Following their brilliant league success last season, finishing third, Borussia Monchengladbach and Lucien Favre have been preparing for the Champions League for only the second time in recent history.
Favre’s brand of counter-attacking football possessed a strong defensive record and utilised fast attacking moves, but such a taxing brand of football may be their undoing this season.
More than a few teams have suffered the fate of a brilliant initial season to retake their place in Europe, only to find the added fixture clogging and travelling suddenly brings them crashing back to earth the following season. Most recently, in England, Liverpool’s barnstorming title challenge in 2013-14 took them back into Europe for the first time in a number of years, before it all unraveled during 14-15.
They finished fifth in the league with a number of sub-par performances, and failed dismally in the Champions League, finishing third in their group before being knocked out of the Europa League Round of 32. The lack of extra football in the initial season was arguably a huge factor in their great form, while the added fixtures contributed to their downfall this past campaign.
Now, the challenge for Favre and the club is to make sure that the same fate does not befall them, as they look to make a serious statement of intent in Europe, while continuing to build themselves up as Bundesliga powerhouses once more. With Bayern Munich dominating the domestic scene of date, last season saw a slight shift of power across the league, as Wolfsburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Monchengladbach themselves began to close the gap on the Bavarian giants.
One area where they cannot come close to matching Bayern is in spending power, and this creates an issue for bolstering squad depth ahead of what will undoubtedly a taxing season. Monchengladbach’s additions this summer have been areas that needed strengthening regardless, as opposed to luxury purchases to increase the depth of Favre’s options.
With the power struggle between the teams chasing Bayern becoming more and more intense, the danger of the side slipping down the table is real; albeit all the sides around them are in the same position. Competing on the European stage with the likes of Wolfsburg and Bayer, with Borussia Dortmund and others in the Europa League, squad management amongst all the clubs will be the key to where they finish domestically.
Dortmund, with their strong squad and high calibre of youth, are arguably the best placed to improve on their league finish last season. That finish was seventh, however, and it would be hard, and disappointing, for them to not improve.
While the signing of Josip Drmic has given Favre an extra option up front, in a more taxing position, the Swiss youngster is likely to start in league matches as a first choice, meaning sometimes, he may be rested for European fixtures, depending on the timing of matches. Having to rotate such a key figure can present problems with the setup of a side, particularly if a system is geared to the strengths of that particular player. With Drmic, that is not quite the issue, with the forward acting more as a final piece of the puzzle in the system, however for some of the key midfield players their rotation will need to be the most carefully managed.
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Youngster Granit Xhaka was a force to be reckoned with in midfield last year, with an incredible 86% pass accuracy according to Squawka, leading the charge going forward for the side, and even chimed in with two goals from his deep position in midfield. With only three defensive errors across the season, his presence appeared to bring a sense of calm to the defensive side of Borussia’s play.
Now, the major dilemma that this poses to Favre, is not if, but when, he should be rested, and whether his rest is during European fixtures, or those domestically. Taking such a pivotal figure out of any side can begin to cause problems, and how the manager is able to counter any arising issues will be an important factor in how the side performs.
While Monchengladbach fans will hope that their performance on the field and the talent they possess will be enough to progress in both competitions, it will be a case of success by tinkering, much of it behind the scenes on the whiteboard of Favre.
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