For the first time in four seasons Borussia Mönchengladbach will not compete in a European competition after a difficult campaign. Gladbach started looking forward to another season challenging for the top four under coach Andre Schubert who had saved the team in the previous campaign and taken them to fourth spot. But, soon enough, it was Schubert who was out of depth as Gladbach made one of their slowest starts in recent seasons. Schubert’s side seemed to struggle with balancing out three separate competitions and the coach would not make it to the winter break. In his place Dieter Hecking took over and immediately saw improvement after the winter break.
Had their form in January and February continued, then, Gladbach’s season could have ended very differently. Progression to the semi final of the cup was preceded by an incredible comeback in the Europa League away to Fiorentina. But a devastating exit from the Europa League after leading and a penalty exit in the cup against Frankfurt changed the complexion of the season. Especially when their poor league finish is considered and their three points from their last three games which ended their hopes of a Europa League spot.
Gladbach’s hugely talented squad really should have done better than their eventual ninth place finish. Injuries near the end of the season caused Hecking some selection problems, but there were still some impressive individual contributions this campaign. Centre backs Jannik Vestergaard and Andreas Christensen were excellent at centre back all year long and Christensen’s likely departure this season will be a big blow to the squad. Raffael and Thorgan Hazard were also dangerous in attack contributing 13 goals, but unfortunately both missed long periods of time due to injury. The real glue in the team however was captain Lars Stindl who scored a number of important goals amongst 11 in the season and was the club’s top scorer. His leadership was also exemplary throughout the season and he is now very much a key member of the squad going into what will be an important campaign next year.
