Borussia Mönchengladbach in profile ahead of Saturday’s match

Hopes were high at Borussia Mönchengladbach for a less turbulent season. After the first three matchdays, however, the longing for calm has already disappeared again. The next fresh start is just around the corner: three defeats, including a 4-3 loss to promoted Elversberg and a 5-0 defeat in Freiburg last weekend, cost head coach Eugen Polanski his job at the start of the week. Assistant coach Jan-Moritz Lichte, who like his former boss also has a Mainz past, is preparing the Lower Rhine side on an interim basis for Saturday’s home match against Mainz 05 (15:30, live on Sky, DAZN and 05ER.fm).

We take a look at Mainz’s next opponents before the three-week international break.

The situation at Borussia:

Outplayed twice away from home, still without a point or a goal, then letting the game slip away in their first home match after leading 3-1 against a promoted side, followed by the first coaching dismissal of the season: the mood at Borussia Mönchengladbach could, to put it carefully, be better. The situation ahead of the current campaign had actually been positive. Polanski had stabilised the team last season after succeeding Gerardo Seoane, who had also been dismissed after three matchdays, and guided the club to a 12th-place finish, nine points clear of the relegation zone. After a strong pre-season, the target for the new campaign was clear: more consistency. The past few weeks have shown that the weight of expectation at a club like Borussia Mönchengladbach remains high, even if their successes are now some time in the past. For the reasons mentioned, Saturday’s game carries major significance. Sporting director Rouven Schröder, who himself spent several years in a senior sporting role at FSV, described it as “fundamentally important”. “We have to perform very differently from how we have recently. None of us wants to go into the international break with zero points.”

The coach:

“The recent performances led to the decision to relieve Eugen of his duties with immediate effect,” Schröder said in the club media a day after the defeat in Freiburg following Polanski’s dismissal. The former Mainz 05 player, who made 91 appearances for FSV between 2009 and 2013, is therefore history in Mönchengladbach. He had only taken over as head coach last November. For Mainz, there will now be a reunion with Jan-Moritz Lichte. The 46-year-old was assistant coach to Sandro Schwarz and Achim Beierlorzer at Mainz 05 and gained his first experience as a head coach at Bruchweg between September and December 2020. Lichte, who has since served as assistant coach of the Turkish national team and as a youth coach at Manchester City, will now take charge of Borussia on an interim basis until a new head coach is in place.

The squad:

Gladbach put together their squad before the season with a mix of experience and players with development potential, giving it a new look in certain areas. Among those to leave the club were long-serving key figures Rocco Reitz and Nico Elvedi. Returnee Ko Itakura, Nicolas Kühn and former Mainz 05 man Daniel Batz, who joins as second goalkeeper, are among the new arrivals. Isac Lidberg, Enzo Leopold and David Herold also arrived from the second division. In Jan Leszczynski, Zento Uno and Hugo Bolin, further talented youngsters from foreign leagues moved to Mönchengladbach. The key player and target man in attack is once again Tim Kleindienst. The 31-year-old missed almost the entire previous season through injury and is now expected to shine again with his physicality, aerial strength and goal threat.

The last meeting:

In April, Mainz 05 secured a valuable point in the battle to stay up thanks to a huge effort at the end of a busy week, when they last faced Borussia in Mönchengladbach. It was only a fortunate point because Nadiem Amiri’s equaliser came from the penalty spot with the very last action of the game. Substitute Phillipp Mwene had won the penalty.

Before that, Mainz 05 had spent a long time chasing the game after Joe Scally had opened the scoring early on, but they were repeatedly denied by Moritz Nicolas or lacked the necessary precision and efficiency. Over the 98 minutes, however, the Mainz team certainly showed the reaction that head coach Urs Fischer had demanded after their Conference League exit in Strasbourg just a few days earlier.