Borussia Mönchengladbach: a German team

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Borussia Mönchengladbach: a German team

View attachment 18606Michael Lang, Lars Stindl, Florian Neuhaus and Thorgan Hazard celebrate a 3-0 away win against Bayern Munich in October 2018

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Hello everyone and welcome to my new FM19 story! I really enjoyed writing the one about Bétis which I remember people enjoyed too, but fell out with FM during my Parma save so much so that I've just started the game after about 4 months... It's been a while, but I've decided to give it another go!

For those of you who don't get the title, here's a bit of context: in October 2016, Celtic were playing Mönchengladbach in the Champions League group stages in Group C at home in Scotland. Obviously, all the pubs around the country were set to show the match on their TVs but one pub stood out, as the owner wrote "WHAT'S ON: CELTIC VS BORUSSIA" and proceeded to cross out his three attempts to spell Mönchengladbach to replace the whole team name with "a German team". The picture went around social media and eventually, the club themselves made scarves with "a German team" written on them and it's come to the point it's almost their official nickname now.

So that's it for the context then. The reason I chose them is not because of that hilarious nickname and how it came about but more about their achievements this season. In FM18, I wrote a rebuilding story about Leverkusen who I thought were a great side to take forward with all their wonderkids. This year, Leverkusen's wonderkids are even better and I'd almost feel bad using that team since it would get so easy so quickly. Instead, I decided to pick the one team who's had an FM-like season so far, Gladbach. At the time of writing, they sit in 3rd a point above Leipzig and 8 points behind Bayern. They've had a fantastic season and it's inspired me to give them a go and take them to the top of German football so, let's give it a shot!

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The new man to take the club forward is Klaus Weiß, a German regional footballer who never got past the 3.Fußball-Liga in his career and will have a taste of the top division for the first time in his life. In addition to that, Weiß also has the particularity of being just 28 years old. Indeed, his lacklustre career as a professional footballer disappointed him so much that he decided to retire early and study for coaching licenses in order to get a first managing job. After a very successful interview the Gladbach board, who were extremely pleased with his vision for the club, he got the job and has a contract of a year with die Fohlen.

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Situated an hour and a half away from Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park, the home of Gladbach can host up to 54,022 people (the 7th largest stadium in the Bundesliga)
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Klaus' job at the club is simple: bring the club back to their 1970s form. Why you might ask? The answer is quite simple:

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Out of the trophies you see above, only 2 DFB-Pokals and the 2.Bundesliga title were won outside of the 1970s. The club won the Bundesliga in 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976 and 1977 whilst winning the Europa League in 1975 and 1979 and finally a DFB-Pokal in 1973. A truly remarkable trophy cabinet in the space of 10 years and the goal is to, in the next 10 years, hope to bring the club back to this former glory. So without further ado, let's get right into it with the squad report, tactical introduction and team schedule until the start of the league campaign in late August!
 
Glad to see you back mate. Always enjoyed your stories
 
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Squad, tactics and schedule introduction

The goalkeepers

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Hello everyone, my name is Klaus! I'm the new manager of Borussia Mönchengladbach as you might know and I thought it'd be nice to show you around the club and introduce you to the players. First up, the goalkeepers. We have one of the better keepers in the Bundesliga through Yann Sommer (left), who recently played in the World Cup with Switzerland. His experience in a high-pressure tournament and his knowledge of the club (having been here 4 years already) will be key as we look to push for a Champions League spot this season. His backup, Tobias Sippel (right), has only played 7 games in the 4 years he's been here but that's his job as a backup. As long as Yann is performing and healthy, Tobias will be on the bench.

The full-backs

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Some decent choices in terms of full-backs at the club. Johnson and Wendt are the two oldest ones and coincidently, the two who have been at the club the longest. Once again, their long careers will provide some much needed experience for Andreas Poulsen (extreme left) who's just 18 and some support for Lang (extreme right), who just arrived at the club this season.

The centre-backs

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Arguably one of the strongest parts of this side are the centre-backs. All of them are incredibly versatile, capable of playing at least 2 positions each, whilst we have a nice mix of experience and youth. Jantschke (middle) is the oldest and most experienced centre-back in the team and definitely the leader of this defence. Elvedi (extreme right) is one of the most promising players at the club, whilst Matthias Ginter (middle right) is definitely future captain material, making him a player we will want to hold on to. Louis Beyer (middle left) is another youngster who will get his chances this season whilst Strobl (extreme left) will most likely be a backup player for the side.

