The head coaches: Schalke, Freiburg and Hamburg all lined up defensively to face Werder in recent weeks, but Florian Kohfeldt is expecting a different situation this weekend. “Borussia’s formation won’t be influenced by us – they’ll try to play their own way,” says the Werder boss, who has been full of praise for Gladbach’s combination play. Kohfeldt urges: “We have to secure the ball and pass well when we’re in possession because they make runs high up the pitch. They have rapid players in Kramer and Zakaria, who own spaces and have a physical presence in the centre of the pitch. They’re very stable and reliable defensive midfielders.” The coach sees opportunities to outdo the high-quality eleven from Gladbach on the counter. “It’s an element of our play which can’t be underestimated.”
Gladbach’s injury list: Tobias Strobl, Ibrahima Traoré, Fabian Johnson, Oscar Wendt, Raffael, László Bénes, Mamadou Doucouré, Michaël Cuisance... The Mönchengladbach injury list is not a short one at the moment. “To his credit, he doesn’t talk about it all day, but he is fighting with an unbelievably long list of injuries,” Kohfeldt praises fellow coach Dieter Hecking. Tony Jantschke and Denis Zakaria, who had to come off in Borussia’s 1-0 win against Hannover, are now fit again.
