At the conclusion of the 2020/21 Bundesliga season, the coaching carousel went into full swing. One of the clubs that had to make a move was Borussia Mönchengladbach, after Marco Rose left the club to join Borussia Dortmund. After the departure of Rose, Gladbach replaced him with then Eintracht Frankfurt boss Adi Hütter, which also resulted in a slight change in philosophy. The 52-year old Austrian came to the club after success with Frankfurt, and looked to build on it with Gladbach.
However, the 2021/22 Bundesliga season for Hütter and Gladbach was anything but successful, with the club struggling for most of the season, even battling relegation for a large portion of it. Though on the final day of the season Gladbach thumped Hoffenheim 5-1, finishing 10th for the season as a result, it was not enough to save Hütter’s job, with him and the club parting company right after the game. This tactical analysis piece will take an in-depth look at the defensive issues that Borussia Mönchengladbach had this season, and why it was likely the main reason Hütter lost his job.
Defensively poor in transition + lapses in concentration
The biggest problem this season for Borussia Mönchengladbach was their poor defensive record, with Die Fohlen’s defence heavily leaking goals all season. Gladbach shipped 61 goals this term, only relegation playoff bound Hertha Berlin and relegated Greuther Fürth conceded more. They also had a 59.51 expected goals against tally, the second worst in the Bundesliga behind only relegated Arminia Bielefeld. At first glance, when comparing their defensive record this season under Hütter, to the final season under Rose, there is not a massive difference. At the end of the 2020/21 Bundesliga season, Gladbach conceded 56 goals, with an expected goals against total of 54.89. The difference comes when looking more closely at the manner of how Gladbach conceded goals this season. Gladbach were absolutely poor when it came to defending in transition, with the back three constantly being caught out of position when the ball was turned over.
This defensive phase above from Gladbach’s match against RB Leipzig is able to excellently demonstrate the struggles that Gladbach had at the back this season. After a few passes in midfield by Leipzig, the ball is then played out wide to Andre Silva, who positioned himself in a left wing position. Instead of staying in their defensive shape and letting the wingback on the near side pressure Silva; the centre-backs step out of their shape to attempt to close Silva down. As a result, he plays the ball over the top to Nkunku, who is able to get onto the end of the pass and score before Luca Netz is able to close him down from his left wingback position. Any manager in world football knows that your back three should not be positioned like that when the opposition are in possession in the final third (almost in a straight line vertically), but this was a relatively common occurrence for Borussia Mönchengladbach this season during transitional moments.
