Red Skies Over Borussia

After winning last week in Hamburg, Borussia lost its second away game against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the so called Borussia Park two goals to one.


For both Borussias it was a vital game battling for the fifth position which would mean the qualification for the UEFA Cup. The table looks pretty strange. You have the top four teams and then you have a gap and maybe 5 – 8 clubs which are trying to snap the 5 position all with ridicules low points for such a position in the table. So, Borussia had a wonderful performance last week when the squad managed to beat in a fantastic game the second position team from Hamburg. The hopes were high that the team would be able to carry over this positive result to Mönchengladbach, a team which was struggling in the past.  
Gladbach had the better start. Maybe it was due to the protest of the home supporters. The fans were not accepting the low performance of the squad and so there was no cheering before the game. Once it started it changed. Also what changed very soon was the set up of the game. Only six minutes had been played when the all of the BVB hopes were crashed. Left corner kick, Kehl is heading the ball away and Nando Rafael has all the time and the space to head the ball into the BVB goal, no chance for goalie Gentenaar (Weidenfeller was out, again due to an injury!), what a disappointment! Borussia Dortmund is then trying to find the rhythm back into the game. There are a lot of midfield battles and Kehl, Sahin and Rosicky are having are hard time to get the game under control. In the 15 minute BVB is getting a corner kick. Rosicky ball is flying into the box and then there is a whistle from referee Dr. Merk, one of the best German referees, this afternoon he made some strange decisions! One of this is the penalty kick for Dortmund. OK, Wörns was held by Jeff Strasser, but if you give this penalty then you have to give a couple of more in the league. Never mind. Rosicky is taking the chance and converts nice and without nerves. One all! Borussia Dortmund is now in control of the game. Kehl has a fantastic chance, but his volley shot is being saved by Gladbachs goalie Keller. Then out of nowhere, again the lead for Gladbach. Again it is Kehl who is heading the ball two time out of the box and again it is Rafael who is kicking the ball into the goal from 16 meters! Two heavy mistakes from the BVB defence are responsible for two goals. Just before half time BVB has a big chance to tie the game again. Rosicky is cutting though the midfield, fantastic pass towards Smolarek, his only good moment on the pitch, passes the ball to Buckley and the most unlucky BVB forward is missing from 5 meters, good save also by Keller, but with more class must have been a goal!
The story is told very fast in the second half. Borussia Dortmund was pushing Gladbach for the most time back into their half. Gladbach stood very deep with all players. BVB had 58% ball possession but could not convert that into something what counts! In the end Borussia was not only loosing the three points, but also Metzelder due to an injury in the first half!  
There are two stories to tell regarding this game. The one is the pure result and the way how the game was played, that is more the technical thing. The other story is how the team is still in this habit of missing big opportunities, something which started almost four years ago when the squad tied to Cottbus, which was the beginning for the’ we can not make the big points’ series. Every time when you think BVB is on a good way and can achieve something, then you can be certain that there is most of the time a cut back. Don’t get us wrong. Gladbach is not a bad team and you can always loose in their home stadium. We have a young team and some of the performances have been very well. It is more the way the BVB team is taking care of themselves! Every time the squad can go for something more, they are missing their chance. Before the start of the season the official goal was position 5 to 12 and for some it was even not to be relegated this year! So now the squad has to face Bayer Leverkusen in the next home game in the WESTFALENSTADIUM and Hertha Berlin in the next away game. These are two so called ‘finals’ in the run for the UEFA Cup position. Let’s see how the squad will handle this situation. 
Bert van Marwijk:We’ve made a big progress in the past in terms of playing football. You could see that today how we have dominated the game. But only with football skills you don’t win games. You need to make also mental progress. I’ve said that the entire week. You can not be five meters away in a standard situation from the other player. In the second have we were running against a wall and we had too many players who had no form. I’m disappointed because I thought we were mentally more advanced!
Horst Köppel (Mönchengladbach coach): We knew the entire week that this was going to be a tuff game. Dortmund was better playing football. But our engagement was higher and we deserved the win!
Christian Wörns: It is upsetting!
Dede: We have played well last week, this week not. It is always the same. We wanted to play as well as we did in Hamburg, but that did not work!
Hans-Jochim Watzke: I’m disappointed! We never had the spirit today and we are missing the stability. Now we have two final games against Leverkusen and Berlin. These are 6 points games which we must win!
Borussia Dortmund: Gentenaar (3) – Kringe (4), Metzelder (3), Wörns (3), Dede (4) - Kehl (4), Rosicky (3), Sahin (4) – Odonkor (5), Smolarek (6), Buckley (5) *
*(Notes: 1 = good , 6 = worse)
Goals:1:0 Rafael (6.), 1:1 Rosicky (15.), 2:1 Rafael (34.)
Subs: 46. Hünemeier (3) for Metzelder, 59. Amoah for Odonkor, 78. Gambino for Smolarek
Yellow cards: Wörns, Kehl, Sahin
Referee: Dr. Markus Merk (4)
Attendance: 54.019 (sold out)
Pictures: www.schwatzgelb.de  
 
 
 
 

Geschrieben von RUPO