The centre-midfielders

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Down the middle once again and another very strong part of the side in our central/defensive midfielders. Zakaria (right) and Cuisance (left) are two very young midfielders who are showing a huge amount of promise, so much so that I'm already having to deal with offers from Europe's top clubs for them. Kramer (middle) on the other hand is a much slower, older midfielder who will definitely be more of an anchor in the side, sitting deep and creating chances through long balls. Cuisance is one of the most exciting prospects at the club so I'm incredibly excited to have him in the team.

The wingers

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The best players in this team play on the wings. Herrmann (middle right) has been at the club for 11 years now and will be a key asset on the right, his pace and dribbling being his best attributes. Hofmann (middle left) is another player who will be able to do a job for us but who I don't see using so often; saying that, Ibrahima Traoré (extreme left), my first choice left midfielder, is out injured for another 2-3 months, meaning I'll have to rely on Hofmann or another attacker for now. Bennetts (extreme right) is an exciting young talent who just came in from Tottenham and who I hope will make as much of an impression as his fellow Englishman Jadon Sancho has. Finally, the jewel of this team, Thorgan Hazard (middle). He will be our main threat going forward, thanks to his incredible dribbling and passing. I shouldn't be surprised, the Hazard genes are an absolute gift to football. You'll note that once again, these players are very versatile and can play multiple positions, which is absolutely perfect.

The attacking midfielders

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Almost at the end of the team introduction now with the attacking midfielders. Two older players in club captain Lars Stindl (middle) and Raffael (right), who have both been incredible servants to this club, will be some of our more experienced players who can lead the team to the top. You'll notice however that in the tactic I'm planning on using, there aren't any attacking midfielders so both Stindl and Raffael will most likely be played in their secondary positions (midfield or striker for Stindl, striker for Raffael). Let me not forget Neuhaus, who's a promising young German talent who I'll definitely be looking to get into the side at some point or another as he's been very impressive in training so far.

The strikers

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Finally, our strikers, arguably the weakest part of the side. Alassane Pléa (left) recently joined the club from Nice for a club record fee of £20.6 million and is looking like a good option up front, but I might end up using him as left-winger for now, as Traoré is out injured in the long-term and Raffael would, I believe, make a better striker. Drmic (right) has been playing in the Bundesliga since 2013 now but is one of the players I'll be looking to get rid of in this transfer window. He's simply not good enough in my opinion and I would much rather bring in a young promising striker to be Pléa's backup.

The tactic

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This 4-3-3 system, which will undoubtedly be tweaked throughout the season, will be the one used for this team for now. The players set up in the side is a potential lineup for some of our upcoming friendly matches but other than that, I believe this system fits the team perfectly. As we aren't one of the top sides in the Bundesliga yet, I've decided to counter in transition. The pace of our wingers, on top of playing out wide when in possession, should provide us with some great opportunities coming down the wings whether it's scoring or crossing. Finally, when defending, a high line and very high pressing will allow us to get the ball back as soon as we lose it, whilst having Kramer effectively playing as a 3rd centre-back. Playing the offside trap will also benefit us as Ginter and Jantschke are not the fastest of centre-backs.

Team schedule

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Our schedule is quite full for pre-season, with 7 games in the space of a month meaning almost 2 games a week. This full schedule however should allow me to really test this 4-3-3 system out whilst getting team cohesion up as well. Playing some big sides like Basel and Shakhtar, who regularly play Champions League football, should allow us to see how we'll fare against potential European opponents in the future. Finally, we'll end pre-season with a DFB-Pokal 1st round game against Schweinfurt, a side in the regional leagues in Germany.

Transfer corner

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I will be regularly posting in this part of the updates which I'll be calling "the transfer corner", where I'll talk about any players I've had my eye on and would like to sign, players who have left, contract news, etc. Anything transfer or contract related will be here. For this summer, we only have £5.3 million to work with. That budget might change based on the expectations the board has of me and what changes I make to those expectations, but I would expect the budget to stay between £5 and £6 million, which isn't a huge budget to work with. Thankfully, the potential sale of Drmic and some other players might free up some funds and the wage budget for new arrivals. That's it for this first update, see you in the next one, auf wiedersehen!
 
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Pre-season review and arrivals

New signings

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We managed to make 2 new signings over the transfer window, thanks to club expectations changes on my part making the board giving me a bit of extra money. First up is the backup striker I wanted, Myron Boadu. My scout recommended him as a top target and as a young promising 17-year old, he's perfect for the club. He'll be the backup for Pléa and will probably play in cup games.
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And there he is wearing our beautiful home kit, along with his stats below. As you can see, he's also a natural as a left-winger so it's yet another versatile player added to the squad which is fantastic. His pace and technical abilities will be key to what I hope will be a great season and I can't wait to get underway and see what Myron can do.

