Visibly relieved after his Bundesliga goal: Nathan Ngoumou (2nd from right) is hugged by Marcus Thuram (2nd from left) after his goal in the game between Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfL Wolfsburg.
Copyright: IMAGO/fohlenfoto
The announcement of the Borussia coach has apparently sat – and had an effect!
In the past few weeks, Daniel Farke (46) has repeatedly used the press conferences before Bundesliga games to criticize some of his players – in connection with motivating them to do better.
Gladbach Flitzer: Nathan Ngoumou reacts to Farke’s announcement
In mid-March, two players were caught in a media interview who could actually help Borussia Mönchengladbach very well with their skills.
With Nathan Ngoumou (23) and Yvandro Borges Sanches (18), Farke was not satisfied with what they had delivered in the training sessions in the previous weeks. As for teenager Borges Sanches, he was substituted at U23 as a maximum penalty for a poor performance at half-time.
Farke said of Ngoumou, whom Gladbach had signed for eight million euros from Toulouse last summer: “Recently we had the feeling that he was not always at the performance limit in training. And then no stakes are given away. You have to earn that.”
In the weeks that followed, the 46-year-old reinforced his position that he would not “give away” playing time just to give young players match practice – if they didn’t deserve it – given the unchallenged position in the no man’s land.
On Easter Sunday (April 9, 2023) Ngoumou had the first opportunity to react to these Farke announcements of the past few weeks.
And he did it brilliantly! The 23-year-old rewarded himself with his first Bundesliga goal to make it 1-0 and delivered the cross from Marcus Thuram (25) to make it 2-0, which Alassane Plea (30) then headed to Thuram.
Has the Ngoumou knot now broken? It was by far the best competitive performance of the foal runabout in the Borussia jersey.
After the threesome at home, Farke himself addressed the phase in mid-March when he publicly and obviously internally made it clear to the French that he expected an increase.
“We have worked intensively with him over the past few months. We also had a situation three or four weeks ago where we were a bit more demanding, which we want to see from him in training so that he can develop further. We also had one or the other more serious conversation,” explained the Borussia coach, adding: “Since then we have had the feeling that he took it extremely to heart.”
Due to the tense personnel situation, it became apparent during the week that either Ngoumou or Hannes Wolf (23) would get another opportunity from the start.
Farke chose Ngoumou – and he thanked his coach in an exemplary manner. But: In the Borussia environment, many would have hoped that the eight million man would hit earlier.
Now it took until matchday 27 for Ngoumou to make his first goal contribution. “This is what offensive players are ultimately measured by,” Farke also made clear.
Borussia manager Roland Virkus (56) summed up what the Frenchman’s performance shows: “It was important for him to see that he could do the Bundesliga.”
The 23-year-old was unable to prove his qualities in his previous three starts. In the nine games in the second half of the season before Wolfsburg, he only played 23 minutes anyway.
Then came the game on Easter Sunday with the redeeming first Bundesliga goal. Ngoumou should have shown the fans, but above all himself, that he can shine with his skills in Germany’s elite class. Farke’s chosen means of counting Ngoumou publicly seems to have worked for the eight-million-euro man.
