After personnel changes, Borussia Mönchengladbach has stabilized.
Source: dpa
In addition to the club name, the Borussians from Mönchengladbach and Dortmund have another special thing in common this season: they are very strong at home and very weak away. If this balance is anything to go by, the role of favorite for the top game on Saturday (6:30 p.m.) is clear: Gladbach welcomes BVB, sixth in the home table against position 16 in the away ranking.
However, Gerardo Seoane, the home coach of Borussia on Saturday, says: “Every game has its own story with red cards or injuries.” At home or not at home is apparently not relevant for Seoane given the possible development of a game.
Amazing development after a false start
What is relevant, however, is the development that Mönchengladbach has undergone in the recent past. The start of the season was very bad, Seoane's team lost three of the first four games, which greatly weakened the coach's position.
However, Gladbach then managed a 1-0 home win against Union Berlin, the first at Borussia Park since February 23, 2024. A curious fact given the fact that Mönchengladbach then found impressive home strength: the team won the next three games in your own stadium.
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So now comes Dortmund, probably the most moody team in the league. At home it is currently the strongest of all, but away from home it has the record of a relegation candidate: five games, one draw, four defeats.
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Seoane analyzes this balance in a relaxed manner: “Dortmund didn't have an easy season due to the many personnel changes.” BVB was “extremely punished by injuries”.
Personnel changes bring success
After the win against Union Berlin, Gladbach disappointed with a very weak performance in the 1:2 in Augsburg. Afterwards, Seoane decided to make some personnel changes. He changed the back four due to injuries, Marvin Friedrich came into the team for Nico Elvedi, who was out due to muscle problems.
Above all, Robin Hack and Rocco Reitz were now in the first eleven, replacing Kevin Stöger and Philipp Sander, while Alassane Plea moved into the tenth position. Seoane has stuck to this constellation ever since. In addition, the young Lukas Ullrich has established himself in the left-back position as a replacement for the injured Luca Netz.
With self-confidence against BVB
These changes resulted in amazing consistency after the Augsburg defeat, Gladbach even scored points in the 1-1 draw in Mainz and 0-0 away in Leipzig. But the series of five games without defeat ended last Saturday with a 3-1 defeat in Freiburg.
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With a win, Gladbach would have jumped to sixth place, level on points with fifth-place Dortmund. And yet Seoane says: “We are coming from a stable phase. We are taking a certain amount of self-confidence with us from this.”
Gladbach is missing a win against a top team
What the Gladbach players are missing this season in order to build even more self-confidence is a success against one of the top teams in the league. The duel with the other Borussia from Dortmund now offers such an opportunity.
Seoane, who always appears with the sobriety of a sleepy accountant, says in classic, toned down Seoane diction:
Wins against top teams naturally give an additional boost to self-confidence.
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Gerardo Seoane, Trainer Borussia Mönchengladbach
Elvedi, who was injured for a long time, is now fit again and is a candidate for the starting eleven on Saturday in place of the recently very convincing Friedrich. Seoane says that he has to moderate “competition in various positions”.
Everyone's performance in training was convincing, now it's up to him to “make the right decisions.” However, there is a tendency: Friedrich will initially stay in the team.
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What: Reuters
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