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The second signing we made will cost us a bit in the long-term. Josha Vagnoman comes in for a total of £10 million but just £5 million up front, a transfer which was made possible due to our huge wage budget allowance which gave me the extra funds required to buy him. He's also 17 but is one of the most promising German talents in the world currently, so I'm more than happy to sign him early on in his career before he hopefully develops into one of the best full-backs in the world.

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As a natural in 4 different positions, Vagnoman will be a key player in the side for years to come. I can use multiple different setups and still be able to include him as well which is just fantastic. Standing at 187cm tall, he's very tall for a full-back and his incredible work rate and natural fitness levels will allow him to get up and down and support the wingers as I intend my full-backs to in this 4-3-3 system.

Physio report

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I didn't think anything of it when I saw Louis going down during training today but the physios just came to me to let me know he'd be out for 2 months. Scheiße! He's one of our more promising players at the club and it would've been great to use him in our DFB-Pokal 1st round game later in August but I guess now I'll have to wait a while before seeing him perform in an official football match.


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My first official game in charge of Gladbach was in the DFB-Pokal 1st round as we were up against Schweinfurt, a regional side in Germany. As expected, we won! Thanks to a Pléa hat-trick, we come away with a 4-2 victory and move on to the 2nd round where we'll face Ingolstadt who are currently 8th in the 2.Bundesliga. It was a good performance overall but I was disappointed to see Neuhaus get sent off in the second half, especially as it was for a very unnecessary foul and that 1-man advantage got Schweinfurt a goal just 3 minutes later.

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And what a debut Vagnoman had! Starting as a right-back, Josha's work rate clearly became an evidently amazing part of his game as he got forward late in the game to score on his debut, making him the youngest ever goalscorer in the history of the club as well as the youngest ever player to make an appearance for the first team in the history of the club! Let's just say we had a very good start to our season with this result.

Pre-season results and Bundesliga preview

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We had a decent pre-season overall, with 5 wins from 8 games and just one defeat against fellow-German side Paderborn. I was also quite proud of our performances against Basel and Shakhtar who were our two toughest opponents of the pre-season as we picked up a win and a draw in those games respectively. The team has gelled well so far and we're clearly getting decent results so bring on the Bundesliga!

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It's a very, very interesting preview that the media have come up with for this season. Bayern are obviously expected to win the title with Dortmund finishing behind them, nothing new there. The big surprise however is to not see Leipzig in the top 3 and as you can see, being predicted to finish in 12TH! They did lose Timo Werner to Bayern for £50 million earlier in the summer but still have a decent squad outside of him so to see them so low is surprising. Schalke and Leverkusen make up the top 4, the Champions League spots, as we're predicted to finish down in 5th. I would take 5th in my first season to be honest, but I told the board we could get Champions League football so we'll definitely be going for at least 4th. As for our upcoming schedule, a few big games to look forward to. Our Bundesliga opener is against Leverkusen, one of the best teams in the league, whilst we face Schalke a few weeks later as well. Games against Hertha, Frankfurt and Wolfsburg should also be considered tough ones whilst our game against Augsburg might be our easiest one in this first month in charge for myself. That's it for this update now, wish me luck and see you at the end of September!
 
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We start off our Bundesliga season with an emphatic win against Leverkusen! 2-1 thanks to a winner from Herrmann in the 91st minute sees us pick up 3 unlikely points and get off to the best possible start in the league. Overall it was a very even game and we didn't necessarily get lucky grabbing all 3 points as I believe it really was 50/50 and anyone's game. I'm really proud of the performance and definitely hope we can keep this going in the next few games to start off the season well. On a more unfortunate note however, we lose Zakaria for at least a month which is not good news considering some of the opponents we face in that month...

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Our second matchup and one we were heavy favourites to win was our away game against Augsburg and, as predicted, we got all 3 points with a 2-0 win as Hazard and Pléa scored their first goals in the Bundesliga this season. Pléa is already our club's top goalscorer with his 4 goals in all competitions which is great to see and hopefully he continues to carry the team like he has so far.

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Our good run of form comes to a halt as we couldn't find the back of the net against Schalke and get one point at home after a 0-0 draw. Statistically, I would say we absolutely deserved all 3 points tonight but we just couldn't score past Fahrmann and Stambouli also had a fantastic game. Schalke are a decent side however so I'll definitely take a point to make 7 from my first 3 games in charge.

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More injury news as this time it's Pléa who's out and he'll be gone for the next 3 weeks. Not what you want so early on in the season for your top striker to get injured but Boadu can now step up and (hopefully) impress...

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A close match once again in our 4th game of the season but Strobl comes on in the 67th minute to score the winner in the 90th! It's great to see the whole team working together and not relying on just one or two players but this game was definitely too close for comfort. We were 1-0 down at half-time however so I'm really proud of the team for coming back and getting all 3 points in the second half.

