As Borussia Mönchengladbach ‘inch’ to Bundesliga safety, sporting director calls for stronger finish to the season | OneFootball

Borussia Mönchengladbach sporting director Rouven Schröder has expressed discontent with the manner in which his club is slowly assembling points in their quest to secure Bundesliga safety. A 0-0 draw against VfL Wolfsburg on matchday 31 of the current campaign places Gladbach in 11th place on 32 points with three matchdays remaining.

While such a points total theoretically leaves the Westphalians within striking distance of the Bundesliga “35-point safety threshold”, the remaining games on the club’s docket aren’t exactly easy. Dortmund, Augsburg, and Hoffenheim – even if they have little to play for – will not make securing more points easy.

Borussia Mönchengladbach technically safe

Arithmetically, it looks to be the case that Gladbach have already secured another season of Bundesliga football. The club is six points above the promotion-relegation playoff place. Thanks to the fact that current playoff place holders St. Pauli and Wolfsburg square off on the final matchday of the season, 16th place counts as the absolute worst case scenario for Eugen Polanski’s team.

The manner in which they’ve secured safety still hasn’t been convincing. After beating relegation rivals St. Pauli on matchday 26, the Fohlenelf have unspectacularly “squirreled away” four points via draws against Köln, Heidenheim, Mainz, and now Wolfsburg. A narrow loss against RB Leipzig served more as an unpleasant reminded about the impending departure of Rocco Reitz.

Rouven Schröder calls for a strong finish to the season

“We got off to a good start and needed to take the leading this phase,” Schröder told Sky Germany. “We were clearly the superior, more mature team with a solid game plan. Our recurrent problem is that we become too passive.

“It was important that we didn’t let Wolfsburg get back into the game, but we would have liked to have won it, too,” Schröder continued. “Mainz last week, with that late equalizer, felt like a defeat. Today, given the results of our rivals, it feels more like a point won. No more, but also no less.”

“If you rest on your laurels in the Bundesliga, you’ll quickly find yourself somewhere else entirely,” Schröder concluded. “We’re not there yet. No one should think otherwise. We still have three tough games ahead of us. We still have to earn points ourselves.“

GGFN | Peter Weis