Borussia Mönchengladbach are stuck in the lower midfield of the table after their home defeat to Bayer 04 Leverkusen. After the game, Matthias Ginter was in focus alongside penalty killer Yann Sommer – again.
Yann Sommer was still under contract with FC Basel when a Bundesliga goalkeeper last saved two penalties in one match. That was in February 2014, when Nuremberg’s Raphael Schäfer kept the upper hand against Braunschweig’s Domi Kumbela and Ermin Bicakcic. The difference: Schäfer saved three points for the Franconians, while Sommer was beaten despite his excellent saves.
“It’s a disappointing result at the end,” the Swiss sobered up after the 1:2 against Leverkusen on “Sky”. “We are there and the situation is where we are.” Mönchengladbach are only four points clear of the relegation place. That was held by the Foals at the end of the season, the last time they had fewer points on their account after 19 games than they currently do (22).
Sommer was the 16th keeper in Bundesliga history to make two penalty saves in one game, which was a positive story on the day from Gladbach’s point of view. The two remarkable saves against two not exactly badly kicked penalties were obviously no coincidence. “Of course you study the players,” Sommer explained about the Leverkusen shooters Patrik Schick and Kerem Demirbay, about whom he said, “I studied him a bit and saw that he shoots many penalties into the corner. That’s why I made that decision. “
Clear signal: Hütter brings in Beyer instead of Ginter
Another decision around Gladbach, on the other hand, had provided additional fuel for the fire. Matthias Ginter was not in the starting line-up. And after coach Adi Hütter had already taken a stand on the personnel issue before the start of the game, the Austrian made another telling change in the second half: when he took Tony Jantschke off the field in the 70th minute, he did not bring on the German international defender Ginter, but substituted another centre-back in Jordan Beyer.
Hütter avoided making a clear statement on this after the end of the game, but said after “Sky” pundit Lothar Matthäus addressed the change: “You are making it far too easy for yourselves. I will never criticise an individual player in front of the camera.” Hütter did not make that explicit on Saturday either, but at least dropped that even with Ginter in the starting eleven they had “got 17 goals in four games”. He brought on Marvin Friedrich from the start instead of Ginter because the newcomer was “a player for the future”.
Ginter is known not to be – and the signal of the double non-consideration is also clear. Nevertheless, Hütter did not want to write off his former defensive chief. “Ginter is a good player and I didn’t say the door was closed,” the coach said. “We have to get out of the situation with or without him. “