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We finally hit our first wall and it comes against a very strong Frankfurt side. They're way down in the bottom half of the table so far this season but definitely have some strong players and it showed here today as they get 2 goals in the first half to win all 3 points against us. I would say we didn't deserve to lose the match but we just weren't realistic enough in front of goal and it cost us greatly. Onto to the next match now...

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And another wall! We concede very late on and lose 2 points in this match against Wolfsburg, which was so important for our confidence as we needed to earn the 3 points after a disappointing showing against Frankfurt. After winning 2 games this season past the 89th minute, I guess I can't really complain and it's just karma but it's a real shame to not be earning all the points here after a good performance.

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A decent start to the Bundesliga campaign with 3 wins (Leverkusen victory not shown in screenshot), 2 draws and a loss so far. We should've arguably won both the Frankfurt and Wolfsburg games but it's done now and with those points lost, we have to look ahead to October and hope we can get a few decent results then.

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I don't believe league standings count for much this early on in the season but 6th place is pretty good so far. The two huge surprises in Germany so far have been Freiburg in 2nd and Mainz in 3rd who have had stellar starts to their seasons. Coincidently, we face the two of them next and Bayern away...

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Our decent start might count for nothing if we can't get results in October and as mentioned previously, it's going to be a tough month. An away game against Ingolstadt in the DFB-Pokal 2nd round will hopefully be our save and grace as I'll be focusing on the cup in the hopes of some silverware. Let's hope we can get some good results against Mainz at home and Freiburg away as I've almost put a good result against Bayern in the back of my mind.
 
Enjoying this a lot so far. How do you do the player things for the squad induction and new signings though? That's really nice.
 
WeArePalace said:
Enjoying this a lot so far. How do you do the player things for the squad induction and new signings though? That's really nice.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the support mate!

As for the squad induction and new signings:
- for players already at the club, I just went on the Bundesliga website and saved their squad pictures and then just found a background image, removed the background and kept it big enough to have the player overview at the bottom and the player pictures at the top.

- for new signings, I did the same thing except picked some players at the club who had similar skin tones to the new signings hahah and went on Photoshop to adjust skin tone and paste the new signing faces on the bodies of the existing players
 
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Our first test against the current German champions went better than expected, although it definitely wasn't a good game for us. We lose the game 3-2 but were utterly dominated throughout to the point where I'm not sure how we even got those 2 goals in the first place. We fought for a result and just about didn't get it though and a result like that against Bayern is encouraging!

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Another tough game in October, this time against Mainz as we crape a win thanks to our centre-back hero Tony Jantschke who scored late in the second half. A decent performance overall despite our lack of possession, which is actually making me consider tweaking this 4-3-3 system a bit. We're not scoring enough goals and it's been a bit of an issue so I want to fix it as soon as possible.

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An almost perfect month for us in the Bundesliga as we grab our second win in a row against another good side in the league this season! We win 3-1 thanks to goals from Johnson and Hofmann yet again who really have shined in October. The only switch I made with the tactic was bringing the defensive midfielder into a central midfielder position to really make sure we controlled the midfield and created more chances up front and as you can see, we scored 3 goals! A very good performance from the boys as we continue our good run of form in the league.

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With the team in good form and confidence flowing, I didn't want to risk fielding a rotated and weaker side against Ingolstadt and the players repaid my faith in them by getting a 3-1 win away from home! We move on to the 3rd round of the DFB-Pokal with ease thanks to Hazard and Johnson who both scored and got us through despite playing with 10 men for the last few minutes. We'll be facing St. Pauli in the next round at their own stadium, known for it's incredible atmosphere. It should be a really interesting trip to Hamburg as we'll look to get to the quarter-finals of the competition and with the likes of Leverkusen and Bayern out of the competition, we should be considered some of the favourites along with Dortmund and Leipzig.

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We suffered a few injuries throughout the month with Matthias Ginter, Myron Boadu and Jonas Hofmann all picking up long-term injuries at various times throughout October. Thankfully, we have enough backup players to cover for them but it's fair to say we've been less than fortunate with injuries so far this season.

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A good month overall! Our defeat to Bayern was expected and in fact not as harsh as I thought it would be so I'm proud of the team for their performance in that match. Other than that, the two wins against Mainz and Freiburg were crucial as we continue our good form in the league and stick to the top teams in the race for Champions League football next season!

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Sitting just 3 points behind league leaders RB Leipzig, we've definitely had a good start to the season. Despite there being only 4 points between a Champions League spot and 10th place, I'm confident we'll keep our good run of form going and stick to the backs of Bayern, Dortmund and Leipzig for now. It's our goal to finish in that 4th spot at least so I'm very pleased so far.

