Ehappy point, but a long list of shortcomings for the short winter break: Borussia Mönchengladbach was unable to free itself from the crisis at the end of the year in the Bundesliga. After four defeats, coach Adi Hütter’s team achieved a very happy 1: 1 (1: 0) at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in good shape despite the late conceding goal.
The Austrian now also has to deal with threatened departures. “That was not good. The draw is also flattering, ”admitted Christoph Kramer on the Sky microphone. “We all know that it will be a damn hard board that we have to drill until we play again the way we imagine.” Breel Embolo scored the goal for the guests in front of only 750 spectators in Baden-Württemberg ( 35th minute). Kevin Akpoguma managed to equalize in stoppage time (90 + 1).
At the end of the preliminary round, Hütter did not want to be too critical of his players. “That was definitely a small step in the right direction,” said the 51-year-old. Hütter did not want to comment on reports that one or the other Borussia player is about to take off: “I don’t even comment on such things.” National player Matthias Ginter, whose contract expires in the summer, is one of the candidates. “You can’t completely rule out anything,” said the central defender after the final whistle at Sky when asked about a possible change.
The Gladbachers are at least temporarily stuck in 13th place in the table. They also have to open the second half of the season on January 7th with the difficult encounter with the leaders FC Bayern. “You should never ignore the table. Of course, I also see that the situation is not without risk, ”said Hütter.
Hoffenheim goes into the short winter break with a series of six unbeaten games. The team of head coach Sebastian Hoeneß had enough chances of success, but at least remains on a Champions League place for the time being.
Three days after the 2: 3 against Frankfurt, Hütter changed his team to five positions: Kramer, captain Lars Stindl and Marcus Thuram were among the starting line-up. The newly formed guest team was lucky that it wasn’t behind quickly. Pavel Kaderabek shot over from a promising position after just four minutes. Then goalkeeper Yann Sommer saved in dire straits against Georginio Rutter and later against Kaderabek.
The Gladbachers looked quite massive physically, but playfully by no means as nimble on their feet as the Hoffenheimers. In the lively initial phase, Stindl missed the big chance to take the lead. Otherwise, the Hoffenheim team repeatedly conquered the opposing penalty area and made summer a permanent employee. A man like the national team player Jonas Hofmann, who had an injured knee and was the top scorer of his team with seven goals, would have done Borussia well in this phase. But the crisis club suddenly freed itself from constant pressure even without him: Embolo first shot Baumann, but after the subsequent corner scored from a short distance to make it 1-0.
The Kraichgauer struggled again and again with referee Sven Jablonski, who in the 64th minute did not punish a suspicious handball action by Rami Bensebaini in the penalty area. With the substitutes Ihlas Bebou and Christoph Baumgartner, the home side increased the number of strokes again. The substitute Akpoguma rewarded the continuous offensive with an equalization in stoppage time.
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