Bundesliga 2021/22: Should Adi Hütter continue with a back three at Borussia Mönchengladbach? – scout report

Maybe because of the early announcement of managerial change, Borussia Monchengladbach did not end the Marco Rose era too well. This season, Austrian head coach Adi Hütter came from Eintracht Frankfurt to be the head coach, but they were not having a good start in the Bundesliga.

Gladbach began with a strong 1-1 draw against Bayern Munich, but being criticized heavily after consecutive losses to Bayer Leverkusen and Union Berlin. Although Hütter was famous for a back three at Frankfurt, instead, he stuck with a 4-2-3-1 in his early days. Only at the fourth game, he tried a back three against Arminia Bielefeld and won 3-1.

Intriguingly, his team surprisingly lost to Augsburg in a back four shape, and this encouraged Hütter to revert to a back three against Borussia Dortmund. His team beat Rose’s Black and Yellow and took an important three points. This tactical analysis is a scout report of some interesting attacking scenarios of Gladbach, and see whether it would be a long term solution for the team.

Structural advantages of Gladbach’s back three

In the build-up, the back three was actually created by two centre-backs and the goalkeeper as we have shown in the above image. They pushed the right centre-back to the touchline, making Jordan Beyer more liked a right-back. Also, they only need one defensive midfielder and Denis Zakaria would take that role.

With this shape, the advantage was clear, it was the 3v2 overload against the two-strikers of Bielefeld, so Gladbach could choose the side they want to progress with the free centre-back in half-spaces.