ArseWeb background on Gladbach

Borussia Moenchengladbach are our opponents in the first round of the UEFA cup 1996-97

Before travelling to Germany for the away leg:: Moenchengladbach are NOT based in Muenchen (Munich). Don't go there for the match.
Moenchengladbach is a small town near Duesseldorf. But Borussia Moenchengladbach don't play there, either!
The big and international matches of Gladbach are played in the Duesseldorfer in the Rheinstadion, or in Cologne. We don't yet know which stadium will host our UEFA Cup tie. It'll probably be Dusseldorf.

The following responses are courtesy of Gladbach fan Ralf Klanke.

Where did you finish last season? How are you rated compared with, say, Bayern or Hamburg?

We finished 4th, but after being third for almost all of the season and having an eight-point-lead before the fourth. So the end of the season was quite disappointing. And then, we lost our second world class forward in 12 months. Last year champions Borussia Dortmund stole us Heiko Herrlich, the most successful goalgetter in Germany at that time. This year, Swedish International Martin Dahlin left us and went to AS Rome. We didn't get the very big stars that Arsenal's got in their team, but to replace the two, we got Joergen Pettersson, a very young and talented Swedish striker (Gladbach has a sort of scandinavian tradition - perhaps you remember Danish superstar Allan Simonsen in the seventies?) and the Polish "player of the year" Andrzej Juskowiak.

Before the season started, everything was fine. Gladbach won a tournament in Everton (I think) and some other test matches against "big" teams. But right now at the start of the season, Gladbach is in turmoil. We haven't won in any of the first four matches (two draws, two defeats). And only one goal! Everybody now wants to have Dahlin back. But it's not only the strikers' fault. There is too little support for them from the midfielders. Three offensive midfielders are injured. I would say they should be fourth after Bayern, Dortmund and Stuttgart.

In particular, which players should we be looking out for?

Here are all the players who might be playing...

GOALIE

1. Uwe Kamps: He is GREAT. He has been with Borussia since 1982! And some years ago the club wanted to sell him. They didn't and now he is better than ever before. He holds the world record in penalty killing: In one european cup match, he killed four penalties in a row!

DEFENSE

2. Thomas Kastenmaier: a real Bavarian. Non-bavarians don't understand a word he says, that's why he is *always* interviewed after matches. Right defender. Gladbach is one of the few teams with all four defenders are playing in line (without a sweeper). The idea is that the far-out defenders have to be *very* offensive as well. So he's a right wing forward as well. . He's got a very hard shot and is one of Germany's best players when it comes to free-kicks.
4. Patrik Andersson: Swedish International, and perhaps the best defender in Germany. He organizes the four-in-a-line defense. Without him, Gladbach is worthless. Played for Blackburn before he came to Gladbach.
6. Joerg Neun: left defender, Gladbach's weak spot! One of the *very* few "lefties" in the team. Has a hard shot, but is not very fast. [Editor's note: "Two Nigel Winterburns, there's only two NigelWinterburns..."]
21. Hubert Fournier: central defender, from France. Was bought because he can play in a four-in-a-line defense (or how do you call that in English?). Has made a very good impression so far.
3. Michael Klinkert: Quite a good defender. But had a serious head-injury last season as is only slowly recovering from that. Not likely to play.
27. Stephan Passlack: right wing defender. New in the team. Could be an alternative to Kastenmaier.

MIDFIELD

5. Christian Hochstaetter: Came together with Kamps in 1982. Defensive midfielder. Very reliable, important for Gladbach's system.
17. Ioan Lupescu: defensive midfielder, Romanian International. New in the team. Reliable.
8. Peter Wynhoff: offensive forward. The best dribbler, but not in a good shape at the moment.
10. Stefan Effenberg: the team captain. The only *real* star in the team. His carreer started late in the eighties in Gladbach. Then he went to Bayern Munich, then Italy. Got thrown out of the German national team when he showed his middle finger to the booing fans at the World Cup 1994. After that, he came back to Gladbach to become an idol, and a symbol of Borussia's starting success. When he came back, Gladbach was down on number 15 or so. One year later, Gladbach was Fifth and won the German cup. When he is in a good mood, he's the best player in Germany - but sometimes he just doesn't seem to feel like it. At the moment negotiating with the club over a contract until the year 2000 and playing bad. [Editor's note: runs like a girl. cf David Platt]
7. Karl-Heinz Pflipsen: the "everlasting talent". He could be one of the greatest players. But he is usually injured. Like now.
11. Michael Sternkopf: offensive midfielder, sometimes right wing forward. *very* fast, like Klinsmann, but not as likely to score. Injured at the moment.

OFFENSE

9. Andrzej Juskowiak: "Player of the year" in Poland. Was best scorer in the Polish EC qualifying group. But he seems to have difficulties to adapt to the team.
24. Joergen Pettersson: forward, young Swedish International (5 matches). A great talent -his only big weakness are headers!
12. Max Huiberts: young talented left wing forward. Came from Dutch team Roda Kerkrade, was quite successful there, but is still waiting for his first goal in the Bundesliga.

I think the home match (for Arsenal), will be all about getting the lead and building up as much of a buffer as possible. The away leg will be about containing your attacks.

Gladbach has always be famous for its fast, dangerous counters. So it might be more dangerous for Arsenal at home. If Arsenal has won the first match, there is not a lot left to fear, I think.

What colours do you play in?

Our team colours are white, green and black. At home we usually play in white (sometimes with black shorts), in the away matches, we wear jerseys with green and black stripes.

We still don't know *where* the second match will take place - either in Cologne or Duesseldorf. The Gladbach stadium is too small.

Other Gladbach facts

They are also notable for being the first German team to play with more non-Germans than Germans post-Bosman.

ArseWeb UEFA Cup 1996-97 page

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