Experience has shown that caution is advised when dealing with summer test games that encourage fans, experts, coaches and players to draw any conclusions. Far too often impressions from the pre-season in competitive matches turn out to be deceptive. In this respect, Mönchengladbach’s 5-1 win over VfB Stuttgart, with which Borussia delighted their supporters at the end of July, must be viewed with skepticism.
But that’s not so easy in this case, because the longing for confidence in the Lower Rhine is particularly great this summer and this game in particular seemed to fulfill so many wishes: the team, which had often seemed slow and ponderous in the past, suddenly countered swiftly and precisely . In addition, new signing Tomas Cvancara scored three goals and fueled the hope of being able to compensate for the loss of the almost irreplaceable attacking players Marcus Thuram, Jonas Hofmann and Lars Stindl.
In the opinion of many observers, this 5-1 and the other preparatory games, none of which were lost, ended the great summer depression that arose after Jonas Hofmann had to be surprisingly sold to Leverkusen. “I feel a very positive energy within the team,” says Nils Schmadtke, the new sports director license. “Despite the upheaval in the summer, we already have an excellent team structure.” That is certainly not a matter of course.
In the squad last season there were interpersonal distortions and a serious motivation problem. Many players kicked in without dedication in Mönchengladbach, which Julian Weigl indirectly confirms when he says: Since the new coach Gerardo Seoane has been here, “everyone has been fully committed and is ready to put the meters back. No one is above themselves for defending. That is the basis.”
Schmadtke remains vague about the goal for the season
The “Torfabrik” portal, which specializes in Mönchengladbach football, reports on a “detoxification of the squad” that took place after Stindl, Thuram, Bensebaini, Hofmann and a few more left the club. It is an open secret at Borussia-Park that the main reason for the past years of crisis lay less in the quality of the players than in their attitude. It is unclear, however, whether the personnel upheaval will go deep enough to repair the damage caused.
Sports director Schmadtke, who came to the Lower Rhine from the scouting department of VfL Wolfsburg, where he played as a youth goalkeeper until 2006, is a young official who is giving fresh impetus. Gerardo Seoane succeeded head coach Daniel Farke, whose football the team didn’t really want to play and who ended up losing the cabin
“It’s important that players are also shown their limits,” managing director Stephan Schippers told the magazine “11FREUNDE”. In this respect, a radical change was overdue, Schmadtke says: “We have to manage to have players on the field again for whom it is something special to wear the diamond and who call 100 percent in every game.”
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It is remarkable how bluntly it is now said that last year’s team only worked to rule without really identifying with their team. After all, many of the players involved are still here. In the meantime, even some of the fans had turned their backs and heavily criticized the club management for allowing this listlessness more or less to do nothing. And when, shortly before the start of training, Jonas Hofmann, who was planned to be the captain of the new start, fled to Leverkusen, critics painted the picture of a permanent crash that could very quickly end in the second division.
It doesn’t look that bleak before the season opener in the DFB Cup at TuS Bersenbrück next Friday (6 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the DFB Cup and on Sky), also because Roland Virkus and Schmadtke have signed a few interesting players .
With Franck Honorat (26), a replacement for Hofmann from Stade Brest was signed for eight million euros. For Tomas Cvancara (22), 10.5 million euros were transferred to Sparta Prague, he should replace Thuram. Lukas Ullrich (19), Grant-Leon Ranos (19), Robin Hack (24) and Fabio Chiarodia (18) strengthen the squad as talents, and Maximilian Wöber (25) has already been loaned out as the successor to Nico Elvedi from Leeds, who is willing to change .
When it comes to the goal for the season, however, those responsible remain vague. “We want to play a quiet and clean season, but we don’t want to set our goal on place in the table,” says Schmadtke, who could become a central figure in Gladbach’s future. Because since the resignation of long-time sports director Max Eberl, this club has also lacked charisma. Seoane’s public appearances often seem like the coach is performing a chore, and Virkus is a skilled professional, but his sobriety tends not to win hearts. In addition to his controlling influence on the atmosphere in the squad, Schmadtke will also be in demand as the face of the club, as a man who inspires sympathy and trust. However, that is primarily the task of the team.
