DFL and its fixture list had not been kind to Gladbach.
But the club and its fans kept their cool and knew how to assess the home defeats against the three top teams. Under pressure, they managed their first win of the season on matchday six at VfL Bochum. The 2:2 draw against Mainz a week later only briefly dampened the improved mood on the Lower Rhine.
Then came the derby. After the second international break of the still young season, VfL suffered a painful 3:1 defeat at their rivals in Cologne of all places. Borussia played particularly badly in the first half and after the 1:1 equalizer after the break, Manu Koné fouled to dash all hopes.
In the derby, of all places, Borussia had suddenly played the way the team had done far too often in the previous three years: emotionless, error-prone, weak in battle. Fears were rife that the derby could once again shake up an entire season. In 2021, it was coach Marco Rose who grossly underestimated the "Effzeh", fielded a B-team and lost an undignified ghost game 2:1. In the fall of the same year, Rose's successor Adi Hütter let a 4-1 derby defeat throw him off course. This was followed by a number of winless games, including the inexplicable 6-0 home defeat to SC Freiburg. The visitors had already completed the half-dozen after 37 minutes.
Derby defeat? No negative turning point this time
While Borussia's season has regularly gone down the drain after derby disappointments of late, things have been different this time. Seoane clearly addressed what was to be thought of his team's performance in Cologne, without putting them down completely. The reaction was two wins against Heidenheim in the league and cup.
Borussia let a 3:3 lead slip away all too easily in Freiburg, but learned the right lessons from the game. A week later against Wolfsburg, Gladbach did better at precisely the moment when they were once again on the verge of bringing a struggling opponent back into the game. "We can learn a lot from this game," said the Swiss head coach immediately after Freiburg.
Stroke of luck with Rocco Reitz
Gerardo Seoane's communication is pretty much the opposite of the words chosen by his predecessor Daniel Farke during the previous season. So far, Seaone has always found the right balance in his public image and has yet to make a communicative blunder. The Swiss player is no stranger to embellishment, nor to monologues lasting several minutes in press conferences. This goes down well with the majority of Borussia Mönchengladbach fans.
And his sporting decisions are also beginning to bear fruit. Giving 21-year-old Rocco Reitz another chance and starting him from the beginning in the home game against Bayern of all teams was a stroke of luck. The midfielder has become an integral part of the starting eleven, Reitz scored his first goal against Wolfsburg and followed it up with a brace on his debut for the U21 national team.
Reitz is the personification of every soccer fan's dream scenario: his godfather gave him a Borussia Mönchengladbach club membership at birth, Rocco was discovered at a Borussia training camp at the age of six and has played in every youth team since then. Three years after his debut in a Gladbach shirt, Reitz has made it into the starting eleven and become a crowd favorite. Reitz is both a fan and a player, living the dream of those who cheer him on.
Tough trip to Dortmund
A good 7,500 Gladbach fans will be cheering on the team this Saturday when Borussia travel to BVB. Traditionally, the game in Dortmund is a tough one for the Foals. Gladbach are clear underdogs against BVB, who have staggered through the fall in the Bundesliga as usual, but are counting on something in the current situation. At least the Dortmund away game should not go the same way as in previous seasons. Gladbach have lost every game at the Westfalenstadion since 2014 and have often been thrashed badly in the process. On November 9 of the World Cup year, Christoph Kramer scored an own goal from 45 meters for the history books.
A Mönchengladbach defeat is also the more likely scenario this weekend. The Gladbach structure is presumably still too fragile to push through a week-long run. The overdue shake-up last summer was too big for that and can still be considered far from complete. Players such as the young Czech striker Tomas Cvancara have made a good start, but are still experiencing major fluctuations in form. Full-backs Luca Netz and Joe Scally have improved recently, but are still no guarantee of a stable defense. And in defense, defensive boss Ko Itakura is not (yet) ready for action. Goalkeeper and captain Jonas Omlin will be missing until January.
Borussia can continue to look forward to a complicated season with many ups and downs. Coach Seaone and sporting director Virkus repeatedly remind us of the "process" in which Borussia finds itself. Calm has finally returned to Hennes-Weisweiler-Allee. Even when there was a lot of criticism of the Gladbach squad from outside early on in the season, those responsible did not allow themselves to be dissuaded from their new path.
However, it is likely to remain wishful thinking on the part of fans that the team from the Lower Rhine will be heading for the European Cup again in the short term. For them, it is more important to have players with identification potential again. Rocco Reitz is a prime example. And if the team puts in inexplicable performances like the one in Cologne less often in future, or at least not in the most important game of the first half of the season, defeats will also be forgiven. Especially as the most important victory has already been won: Stefan Lainer has beaten cancer.
Following the impressive 4:0 home win against VfL Wolfsburg, Borussia Mönchengladbach's focus shifts to their upcoming Soccer Bundesliga match against Borussia Dortmund. Despite being underdogs, Stefan Lainer and his teammates are eager to prove themselves in the Derby, aiming to break their six-year winless streak at the Westfalenstadion.
In better spirits than they have been in years, the team is also working to support their injured teammate and captain, Jonas Omlin, who continues his recovery from lymphatic cancer. Lainer's return to training after four months of treatment has been an emotional boost for everyone involved with the club, and his inspiring story of resilience is a testament to the camaraderie and strength within the Borussia Mönchengladbach family.
Source: www.ntv.de
