The draw against VfB Stuttgart has put the brakes on Borussia Mönchengladbach’s plans to catch up. Max Eberl explains why he believes the team is on the right track.
Football is a results sport, Eberl knows that too, but when it comes to classifying performances, he prefers to look beyond the bare result. And as uncomfortable as the sporting director felt – like all Borussians without exception – with the 1-1 draw against Stuttgart, who were short of substitutes, he was equally satisfied with the team’s general performance on Saturday. “Personally, I don’t think the result reflects the game,” was Eberl’s verdict, citing the points he agreed with. “We played with a lot of commitment over 90 minutes. We ran a lot. We invested a lot. We were active, found solutions, had penetrating power going forward.” One expression of this dominance was the goal-scoring statistics of 31:5 in favour of Borussia. However, Eberl rightly admitted: “That very clear goal was often not there. “
“The opponent defended without making any mistakes. In football, mistakes happen that lead to goals – Stuttgart didn’t make any. “
MAX EBERL
The fact that the superiority of play did not lead to a second goal is certainly the most significant point of criticism that the team has to accept. Which, in Eberl’s opinion, was also due to the visitors’ good defensive performance. “The opponent defended without making any mistakes. In football, mistakes happen that lead to goals – Stuttgart didn’t make any.” In the long run, the result may have been too little for the effort put in, “but we are happy to take the one point,” said the VfL manager.
“Picking up exactly where we left off before the international break “
Eberl would have liked to see a continuation of the chase in the table, but on the basis of the 90 minutes he did not want to rate the 1-1 draw against VfB as a setback at all. Rather as an indication that they are still on the right track after the victories over Champions League contenders Dortmund (1-0) and Wolfsburg (3-1). “Our performance,” Eberl concluded, “picked up exactly where we left off before the international break. “