BUNDESLIGA PLAYER RATINGS | Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach | OneFootball

A strange matchup between two sides who had already sacked their head coaches, Leverkusen were in their third game under Kasper Hjulmand, while this was Borussia Mönchengladbach’s first game post-Gerardo Seoane.

Replacing the Swiss was under-23 head coach Eugen Polanski for the interim. The arrival of a new head coach was exactly what Gladbach needed, as they carried energy and intensity which had been lacking for a long time under Seoane.

Leverkusen had the best chance of the first half, when Moritz Nicolas was forced into making a goalline save to keep out a Patrik Schick header.

Then Gladbach thought they had scored their first goal of the season when Jens Castrop scored, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

The second half played out in a similar vein to the first, but Leverkusen were very much in control, but were unable to create anything meaningful in front of goal. However, the introduction of Ernest Poku on the right provided the directness that die Werkself were lacking. Poku continued to be a threat, and then one of his crosses, with the help of a lucky bounce of a Schick mis-hit, landed into the path of Malik Tillman, who opened the scoring.

Leverkusen were unable to kill off the game after their goal in the 70th minute, and similar to against Eintracht Frankfurt, they began to sit deep. Gladbach continued to knock at the door, and they finally got their answer when the substitutes stepped up for Gladbach with Haris Tabakovic heading in a Charles Herrmann cross.

It is still early days for Leverkusen under Kapser Hjulmand, but they still need to nail down a style of play. Currently, they have struggled in attack, and with the wealth of players they have available, they should be playing at a much higher standard. Granted, this is still basically a new team, but Tillman, Eliesse Ben Seghir, Claudio Echeverri and Ibrahim Maza are all good enough to create for Schick. The October international break will be crucial, as Hjulmand has lacked a pre-season.

Gladbach will be happier with the result, mainly as they were able to score their first goal of the season. But away from that, the performance was night and day compared to how they played under Seoane. The players also stepped up Kevin Stöger, who had looked like a shadow of his Bochum self, and looked back to his best. Jens Castrop brought energy, and Yannik Engelhardt also helped in midfield. On top of this, Florian Neuhaus also made his return to the squad and performed.

Die Fohlen’s next two games before the international break are against Frankfurt and Freiburg, if they perform at this level in both of these games, then not only could they win a game, but an arguement could also be made to keep Polanski in charge until at least the winter break, especially as the crop of available managers is not the best at the moment.

Bayer Leverkusen:

Mark Flekken (5) – Jarell Quansah (5), Edmond Tapsoba (5), Loïc Badé (5) – Lucas Vazquez (5), Aleix Garcia (5), Malik Tillman (6), Alejandro Grimaldo (7) – Ibrahim Maza (6), Eliesse Ben Seghir (6) – Patrik Schick (5)

Others: Axel Tape (5), Ernest Poku (6), Christian Kofane (5), Claudio Echeverri (5), Jonas Hofmann (-)

Borussia Mönchengladbach:

Moritz Nicolas (6) – Kevin Diks (5), Nico Elvedi (5), Fabio Chiarodia (5) – Joe Scally (6), Rocco Reitz (6), Yannik Engelhardt (6), Lukas Ullrich (5) – Kevin Stöger (6), Jens Castrop (6) – Shuto Machino (5)

Others: Florian Neuhaus (6), Giovanni Reyna (-), Haris Tabakovic (-), Grant-Leon Ranos (-), Charles Herrmann (-)

GGFN Player of the Match: Alejandro Grimaldo (7)

Leverkusen are a bit of a one-man team at the moment. The Spaniard (via FotMob), was their best player in both attack and defence. Grimaldo created the most chances in the game (four) and then also led the team in defensive contributions with eight. If Leverkusen want to continue making strides, this will need to change.

For Gladbach, it is Stöger. The Austrian showed with his performance today that it was Seoane using him incorrectly. If this is the system that Polanski will use going forward, Stöger has shown how important he could be for Gladbach in the coming weeks.

GGFN | Jack Meenan