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The next two months look to be tough ones yet again. Our first few games in November features matches against Hannover and Werder Bremen who, surprisingly, find themselves in the top 8 in the table after 9 games. Düsseldorf should be a game we win with ease but then again, I thought the same thing about the Frankfurt game and we lost that one. December is set to be a very challenging month as we face the likes of Dortmund, our arch rivals, and Leipzig in the space of 3 weeks. The Stuttgart, Hoffenheim and Nürnberg games are ones we should be able to win but once again, I won't allow the team to lose focus and get overconfident.
 
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Stalemate in top of the Bundesliga clash

View attachment 18450Lars Stindl (Gladbach, left) and Dayot Upamecano (Leipzig, right) in action on Saturday

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It was a match to remember for Bundesliga fans on Saturday as RB Leipzig hosted Borussia Mönchengladbach for a game between 1st and 3rd place. The away side got off to the perfect start in the 12th minute with new-signing Alassane Pléa netting his 6th goal of the season in all competitions but fellow Frenchman Jean-Kévin Augustin equalised just 20 minutes later. The visitors then took the lead once again through Thorgan Hazard in the 37th minute but Ralf Rangnick's men fought to the end and grabbed a second equaliser in the 57th minute to make it 2-2, which is how the game ended. Many would have expected the home side to come out on top in this clash at the top of the table but Weiß's Gladbach side have been very impressive so far this season, competing with the likes of Bayern, Dortmund and Leizpig for a place in the top 4 and a Champions League spot for the first time since the 2015/16 season, when they finished 4th. It's a tough schedule ahead for die Fohlen who will hope they can end the 2018 calendar year strong with a good result against arch rivals Borussia Dortmund away in Dortmund. Leipzig on the other hand can look forward to a trip to Munich and face current German champions Bayern Munich on the 18th of December. We spoke to Klaus Weiß at the end of the match who had this to say:

"It was a very good match overall, I wasn't expecting such a good performance from the players to be honest considering the task ahead of us but we get a point away in Leipzig which is a huge point to say the least and keeps us in the running for Champions League football which has been our goal since the start of the season. The hard work has just started though and I'm not getting carried away, making sure the players stay focused and motivated so we can keep playing this well throughout the season and hopefully finish in the top 4 by the end of the year"

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The 28-year old rookie manager had reason to be pleased as this draw against Leipzig now means his side are unbeaten in 6 games in the league, following three wins in a row in November against Düsseldorf, Werder Bremen and Hannover. This leaves them in 2nd place for now as Bayern have a game in hand and would overtake Weiß's side were they to win that match. More to come on the Bundesliga action later in December as Borussia Mönchengladbach will take on Borussia Dortmund in another huge clash at the top of the table in Germany!
 
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Late drama in Borussen Derby

View attachment 18425Mario Götze (left) celebrates Marco Reus' (right) late equaliser against Gladbach

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In yet another top of the league clash in Germany, the home side Borussia Dortmund could only salvage a draw as they had to wait for the 86th minute to find the back of the net. Favre's side went into the match in 3rd place and will stay there as 2nd place Leipzig won their game, whilst Mönchengladbach went into this match at the top of the league and will also stay top, 3 points clear of Leipzig and Bayern were the current champions to win their game in hand, a huge achievement for Weiß in his first season in charge. As for the match itself, it was an expected dominant performance from the home side but ultimately their lack of realism up front led to many wasted chances and allowed Gladbach to score a goal from their own from their 2 shots on target, putting them in front with just 12 minutes to go. Thankfully for Lucien Favre however, Dortmund hero Marco Reus scored just 4 minutes from time to give his side a point against their arch and title rivals. Speaking to Weiß at the end of the match, he seemed quite happy with his team's performance:

"I was expecting a tough match away in Dortmund but I was excited about my first Borussen Derby so I would say it was definitely an interesting game for me but I'm glad we got a point. Just like in the match against Leipzig earlier this month, I knew the home side were going to be the favourites and the ones who were fired up so the plan was always to contain the pressure and eventually score from our few shots if we could and we did just that. It is unfortunate to concede late on and give up 2 points but we sit in 1st place halfway through the season which is an absolute dream come true and definitely a sign of the club's ambitions, which was why I signed here in the first place!"

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Borussia Mönchengladbach have not lost a league game since their match against Bayern on the 6th of October, making it almost 3 months since that last league defeat. In that time, they've drawn just 2 of the 11 games they played, winning the other 9. This all came following a tactical tweak from Weiß in the Freiburg game which involved bringing the defensive midfielder in his initial setup up to a centre midfielder in the hopes of controlling the midfield a bit more and be more threatening up front. It's fair to say that has worked wonders so far, with Gladbach having the best attack along with Bayern with 33 goals scored and the 4th best defence.

