Relegation avoided, but top striker Mikael Forssell won’t help them anymore. Carnell will give them some depth on the left back or mid position, Kolkka is an assisting left winger and Ojigwe might help out in the central mid position. Unless Gladbach doesn’t find a new striker, the key question for staying in the league will be if Arie van Lent and Joris van Hout recovered completely from their long injuries and guarantee the much needed goals. GM: Christian Hochstätter Head Coach: Ewald Lienen (200?, since 3/2003) Main sponsor: Jever (brewery) Internet: www.borussia.de Budget: 27 M Season Aim: avoid relegation New: Oliver Kirch (Verl, 125 K), Bradley Carnell (Stuttgart), Joonas Kolkka (Panathinaikos Athens), Pascal Ojigwe (Leverkusen) Leaving: Mikael Forssell (Chelsea), Marcel Ketelaer (Hamburg), Stephane Stassin, Uwe Kamps (career end), Jens Bäumer Goal: Jörg Stiel, Michael Melka, Otto Fredrikson Defence: Max Eberl, Steffen Korell, Sladan Asanin, Jeff Strasser, Marcelo Pletsch, Markus Hausweiler, Daniel Embers Midfield: Igor Demo, Ivo Ulich, Joris van Hout, Jan Schlaudraff, Bernd Korzynietz, Daniel Felgenhauer, Peer Kluge, Brad Carnell, Oliver Kirch, Pascal Ojigwe Offence: Arie van Lent, Peter van Houdt, Marco Küntzel, Morten Skoubo, Lawrence Aidoo, Joonas Kolkka Training Camps: June 27 – July 2 in Teistungen, Germany; July 15-21 in Herisau/Switzerland Scheduled Friendlies: June 27, Hessen Kassel; June 29, Teistungen; July 2, Göttingen; July 11, Wegberg-Beeck; July 13, Bergisch-Gladbach; July 19, Vitesse Arnhem in Vreden
Scoring goals looks again to be Gladbach's main problem. Between van Hout and van Lent, perhaps one will return to form following ACL injuries. van Hout was playing pretty well last season before his injury, and van Lent was solid two seasons ago before his injury. Skoubo showed some signs of life at the end of the season, maybe a signal that he has adapted to the BL. Just as important is to get consisent goal scoring from its wingers and/or a midfielder or two. van Houdt does a lot of work, but can't score to save his life, and Aidoo has moments of brilliance obscured by vast chunks of inconsistent, invisible play. Maybe Kolkaa will help. Certainly, Demo, Ulich, Kluge, et al. aren't the answer. Personally, I think that since no one can score while playing the preferred 4-3-3, they might as well play 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, as it can't get any worse. At least these formations give them the chance of controlling midfield a bit. Rumors are the Gladbach is looking at defender Malte Matzelder (brother of the Dortmund back) of Muenster, and forwards Stanko Svitlica (a Serb, I think, who plays for Legia Warsaw) and Norwegian international Pa-Modou Kah (Valerenga Oslo). Supposedly, Ketelaer is headed back to Hamburg.
Agreed, Skoubo might help if he stays in the shape of the last few games. Demo is a solid mid, who scores many goals for a player on his position, but that's in vain if they have no top striker. Ketelaer is back in Hamburg - the loan had a buying option, but this was made in boom times; the negotiations for a lower sum failed as Gladbach insisted to get him as free transfer.
Latest rumors have Gladbach linked with 19-year old Czech striker Vaclav Sverkos of Banik Ostrava, who was the second leading scorer in the Czech league last season. This would be a non-Bosman if Gladbach takes the plunge. No word on a fee. In other news, talks with HSV over Ketelaer are back on, as Gladbach is still trying to negotiate a transfer fee for his services. And Aidoo has been called up by Ghana and won't be available for much of Gladbach's training camp. Olaf, re. Demo, he does score a reasonable number of goals--my comments about him, Ulich and Kluge weren't intended so much as knocks but as acknowledgment of the fact that Gladbach's scheme makes MF goal scoring a rare commodity.
Gladbach won the first friendly of the season, 2:1 against D4 club Hessen Kassel. Goals were scored by Spann (amateur) and Pletsch.
Latest News: Kuentzel is linked now with Aachen. Aidoo was released early by Ghana and is back in training. And van Houdt suffered a calf injury and will miss the next three weeks of training.
Gladbach is the first team with an upset in a friendly against a lower division team - 1:2 against Wattenscheid (D3)
As for the loss to Wattenscheid, in Gladbach's defense, Gladbach was up 1-0 until Lienen substituted 9 of the 11 starters. Such luminaries as Fredrickson, Plate, Spann, Gaede, Schulz-Winge, Meyer and Podszus were on the field for Wattenscheid's late equalizer and winner. So the result is at least a bit deceiving. Carnell was hurt earlier and is expected to be out for several weeks (thigh). Kuentzel is not going to Aachen (they signed Michalke from 1.FCN instead)and is still looking for a new club.
