Gladbach head into the week "with extra energy"
The Foals kicked off this week’s training programme on Tuesday morning ahead of their final home game of the season on Saturday (15:30 CEST) against Eintracht Frankfurt.
In our review of 2022, we take another look at the months of September and October. Despite a difficult period for the Foals, there was a fantastic derby win to celebrate at BORUSSIA-PARK.
ON THE PITCH
Borussia suffered their first defeat of the season at home to 1. FSV Mainz 05 (1-0), having previously taken eight points from the first four games under new boss Daniel Farke. That loss was followed by a goalless draw away to then league leaders SC Freiburg. In the next home game, the Foals were excellent as they beat RB Leipzig 3-0. However, Borussia then had to deal with bad injuries to Florian Neuhaus and Ko Itakura. October began badly with a disappointing 5-1 defeat in Bremen, but Farke’s men bounced back in spectacular fashion to win 5-2 at home against 1. FC Köln in the derby. That was to be the last win in October, though. The Foals drew 2-2 in Wolfsburg, lost 3-1 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt and 2-1 away to Union Berlin. On top of that, second-division side Darmstadt 98 knocked Borussia out of the DFB-Pokal in the second round. To make matters worse, both Yann Sommer and Jonas Hofmann then spent time on the sidelines with injuries too.
STANDOUT MOMENT
Following three consecutive derby defeats, the Foals won 5-2 against 1. FC Köln at home. It was also the club’s 750th Bundesliga win, and a victory that saw them overtake Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga’s all-time table in fifth. “We’re pleased that we could gift our fans such a fantastic win after a somewhat long wait,” said Daniel Farke after his first derby win. Marvin Friedrich put Borussia ahead with his first goal for the club, but the away team were able to equalise quickly. Ramy Bensebaini’s penalty gave the Foals a half-time lead, then captain Lars Stindl made it three after the break. Bensebaini added his second, before Marcus Thuram added a fifth and final goal to restore the three-goal lead that had been cancelled out in between. “This win feels great. It was a brilliant afternoon,” said a delighted Jonas Hofmann following the full-time whistle.
OFF THE PITCH
QUOTE
Daniel Farke: “We had a good run at the start of the season, but we’ve unfortunately had a few injuries and are going through a tough period right now. We now need to get stuck in, stand together and fight for every point. We’re capable of putting together a good run of results if everything’s going well and everyone is fit, but we’re not quite able to when that’s not the case - I have to be honest. There’s no doubt that that is where we want Borussia Mönchengladbach to be in the long term. We want to keep improving, step-by-step.”