WITHThe pros in the Borussia Mönchengladbach jerseys received at least one small consolation, as they are increasingly developing into the biggest crisis team of this Bundesliga winter. They lost 3-2 to Eintracht Frankfurt, in the fourth game in a row they conceded three or more goals, and the club’s lead on the relegation place has shrunk to one point.
And yet most of the people in the not so badly filled north curve applauded the losers, who had defended themselves after all. That “does the team very well,” said coach Adi Hütter, who also found words of praise for the performance of his players: “The team fought passionately. I think that Frankfurt can thank his defensive line and goalkeeper Kevin Trapp today, who thwarted our great chances. ”The losing streak did not end, but everyone involved was determined to take the opportunity to at least make an atmospheric change. And Christoph Kramer appeared as the most accomplished crisis communicator.
The performance against Frankfurt was “a step in the right direction,” announced the midfielder, who was injured in many phases of the season and came on that evening in the middle of the second half. It is just the case that in problem phases like the current one, “the matter of course is completely lost” and “the foot of each individual is not secure”. Kramer’s message: no cause for alarm. There have been so many crises in the big, wide world of football, and they all ended at some point. That was a new sound after the somewhat perplexed self-criticism of the past few weeks.
The new confidence was based on a decent performance in the first half, at the end of which, however, a bad loss of the ball by Denis Zakaria initiated the Frankfurt 1-1. The 20 minutes at the end of the game, when Borussia generated a lot of pressure after a yellow-red card for the Frankfurt Tuta, can be used as an indication of the turnaround. However, this game also showed how fragile small advances are.
Again, the Champions League round of 16 last season’s bad mistakes made a flood of goals possible. The team has allowed 17 goals in the last four games alone. And at the beginning of the second half, when the 1: 1 was quickly followed by a 1: 2 and the repeated equalization directly followed by the 2: 3, the next total loss threatened. A more consistent opponent could easily have scored two or three more goals.
The Frankfurt supporters kept shouting “Hütter out” in scorn to meet the coach, who had switched from Eintracht to Borussia in the summer and is now suffering a lot with his new team. Perhaps these abuse also strengthened the solidarity and benevolence of the Gladbach audience. Because to beat up their own players and their coach together with the Frankfurters would have been somehow inappropriate. But Kramer’s confidence looked as if, regardless of how that evening went, he was convinced that the season would turn for the better very soon. “We all know how fast it can go in football,” he said. “Four match days ago we also had 18 points, and then we thought: Oh, now there are still three points in the direction of the Champions League.” Now the table looks a little different, but the picture could change again just as quickly.
Dreams of changing to world clubs block the heads
However, if you look at the bigger picture, you can just as easily come to a different assessment: Since the former coach Marco Rose announced on Rose Monday last February that he wanted to move from Mönchengladbach to Dortmund, the team has scored 33 points in 31 games . For months this has been the record of a club that seriously has to fear for remaining in the Bundesliga. And for which Hütter only bears part of the responsibility.
It has long been suspected that the structure of the team was damaged, there were too many players in Mönchengladbach who had dreamed of the next step, a move to a world club, during the success phase last autumn. Injuries, the weak second half of the season and the pandemic financial hardship of many clubs, however, meant that everyone had to stay and may no longer play with full conviction for Borussia. But Kramer himself countered this conclusive thesis: Such narratives are “media background noises”. The desire to change clubs could not be “an excuse that someone with his head is not there”. On the pitch, when the game is on, “everything is as always”. Perhaps the de-escalating words of the experienced spokesman actually help when trying to clear the heads for the next game if the Gladbachers in Hoffenheim are threatened with falling onto the relegation place.
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