GM: Christian Hochstätter Head Coach: Ewald Lienen (200?, since 3/2003) Main sponsor: Jever (brewery), 3.5 M; until 2006 Equipment: Lotto Internet: www.borussia.de (no English version) 1 Jörg STIEL – G – Switzerland – 1968 – FC Zurich, FC St Gallen – 61/0 - Switzerland 12 – 2004 2 Max EBERL – D – Germany – 1973 – Bayern Munich, VfL Bochum, Greuther Fürth – 100/0 – 2004 3 Bradley CARNELL – M – South Africa – 1977 – Kaizer Chiefs Johannesburg, VfB Stuttgart – 82/2 – South Africa 25 - 2005 4 Steffen KORELL – D – Germany – 1971 – SC Freiburg – 114/3 – 2005 5 Sladan ASANIN – D – Croatia – 1971 – Slavia Prague – 70/5 - 2004 6 Igor DEMO – M – Slovakia – 1975 – Slovan Bratislava, PSV Eindhoven – 52/11 – Slovakia 19 – 2005 7 Jeff STRASSER – M – Luxembourg – 1974 – FC Metz, 1. FC Kaiserslautern – 109/8 – Luxembourg 52 – 2005 8 Ivo ULICH – M – Czech Rep – 1974 – Slavia Prague – 58/3 – Czech Rep 8 - 2006 9 Arie VAN LENT – F – Germany – Werder Bremen, Greuther Fürth – 75/18 - 2004 10 Peter VAN HOUDT – F – Belgium – 1976 – VV St Truiden, Roda Kerkrade – 48/8 – Belgium 6 – 200? 11 Joonas KOLKKA – F – Finland – 1974 – Willem II Tilburg, PSV Eindhoven, Panathinaikos Athens – 0/0 – Finland 49 - 2006 12 13 Joris VAN HOUT – M – Belgium – 1978 – KV Mechelen, RSC Anderlecht – 16/6 – Belgium 1 - 2006 14 15 Marcelo PLETSCH – D – Brazil – 1976 – FC Santos, Internacional Porto Alegre – 53/2 – 2005 16 Jan SCHLAUDRAFF - M – Germany – 1983 - / - 4/0 – 2007 17 Morten SKOUBO – F – Denmark – 1980 – FC Midjytland – 21/4 – Denmark 1 – 2007 18 Pascal OJIGWE – M – Nigeria – 1976 – 1.FC K’lautern, 1. FC Köln, Bayer Leverkusen – 35/0 – Nigeria 17 - 2006 19 Bernd KORZYNIETZ – M – Germany – 1979 - / - 41/3 - 2005 20 Andreas SPANN - M – Germany – 1984 - / - 1/0 – 2008 21 Markus HAUSWEILER – M – Germany – 1976 - / - 72/3 – 2004 22 Oliver KIRCH – M – Germany – 1982 - / - 0/0 – 2007 23 Lawrence AIDOO – F – Ghana – 1982 - / - 43/5 – Ghana 2 - 2006 24 Peer KLUGE – M – Germany – 1980 – Chemnitzer FC – 34/2 - 2005 25 Vaclav SVERKOS – F – Czech Rep – 1983 – Banik Ostrava – 0/0 – 2007 26 27 Marcel KETELAER – F – Germany – 1977 – Hamburger SV – 102/4 – 200? 31 Michael MELKA – G – Germany – 1978 - / - 6/0 – 2005 33 Otto FREDRIKSON – G – Finland – 1981 - / - 0/0 – 2006
I think they have a good chance of avoiding relegation. They're only a point behind right now. I think clubs like Hertha and Hamburg are very vulnerable and will freefall toward the end. They should do a U.S. tour, linking up with Champions World or some other big promoter to get themselves more recognized here.
I appreciate your optimism, but I'm afraid this is going to be a hard battle to the end for Die Foehlen. I disagree about Hertha and Hamburg; I think these are two teams that will move up, not down, the table as the season progresses. Cologne and Frankfurt are going to go down (he says, hopefully). The question is who will be the third team to join them. Trying to be as objective about this as possible, the two leading candidates for the third relegation spot are Borussia and Hansa. At this point, I just don't see anyone else getting relegated, with the possible exception of Hannover. Kaiserslautern--no, they've got enough talent to survive, even if they lose Klose at the winter break. Freiburg will do just enough to stay up. Bochum was saved by their fast start. TSV has played (at least to me) surprisingly productive soccer. Nothing against Hansa, but here's hoping the BL next year commences sans a team from East Germany.
Sad to see my Gladbach fighting against relegation. Still, until the points gap is impossible we always have a chance. Loaning Forssel last season was a masterstroke but it will be difficult to find another like him in the winter break. I've not been able to follow the team as much this season, just the results and basic news. Who has been the best players this year? Any potential winter break transfer rumours yet?
Do they still call them the colts in Germany? I thought that was just a reference to their great, young teams of the '70s. We'll see if they avoid relegation, but they are showing some signs of life lately.
They still call them the Fohlen. Juenter, a black horse, is an unofficial mascot, the Gladbach yearbook is called the FohlenEcho, etc. They are showing some signs of life. I'd like to see them out remain out of the relegation spots through the winter break. That might give them some confidence heading into the second half of the season.
it has been and will continue to be a rough season for 'gladbach, but what a glorious night against stuttgart in the DFB BM 4-2 82' if you missed this one on ZDF... you missed a barnburner
Do tell, BlueDaddy. Sounds like Sverkos was unstoppable (and then van Lent comes in for him and scores--so maybe it was less Sverkos and more the Stuttgart defense). What were your impressions of him? Any other Gladbach players stand out?