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Bayern have a game in hand against Frankfurt but even with said-game in hand, they would find themselves in 2nd and 3 points behind the Bundesliga leaders. It's been an interesting season in Germany so far to say the least, with the likes of Mainz and Hannover in the Europa League spots as the most surprising performances. Schalke, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg have definitely disappointed their respective fans and will hope a decent January transfer window will boost the team's spirits and get them off to a better start in the second half of the season.

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Finally, we have been told that Tobias Strobl will be out throughout most of Gladbach's winter break with a pulled calf muscle after landing badly in training. This isn't a huge blow for Gladbach and the injury comes at a perfect time just before the winter break meaning he'll be back in time for their first game of the second half of the season against Leverkusen on the 19th of January 2019. As for transfer rumours, nothing yet coming from Weiß and his staff but we are told they have no budget whatsoever to work with so a few player sales or pre-contract signings might be on the books for the German manager.
 
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A Happy New Year in Borussia!

View attachment 18386Thorgan Hazard (left) in action against Bayern Munich in October 2018

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It's been a pretty great start to 2019 for Borussia Mönchengladbach so far, as two new signings have come in early in the window in addition to both Thorgan Hazard and Klaus Weiß signing new contracts at the club for the long-term. The 28-year old manager and Belgian winger had been in arguments in the last month or so regarding the number 10's new contract but a few player departures in addition to extra funds given by the board to congratulate Weiß on a phenomenal season so far has allowed Gladbach to extend their jewel's contract for a few years.

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Weiß gets a nice wage increase to £35,000 a week, making him the 4th-highest paid manager in the Bundesliga just ahead of Hoffenheim's manager and behind the managers of Dortmund, Bayern and RB Leipzig. Thorgan Hazard also gets a big wage increase to £67,000 a week, making him the second-highest paid player at the club behind Raffael, who we've been told is feeling homesick and wants to go back to Brazil. This would therefore make Hazard the best paid player at the club.

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As for departures, it's a double move from Gladbach to Wolfsburg for Herrmann and Bennetts, both of whom didn't play much this season. Herrmann had been at the club for 11 years, making him the player who's been at the club for the longest in the squad. Despite a strong start to the season, a few minor injuries hit his form and he was eventually dropped consistently for Jonas Hofmann. As for Bennetts, he did look like a decent signing at the start of the season for £2 million but Weiß mentioned he just didn't think Bennetts was good enough and preferred to sell him rather than hurt his career by keeping him in the reserves. Onto the good news for Gladbach fans now with the two new signings:

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First up is Viktor Fischer: the 24-year old from FC København arrives on a 3 and-a-half year deal for a total fee of £5 million, just £700,000 up front. This is definitely a great deal from Gladbach as with the departure of Herrmann, they had a winger spot to fill out and Fischer is a promising talent who's already been able to establish himself in leagues such as the Superliga, Eredivise and Premier League. He's had a great season in Denmark so far scoring 8 goals and making 2 assists in 13 league appearances and will bring in some fantastic talent not only for now but the future as well down on the left wing.

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The second signing is a more interesting one from die Fohlen. Nélson Semedo comes in on loan until the end of the season with an option to buy of just £12 million, despite being such a promising right-back even at 25 years old. The Portuguese full-back has failed to impose himself in Spain and should be a great addition to the Mönchengladbach squad. The more interesting part about this transfer is the fact that Vagnoman, who arrived in the summer from Hamburg, has been playing at right-back all season and been absolutely terrific for Weiß's side, meaning that Semedo's arrival could push him to left-back where he's also a natural and potentially fix Gladbach's full-back problems. It remains to be seen whether or not that'll work out for them but it promises to be a very interesting second half of the season in Germany.
 
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Leverkusen get revenge in tight game

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After losing 2-1 away to Gladbach on the opening day of the season, Leverkusen have gotten their revenge over the former Bundesliga leaders with a 2-1 win at home of their own. Lucas Alario's brace in the first half was enough to see die Werkself claim all 3 points against Gladbach and move up to 10th, just 11 points behind the league leaders RB Leipzig and the current runner ups, Gladbach. It wasn't a debut to remember for Semedo and Fischer as their side lost, but they both put in impressive performances which should get them the fan's support in future matches. When asked about the result, this is what Weiß had to say.

