Last of the Bundesliga table: The apocalypse is already sounding in Gladbach

Worse than now, the situation at Borussia Mönchengladbach was only once: 70 years ago. In the Oberliga West season of 1956/57, the club started with 14 defeats. At that time, the world-class goalkeeper Toni Turek had recently switched to Borussia. However, he was already 37 years old, could only play four times due to injuries, and ended his career when Gladbach was relegated to the so-called "second division" at the end of that season. Back to the dreary present: On Sunday evening, Gladbach lost the sixth season game 1:2 (0:1) against TSG Hoffenheim for the sixth time. This has only happened to three other clubs in 64 years in the Bundesliga: 1991 Fortuna Düsseldorf, 2020 Mainz 05, and 2022 VfL Bochum. If Gladbach loses away against VfB Stuttgart next Friday, they will have an exclusive negative record. No club has ever lost the first seven games in the Bundesliga. "The mind games begin in Stuttgart," prophesied Borussia's sports director Rouven Schröder. "Six defeats does something to one." No one in Mönchengladbach thinks about the Oberliga West season of 1956/57. No one knows the then-coach Klaus Dondorf today. No one at Borussia carries a trauma from back then. With every defeat, the question of what is actually happening with this team becomes more urgent. Schröder had secured ten transfers in the summer. After three defeats, he dismissed coach Eugen Polanski. He made the co-coach Jan-Moritz Lichte the head coach for one game and then hired the new coach Alexander Blessin, an expert in aggressive goal prevention. But so far, this has achieved nothing. The first game under Blessin was lost 1:2 in Cologne, just like the second one at home against Hoffenheim now. Even worse than the Gladbach performance was what sports director Schröder said afterward: "In Cologne we had more nerve, today I found it a bit more restrained – which is extreme for a unsettled team: when you don't want the ball." In the eleventh minute, Hoffenheim took the lead through Bambasé Conté. In the 49th minute, Wael Mohya equalized for Borussia. But just five minutes later, Alexander Prass scored the 2:1 winner for the guests. "That is simply not enough," harshly judged their captain Kevin Diks about the team's performance. Goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas said, "I don't want to imply a lack of attitude to anyone." But those quiet doubts echoed in that sentence. Several things "irritate me madly," says Gladbach's coach Blessin – and begins to list them. When coach Blessin began his statement in the press conference, he first breathed out very deeply. This exhale sounded like a heavy sigh over the microphone. "Where should I begin?" he said. This is what someone says who doesn't even know where to start when solving a problem. "Several things 'irritate me madly'," Blessin finally said and began to list them: "Inactivity in the gegen-goals, stepping back, not defending forward, not covering, not holding the position." The 53-year-old Swabian sounded like a coach who coaches in the football summer camp. And his tone became even sharper: "This constant back-and-forth game, not having your backside in your pants, to play bravely forward sometimes." Blessin calculated with the Gladbach team. After two games. What absolutely needed to be worked on: "Winning duels, taking securing positions, re-defending – everyone must understand what their job is." It sounded like an apocalypse. It sounded like Oberliga West 1956/57. "It is mega frustrating," admitted sports director Schröder: "Totally disappointing – but we can't shut down the shop tomorrow, we have to try to get into people's heads, we have to try to instill self-confidence – otherwise it won't work." That the Gladbach misery is also because players are repeatedly absent since the start of the season, they know this and say so. "With eight or nine injured players, it is difficult," admits Schröder. Eight players were missing against Hoffenheim, including Ko Itakura, Jens Castrop, Franck Honorat, and Tim Kleindienst. Forward Isac Lidberg had to be substituted due to injury. Those who are playing can be pulled down. Schröder wants to lift them up again. "From the outside, you might wish that we would throw the shoes at each other now," he said in colloquial Sauerland dialect. "But it's only about solidarity!" Schröder doesn't believe in a big release of liberation. "We have to take small steps," he says. That is exactly how the coach's restructuring plan sounds. "I am encouraged that the players follow along every day in training and that they are willing to implement everything," said Blessin. He initiated a process at Gladbach when he started, but for successful implementation, the necessary automatisms are now needed. "Because on the pitch, every time, it's about quick decisions in the shortest time." This only works with good processes. And so Gladbach embarks on the next games in Stuttgart, against Karlsruhe (cup), against Paderborn, and against Hamburger SV not just in the pursuit of success, but also in the search for automatisms. They still have 28 games left. Then the season is over.