Patrick Herrmann to retire from playing in the summer
Patrick Herrmann will retire from playing in the summer after 16 years at Borussia, including 15 as a member of the first team. The 33-year-old will remain at Gladbach in a non-playing capacity.
Player of the season: Herrmann and Hofmann in focus
Patrick Herrmann and Jonas Hofmann are up for Borussia’s Player of the Season award, presented by Cichon Personalmanagement. We look back at both players’ seasons.
Patrick Herrmann has been a Foal for 13 years now. “Mönchengladbach has become my home. I feel very comfortable at the club and in the city,” says the winger. This season has seen the 30-year-old make 33 competitive appearances for Borussia, starting 10 matches and coming off the bench in 23 games. Herrmann scored three goals and set up a further five in the 2020/21 campaign.
The season started at lightning pace as Gladbach beat FC Oberneuland 8-0 in the DFB-Pokal, with Herrmann setting the course for a resounding victory right from the off. Playing in an unaccustomed position at centre-forward, the 30-year-old netted two goals within 120 seconds of each other in the 12th and 13th minutes. Foals fans saw fit to reward this strong display with the Man of the Match award on the day, and later the Player of the Month award for September. However, the winger had to wait for some time for his next start, which came in the 3-2 win in Mainz. Herrmann came so close to opening his Bundesliga account for the season after superbly controlling a pass from Rocco Reitz but saw his shot cannon off the crossbar, much to his frustration.
100th Bundesliga appearance
Eight further starts followed for Herrmann alongside lots of appearances off the bench. Among these was his 100th appearance in the Bundesliga, which came in injury time against Union Berlin when he replaced Hannes Wolf. The 30-year-old is realistic about his role in the team and accepts it in a pragmatic way. “I don’t run to the coach each day and ask why I’m not playing. If others are performing well, let them play. I’m just there when I’m needed, even if it’s just for a minute.”
That is something that characterises his team-based attitude. Herrmann was brought on for Breel Embolo in the 64th minute of the DFB-Pokal 2nd round tie against SV Elversberg and headed in Borussia’s fourth goal just five minutes later. However, despite scoring three times in the cup, a league goal has eluded the winger this season.
Hofmann a regular starter under Rose
Jonas Hofmann has had an outstanding season. In 33 competitive appearances for the Foals, the midfielder has been directly involved in 21 goals, achieving his best career statistics for a season to date. He scored in the Champions League, the DFB-Pokal, and the Bundesliga and has been one of the first names on the team sheet for Marco Rose. The 28-year-old’s season started strongly with a goal and an assist in the aforementioned 8-0 victory against FC Oberneuland, before starting the first two matches of the league season against Borussia Dortmund and Union Berlin.
October found Hofmann in exceptional form, picking up three Man of the Match awards and subsequently winning the Player of the Month award. In the 1-1 draw against VfL Wolfsburg, he was the lynchpin of the Foals’ attack and stepped up to convert the penalty to put Borussia in the lead. The first Champions League match of the season against Inter Milan saw Hofmann with another strong display as he defended attentively while also giving Gladbach a 2-1 lead (84’), finishing a one-on-one against Nerazzurrigoalkeeper Samir Handanović after an outstanding pass from Florian Neuhaus. In the 3-2 win over 1. FSV Mainz 05, Borussia's number 23 was brought on in the 60th minute and converted a penalty (76’) to level the scores before providing the assist just seven minutes later from a corner as Matthias Ginter headed home the winner.
A strong comeback from injury
Hofmann tore a muscle in his second international appearance for Germany against the Czech Republic in November and was sidelined for a number of weeks. He made his comeback at the beginning of January against Arminia Bielefeld, in which he set up Breel Embolo’s winning goal in the 1-0 victory. The 28-year-old once again demonstrated his importance to Borussia’s attack against Bayern Munich. Hofmann scored a brace against the champions before setting up Florian Neuhaus for the winner. “The idea was to deploy Hoffi further up the pitch to make use of his runs from deep,” explained Marco Rose after the game as he described his successful game plan.
Hofmann was rewarded for his outstanding performances at club level with another international call-up in March, however it wasn’t to be as he tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of Germany’s World Cup qualifier against Iceland. The midfielder made another brilliant comeback from this setback against Eintracht Frankfurt in mid-April, assisting Matthias Ginter’s opener before doubling the Foals’ advantage shortly after the break. Marco Rose was full of praise for Hofmann following the match: “He creates and finds so much space and contributes a great deal to team spirit with his passion.”
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