"We're not too disappointed, we knew Leverkusen were a good side and going into a tough game like that with new players is never an easy task. I must take some of the blame as well for reverting back to my initial 4-3-3 system which had worked against them earlier in the season and well, I guess they learned from their mistakes! Yes it's over (when asked about their 10-game unbeaten streak ending) but at the end of the day we're not here to get impressive streaks and break records, we're here to win titles and qualify for European competitions. We're still in 2nd place and level on points with Leipzig so it will be a very tough second half of the season but I'm confident that if we put in the same amount of work we put in the first 17 games, we can do something incredible by the end of the season."

Weiß also had to deal with the departures of 3 players from the club who were deemed excess wages:

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Drmic leaves the club for just £60,000, an incredible 120% discount for Parma since Gladbach had bought the Swiss striker for £7.25 million back in 2015 from Leverkusen. He had been sitting on the bench in Gladbach's 2nd team and finally frees up the wage budget. Michael Lang was deemed not good enough since the start of the season and since Semedo's arrival, his status at the club hasn't necessarily gotten better meaning he leaves for England and signs with Huddersfield for a sum of £1.5 million and a contract of 2 and a half years. Sources had talked about Raffael feeling homesick and those have now been confirmed as he leaves and signs with Atlético Mineiro on a free transfer. Finally, the more controversial departure at the club was that of Ibrahima Traoré, who was out of favour with the manager since the beginning of the season and had his contract mutually terminated without compensation, once again allowing Gladbach to free up plenty of their wage budget in the hopes (we imagine) that they can sign Semedo in the summer for the £12 million optional future fee.

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This is how the league table stands after 18 games in the Bundesliga, with Wolfsburg still struggling but Schalke finally making a bit of a comeback. Mainz continue to impress whilst Hertha is now the new surprise package, sitting in 6th. Leipzig and Gladbach are fighting for 1st place with 37 points each whilst Dortmund are down in 3rd just 3 points behind. The champions Bayern are slacking under new manager Niko Kovac, sitting on 32 points and in 4th place level with Mainz. We'll come back for another Borussia Mönchengladbach update on the 2nd of March 2019 right after die Fohlen's home game against Bayern which should be an incredibly entertaining one.
 
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World-class Fischer!

View attachment 18316Mönchengladbach players celebrate their win over Bayern in title race showdown

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Borussia Mönchengladbach's incredible season seems to never stop as they've just come away with 3 points in emphatic fashion against Bayern, winning 3-1 at home thanks to club captain Lars Stindl and a world-class performance from January signing Viktor Fischer. Die Fohlen were heavily dominated in terms of possession but made the best of their chances whilst the current German champions were left with 2 substitutions to make in the first 40 minutes due to injuries to Javi Martínez and Mats Hummels, two of Bayern's key players. Weiß will be absolutely ecstatic following this incredible performance that keeps Gladbach in the running for the Bundesliga title with just 10 games left in the competition.

"The team wanted revenge for our close defeat against Bayern earlier in the season and that's just what I told them before the match. The fans are now expecting a certain standard in our performances and even though we knew from the start this wouldn't be an easy match, the players gave it their all and we've come away deserved winners at the end. Beating Bayern is definitely one of my proudest achievements in my short time here so far and I'm incredibly proud of the team and excited to see what we can do next now. We can't get carried away of course but our goal of Champions League football for next season really is getting closer and closer and I'm so happy for the fans and the board who supported me 100% since I arrived. Hopefully this victory repays their faith in me so far!"

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This result is Gladbach's 5th league win in a row and allows them to push further ahead of Dortmund and Bayern who are now slowly falling behind. In addition, Weiß's side will be facing 2. Bundesliga side Jahn Regensburg in the DFB-Pokal quarter-final, giving them a real chance to push ahead and potentially win some silverware this season. Wins against Hertha, Frankfurt and Wolfsburg were impressive results as well which undoubtedly boosted the players' confidence levels enough to get this unexpected results against the German champions.

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The best attack in the Bundesliga continues to dominate as hiccups from both Leipzig and Dortmund in their games in hand allows Gladbach to now sit in 1st place, a point ahead of Leipzig in 2nd. Dortmund are falling behind and are now 6 points off the top whilst the situation is even worse for Bayern who sit in 4th place and are dangerously close to Werder Bremen in the Europa League spots. Games against Mainz away and Leipzig at home are two massive games to look forward to for Gladbach fans, who'll also be hoping to see their side make it to the DFB-Pokal semi-final in early April if they can get a result against Jahn Regensburg.
 
Wow, tight at the top. Hopefully you can keep ahead of the pack, and a fantastic win vs Bayern should help that!
 
Jedd95 said:
Wow, tight at the top. Hopefully you can keep ahead of the pack, and a fantastic win vs Bayern should help that!
Click to expand...
Cheers mate, definitely doing a lot better than I thought we would this season and hopefully we can hang on for 1st or 2nd place! Our last game of the season is at home against Dortmund so that should be an interesting one...
 
