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New coach Daniel Farke introduced

SDaniel Farke mastered his first appearance on the big Bundesliga stage with a permanent smile and great quick wit. As soon as he was introduced as the new head coach of Borussia Mönchengladbach, he cultivated his reputation as a people-catcher. “This club has an amazing tradition with legendary coaches and players. It’s an honor and a bit humbling,” commented the 45-year-old Bundesliga debutant without a trace of stage fright. He added aggressively: “I only accept projects that I am 100 percent convinced of. Hopefully we can lead this club into a good future.”

After the painful rejection of the preferred candidate Lucien Favre, Farke was chosen. Farke met the concerns that Adi Hütter’s successor, who has a contract until 2025, could only be considered a second choice by many fans, was met with great composure by Farke on Sunday at his presentation: “Perhaps the 1B solution will become a permanent solution. As a fan of this club, I would have been disappointed if Borussia hadn’t dealt with Lucien Favre. He has done an incredible job here.”

“A lot of intersections”

Roland Virkus also tried to dispel concerns about the choice of coach. “I had goosebumps when I spoke to Daniel for the first time,” admitted the sporting director. “We looked at Lucien Favre. When we realized that we couldn’t do that, I quickly got in touch with Daniel. That’s when I realized that we have a lot of overlaps.”

Born in Büren, Westphalia, Farke made a name for himself primarily through his work at Norwich City and is regarded as a friend of sophisticated football culture. Twice he led the “Canaries” in the English Premier League. Farke was most recently hired at FK Krasnodar in Russia, but left the job in early March due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine without having played a competitive game with the team. Farke gained his first coaching experience between 2009 and 2017 as coach of SV Lippstadt and the second team of Borussia Dortmund.

A lot of ball possession and high game intelligence

Virkus had already expressed what kind of football he expects from the new coach at the general meeting almost a week ago, indicating a departure from the dogma of the Leipzig School with intensive pressing and fast switching: “Activity is part of modern football, but should never be be the dominant feature. Technically good football, lots of ball possession, a high level of intelligence – that is Borussia Mönchengladbach.”

Farke can live with this requirement. “Gladbach stands for possession and dominance on the pitch, for creativity and enthusiasm. I find myself with my conviction very well.” In his opinion, a radical restructuring of the squad is not necessary to implement this philosophy. “I am convinced that we have a very, very good basis. But of course we need a good summer of transfers and we have to make good decisions.”

“Very, very hopeful”

However, missing the European competitions could make the announced refreshment of the squad more difficult because of the lack of income. “It is not easy to fulfill all wishes with the financial circumstances,” said Farke, “but we are all very, very hopeful that we will succeed in a good way.”

However, despite all the spirit of optimism, Farke did not want to promise the fans that the table tenth from last season would return to international business anytime soon: “It would be wrong to set a goal that was too euphoric. We are not entitled to that after last season.”

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