Borussia Mönchengladbach Preview

Borussia M.gladbach

Coach: Michael Frontzeck

Frontzeck was already assistant of Hans Meyer in Gladbach between 2000 and 2003. He also came into professional football from Gladbachs youth team.

Frontzeck got fired one match before season ended, his team Bielefeld play in 2.Bundesliga now while he preferred to stay in 1.Bundesliga and now works for Borussia Mönchengladbach were the boss expects him to work as they want him to work.

Eberl (Gladbach boss) said the following before they transferred Frontzeck:"That is like a motorway. The coach can move as he want but the guard rails are predefined by us."

Michael Frontzeck will fit into this role as he does his work and never tends to be the eye-catching element of the club.

Money spend for transfers: 8.430.000 €
Money earned from transfers: 10.300.000 €

Balance: -1.870.000 €

Atmosphere during training camp&test matches:

The test matches do not show were Gladbach stands at the moment. Many wins against small teams do not make it possible to rate them for Bundesliga.
Paul Stalteri missed the preparation due to the Gold-Cup. Rob Friend will be able to train with the team soon. Keeper Bailly broke his feet and going to miss a while.

Possible line-ups & tactics:










Most likely:
1. 4-4-2 (4-1-2-1-2); LB,CB,CB,RB,DM,OM,RM,LM,ST,ST

Aim set by club:

Don't get relegated. Stay in 1.Bundesliga.

Team check:

Goalkeeper: 5/10

Logan Bailly was bought during the winter break last season and he had some fantastic performances. For the new season he will have to watch Gladbach matches because he broke his hand.
Christofer Heimeroth who was send on bench when Bailly came gets another chance and he says that he will try the best possible to thank the coach for trusting him.

Anyway, Bailly is at least one class better than Heimeroth so that they start with an handicap on the goalkeeper position.

Defence: 4/10

Roel Brouwers and Dante will most likely build the defence together with Jaures on left side and Tobias Levels on right side.

Fillip Daems is still injured, but when he is back he could play for Jaures on left back position.
More alternatives are the young Dorda (20 years old) as left back and Thomas Kleine is another centre back.

The experienced Stalteri who came back late from the Gulf Cup still has some hope to play on either right or left back position.

Quality wise they cannot keep up with the big teams. No one out of them would play in the first line-up of Bayern, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart e.g.

Midfield: 6/10

The midfield is quite strong with some new faces.
Marcel Meeuwis came from Kerkrade and took over a lot of responsibility in test matches already. But he will miss in the first two matches because of a red card from his Kerkrade times. Either Michael Bradley or Thorben Marx will play for him.

Both guys are capable of playing on left or right midfield side, Bradley on left side when Meeuwis will be able to play and Marx on right side. There he has to fight with Matmour, who is also a candidate for this position.

Arango the new 3,5 million transfer from Mallorca will play on offensive midfield position. Not only a creative guy, he also causes danger with his good shots.

Striker: 6/10

Bobadilla a strong and big striker who tends to be injured often. Gladbach spend some money for him and they really needed another striker.
Rob Friend is still injured, Colautti and Oliver Neuville have big problems to score goals.

We could see Bobadilla as single striker and two wing players on left and right side. Then Arango would play on right wing (offensive midfield position would not exist in this system) and Marco Reus - who got many chances in test matches - on the left wing.

When Friend will be fit or/and Colautti, Neuville will get back to old strength they could also play with two strikers.

Friend and Bobadilla together seems strong, but it is a question of whether they will ever be fit at the same time.

Total: 5/10

My prognosis:

With Frontzeck, the new coach, Gladbach was able to show some good signs during the test matches. The quality of the team may be enough to stay in Bundesliga but more than a midfield position is not possible it seems.