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Borussia Mönchengladbach enjoyed two back-to-back victories against title rivals Leipzig following a dramatic 3-2 win in the Bundesliga at home and 2-1 away win in the DFB-Pokal, sending Weiß's side to the final to play against Mainz. Pléa was one of the players to thank for such incredible performances against Leipzig and these two wins not only increase the gap at the top of the league to 6 points in favour of Gladbach but also gives them an opportunity to win some silverware on the 25th of May against Mainz in the DFB-Pokal final. Fischer was another player who put in a great performance in the Bundesliga win but will unfortunately be out for the rest of the season after picking up a shin injury in the dying moments of the game, a big loss for die Fohlen.

"We're all very happy at the club about these two victories. This on top of the win we got against Bayern in March really has showed that we're serious title contenders now and in the driving seat to get there as well. Alassane has played a key part in our success this season so to see him get a ht-trick in such an important game was really satisfying as a manager as well. I'm really sad about Viktor's injury, I don't know too much yet but will hope it's not a bad one as he's been such an important player for the side ever since his arrival and it would be a huge shame if he missed our big games against Dortmund and Mainz later this season."

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Gladbach had a fantastic run leading up to the Leipzig double-victory other than their Mainz defeat, scoring 19 goals in 7 games and conceding just 6. It's been a great season for the Borussian side so far, much better than their Borussia rivals Dortmund who languish in 3rd place but with a chance to overtake Leipzig into 2nd by the end of the season. This great run has also meant that Gladbach broke their team record for most points in a season, reaching 67 points with 4 games to spare.

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Bayern's season gets worse and worse as they slip down to 4th but are still within 3 points of a 2nd place finish. As of right now, it's Gladbach's Bundesliga title to lose as they sit 6 points clear with 4 games left and will hope they can close out the title in the next 2 games.
 
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Historic Gladbach!

View attachment 17929Weiß's side celebrate Thorgan Hazard's late equaliser against Dortmund

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Borussia Mönchengladbach fans had to wait an incredible 42 years but they've finally done it! Their side are Bundesliga champions for the 6th time in their history, making them the 4th most decorated side in the Bundesliga! What an incredible season Weiß's men have had considering the expectations of them earlier in the year and what a way to win the league title. With some incredible victories against the likes of Bayern and Leipzig throughout the season, not many people around the world will be able to say that Gladbach didn't deserve the title as they finished with the best attack, 3rd best defence and 7 points clear of runners-up Leipzig! It really was an incredible season to follow in the Bundesliga and it makes next season seem even more exciting for sure. Some great results against Stuttgart and Hoffenheim gifted Gladbach the title, as they'll now have to focus on the DFB-Pokal final coming up but what a year for them!

"Everyone at the club is ecstatic to say the least. At the beginning of the season we were expected to compete for Europa League football, Champions League football at most but the players in this team really, really impressed me. They played some of the most incredible football I've seen in my life and to win the league title in my first year here is a dream come true as a manager, honestly. I want to thank them, the players, because they were the ones playing their hearts and bodies out week in week out this season and it's because of them that I'm able to lift the Bundesliga trophy at such a young age as a manager but I also want to thank the fans and the board who have supported me fully since day 1 and I just have no words to say how grateful I am for this opportunity and challenge and miracle. I'm so excited for next year and even more so for the DFB-Pokal final coming up in just a week!​"
 
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Borussia Mönchengladbach, the German champions!

View attachment 17924Neuhaus (right) and Hazard (left) celebrate their team's 2nd goal in the DFB-Pokal final

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Just a week after a historic Bundesliga title win, Gladbach have just gone and done the unthinkable by winning the double! It's the first time in the club's history that they've achieved a domestic double, really making this last season seem even more impressive for them. Some might argue that they didn't have the hardest route to the final but with the likes of Dortmund and Bayern getting knocked out early on in the competition was clearly out of their control and it greatly contributed to a much more exciting DFB-Pokal campaign, leading to Gladbach's title win.

"Again I just don't know what to say. I really didn't expect to do so well this season and to see the players and the new signings rally together like they did and get such incredible results throughout the course of this season is incredibly satisfying. We're all very happy at the club but are staying on our feet and making sure that we remember that the real work will start next year. As defending champions of both domestic competitions and a Champions League participant, we'll definitely have a harder time doing what we did this year next season and I'm very wary of that. We'll make sure that player departures and arrivals are in the club's best interests and of course help us compete at a very high level next season."
 
An unbelievable first season at the club. Be interesting where you can take them from here with Champions League football next season!
 
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