Team Focus: Gladbach Flying High but Lacking the Expected Sparkle

“We’re happy to be called a top team,” said Borussia Mönchengladbach’s sporting director Max Eberl after Saturday’s draw at Mainz. “But a top team brings the thing home.” Eberl’s mixed feelings were understandable after an early evening that was hardly disastrous, but could have been so much better. It was, in fact, a fairly accurate depiction of Gladbach’s season to date in microcosm.

For more than 70 minutes, Lucien Favre’s side had their latest assignment well under control, and led 2-0 until Johannes Geis pulled one back for the home side with a crafty free-kick. In this context it was easy to see why players including Roel Brouwers said the result that kept them three points clear of fourth-placed Schalke “felt like a defeat.” Favre’s Gladbach are one of the most exciting projects in the Bundesliga – potentially speaking, at least – but this was another in a long line of tasters that have failed to fully satisfy the appetite.

Despite having 57% of possession, Favre’s team had a disappointing 6 shots on goal – a meagre amount, next to the hosts’ 23. This lack of punch, while quite remarkable when you consider that Gladbach have Max Kruse, Raffael, André Hahn, Patrick Hermann, Thorgan Hazard and Branimir Hrgota all at their disposal, has not held them back too much in recent weeks.

Indeed Hermann – their second top scorer in the Bundesliga with 6, and their leading marksman in the Europa League with 4 – hit the nail on the head when he said that “we’re winning without playing particularly well” after striking the winner against Freiburg in the second game back after the winter break.

It is a theme that has gathered momentum. Gladbach went into the clash with Martin Schmidt’s side on Saturday having scored just 6 goals in 6 Bundesliga games since the resumption. It has not prevented Favre and company getting a grip on third place, which would secure direct progress to the Champions League group stage for next season, due to the second-best defence in the league, with just 20 goals conceded in 24 matches even after the late implosion at the weekend.

Favre is fortunate to have one of the best goalkeepers in the division in Yann Sommer (statistically the joint second-highest performing behind Schalke’s Ralf Fährmann), with his countryman arguably an upgrade on departed club legend Marc-André Ter Stegen. Yet while he can usually rely on those in front of him, what happens when they come up short? Saturday’s slip was authored after captain Martin Stranzl was forced off by injury, and there is growing sense that the team is reliant on a player who considered retiring at the end of last season.

His aerial power (4.9 duels won per match) is renowned, and that was certainly apparent in the closing stages against Mainz – especially for Shinji Okazaki’s equaliser, authored by a poor headed clearance by Granit Xhaka and questionable defensive organisation. Gladbach have conceded just 9 in Stranzl’s 17 Bundesliga appearances to date, emphasising how important he is.

The second strand of concern is the lack of killer instinct at the other end. Raffael’s goals at the Coface Arena took him up to 5 for the season, a modest amount particularly when one considers he struck 15 in the Bundesliga alone in the last campaign. It’s not just his goals that Gladbach are missing, however, but the all-round contribution.

Perhaps even more symptomatic of their problems as a team – as well as Raffael’s on an individual performance level – is that he has provided just 1 assist so far this season, compared to 7 in the last campaign. His rate of key passes per game is down from 2013-14’s 1.9 to just 1.2 in this term.

It isn’t just Raffael who could be producing more in the final third. Hahn, who started brightly and was considered to be one of the bargains of the Bundesliga when he joined from Augsburg last summer, has failed to fully impose himself while struggling with form and fitness. The 24-year-old has 3 goals and 1 assist in 14 starts, with his magnificent performance against Schalke in just his third game for the club (2 goals and a rating of 9.35) proving the exception rather than the rule so far.

Thorgan Hazard, on the other hand, might be considered unlucky to have been kept on a short leash thus far. Having arrived from Chelsea on an initial loan, the 21-year-old clearly believes in Favre’s – and Eberl’s – project, having recently agreed to ink a permanent deal running to 2020 despite relatively limited playing time.

There are two ways of looking at Favre’s use of Hazard to date this season. Either he has handled him expertly, using him sparingly to get high impact contributions from his young star, or he has shied away from giving the Belgian the sort of responsibility that he handled with aplomb at Zulte Waregem over the last two seasons.

Either way, Hazard has provided plenty of bang for Gladbach’s buck. He has played less than any of their other attacking players, with 659 Bundesliga minutes over 5 starts and 14 appearances as substitute. In that time, he has already delivered 1 goal and – significantly - 5 assists. Or, if you’re into comparisons, he has delivered 5 times as many assists as Raffael in just over a third of the time – the Brazilian has played 1527 minutes.

That’s not to say that Hazard should necessarily be direct competition for one of the club’s greatest assets, or that they can’t coexist in the same XI. It does suggest, however, that Favre is perhaps struggling to effectively juggle his enviable resources in the final third in order to get the very best from them. Top scorer Max Kruse’s current 7-game dry spell in the Bundesliga has echoes of this time last year, but he always contributes even when off target. He has 5 assists this campaign, after 9 last time around.

Maybe Favre is promoting his team playing within themselves in order to secure a top four placing. The Europa League exit to holders Sevilla was entertaining, but was a far less controlled Gladbach, which is perhaps something that concerns the coach. Given their ambition, though, expectations are only set to grow. “When you want to play in the Champions League, you can’t go 2-0 up at Mainz and go home with a 2-2,” said Christoph Kramer after Saturday’s match. They need to find a way to cope with their augmenting status.

Do you think Gladbach can make the Champions League this season? Let us know in the comments below