Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Werder Bremen preview: Heaven only knows | OneFootball

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Borussia Mönchengladbach have yet to really get going this year.

They squeaked by regional league side SV Atlas Delmenhorst 3-2 in the DfB Pokal. Then, to open their Bundesliga campaign, they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to newly promoted Hamburg despite having most of the ball. Their spell ended in a loss, falling 1-0 away to VfB Stuttgart following a goal in the 79th minute.

That’s one point from two league contests, and zero goals scored. Die Fohlen haven’t played too badly, and their finishing in the final third has been the thing that lets them down. In their most recent game they ended the afternoon with an xG of 1.82. You can’t afford to be that wasteful at this level.

Gladbach picked up two new recruits near the end of the transfer window. First was 22-year-old Giovanni Reyna from Borussia Dortmund, someone who had loads of potential in year’s past but has stumbled as of late. He still has plenty of talent, and his new club will hope this change of scenery kicks him back into gear.

It’s a similar story for their other acquisition, Yannik Engelhardt. He has featured for the German youth national teams, and he was a highly touted figure while at Fortuna Düsseldorf. However, his move to Como hasn’t panned out great, so the Foals managed to pick him up on loan.

Mönchengladbach supporters have had a frustrating time, as they know their team features good players, but they’ve not been able to put it together. They miss the good old times, when they were Bayern Munich-killers.

This squad could make a run at any point this campaign, but it’s unclear if that’d be a winning one or a losing one. That makes this matchup an interesting one, as we could learn a lot from it.

Team news

Gladbach are dealing with a few key injuries, with Nathan N'Goumou, Niklas Swider, Tim Kleindienst, and Wael Mohya all likely to miss out.

Predicted lineups

Nicolas, Scally, Elvedi, Diks, Ullrich, Reitz, Engelhardt, Honorat, Stoger, Hack, Machino

Werder Bremen

Despite only having one point from two games, Werder Bremen comes into this game with some momentum.

The way they earned their single point was thrilling. Down a man and two goals at home to Bayer Leverkusen going into the final 30 minutes, Bremen stormed back, ultimately tying things up in stoppage time through 18-year-old Karim Coulibaly.

It was an electric moment, and the good times kept rolling after the match. The club had a great end to the summer transfer window. They brought in attacking midfielder Cameron Puertas from the Saudi League on loan, and then they announced the acquisition of Leverkusen frontman Victor Boniface for the season.

There are questions on the ability and health of both. However, they are also two players with incredibly high ceilings if they can hit the heights of their past. Puertas once delivered 19 assists in a season in Belgium, while Boniface had 23 goal contributions during Leverkusen’s title-winning campaign. It’s a big if, but those two could legitimately push Werder into the battle for European football.

New manager Horst Steffen has gone through some growing pains, but you can tell the impact his system is having on the team. They have clear patterns of play. When it works, it looks beautiful. It’s not working all the time, sure, though the consistency should improve the longer he’s there.

Bremen will be tested here. They can’t afford to come out flat like they did in this fixture last campaign, or they’ll go down 4-0 once again. If they continue their upward trajectory, and the new guys hit the ground running, then the Green-Whites will like their chances of securing all three points.

Team news

The good news for Die Werderaner is that Jens Stage and Marco Friedl should be able to return from injury. The bad news is Maximilian Wöber, Mitchell Weiser, Olivier Deman, Julian Malatini, and Amos Pieper are still out, while Niklas Stark is suspended following his red card in the previous contest.

Predicted lineups

Backhaus, Sugawara, Coulibaly, Friedl, Agu, Lynen, Stage, Mbangula, Schmid, Njinmah, Boniface