“That was shit” derby in Cologne
Gladbach in crisis still rejects relegation battle
October 23, 2023, 2:19 p.m
Six points from eight games, 13th place: Borussia Mönchengladbach is threatening to slip into the fight against relegation after a weak start to the season. The derby defeat at 1. FC Cologne increases the unrest among the Bundesliga veterans. Those responsible have mixed opinions.
The sky was overcast with gray clouds when Gerardo Seoane asked his derby losers to train on Monday morning. Only a few fans came to the public session and they had to wait a long time before the players trotted onto the pitch well after the official start. The scenery fit into the gloomy picture that Borussia has given off so far this season. “That was shit,” said Vice-President Rainer Bonhof at the training ground, referring to the sobering 1:3 (0:1) at 1. FC Köln.
Above all, the aim was to work through the “subterranean” first half against their arch-rivals, according to sports director Roland Virkus. There, Gladbach had “no access, no rest in the game” and “didn’t win the personal duels,” Virkus said. The defeat, he and coach Seoane admitted, “was absolutely deserved.”
Seoane went into the game with a “good feeling” and his team appeared “lively” and “communicative” during the final training session. On the pitch in Cologne, however, she appeared unsettled and flawed; she “didn’t find any remedy” against FC’s intense game, said Virkus, who admitted: “We actually thought we were a little further along.”
But the reality looks different. There are a meager six points and 13th place on paper after eight Bundesliga games, but Virkus didn’t want to know anything about a season in the relegation battle (yet). He could judge that “perhaps shortly after the winter break.” Gladbach has a “young team that still has a lot to learn,” he said – but: “We are currently learning at the expense of results.”
Virkus criticizes red-sinner Koné
The home game double pack against 1. FC Heidenheim on Saturday (3.30 p.m./Sky and in the live ticker at ntv.de) in the league and three days later in the DFB Cup will not only be fundamentally important from a sporting perspective, but also for the mood in Gladbach. Especially since the rest of the program until the winter break is tough.
“If you have six points after the number of games, then it’s never good. We have to get into the points, no question about it,” said Virkus, who wanted to find something positive in the bitter derby defeat. “You can also learn from games like this and we should do that as quickly as possible.” This applied to Manu Koné, for example, who stopped a Cologne counterattack with a bad foul on Dejan Ljubicic and was shown a red card for it. On the sidelines, “he doesn’t have to go there like that,” said Virkus.
While outnumbered, Gladbach conceded goals from Florian Kainz and Luca Waldschmidt – and then had to watch FC celebrate their first win of the season. Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart was correspondingly “happy” that “after a long time, I’m not the tree, but also the dog.”