Alexander Blessin’s reign as Borussia Mönchengladbach coach began exactly where his predecessors had left off: with a defeat, a long week ahead and a long climb in front of him. His first match in charge was the derby against arch-rivals Köln, and it ended in a 2-1 loss that leaves Die Fohlen bottom of the Bundesliga with no points from five games.
On paper the fixture list had looked kind. A three-week break was what Gladbach needed after a chastening start to the campaign, and a derby against their fiercest rivals seemed an ideal way to train focus. The detail told a different story. Blessin had only met a host of key players in the days before the trip to Köln, and several others were simply unavailable, with Franck Honorat joined on the injury list by striker Tim Kleindienst and defender Ko Itakura.
There is little time to recover or reflect. Blessin’s most pressing job is to get his defenders, in particular, to absorb the “frontal instruction” of the defensive principles that kept his low-budget St Pauli side competitive. He begins his reign in the same position as Eugen Polanski and, briefly, Jan-Moritz Lichte before him, and there is no respite on offer.
Köln’s goals came from an Isak Johannesson wonder-strike and Saïd El Mala’s winner, the latter cutting in from the left before firing a right-footed shot into the far corner past Moritz Nicolas with what has become his trademark move. Yet to frame the game purely around those two moments would be to ignore the small print. It could have been worse for Gladbach had Köln’s injured forwards Ragnar Ache and Thijs Dallinga been available to add the extra firepower up front, and Köln had problems of their own, with goalkeeper-turned-mascot Hennes IX quarantined in the city zoo because of an outbreak of avian flu and key midfielder Ellyes Skhiri carried off on a stretcher in the first half.
What Köln did have was a hero fit for the occasion. El Mala’s status has changed markedly since a summer move to Borussia Dortmund fell through: he became the first player to wear the club’s No 10 shirt since Lukas Podolski and signed a contract extension. His derby winner was his first goal since the opening day. As a teenager last season he scored 13 times in 20 league starts, and he is now a full Germany international. “I’ve never been so fired up for a game,” he said afterwards. “I’ve had a bit of a rough patch these past few weeks. What sets me apart is that I don’t give up and I keep going.”
For Gladbach the sorrow lies not only in the result but in the recognition that they have no El Mala of their own. The club has lost plenty in recent years, most notably Marcus Thuram, Jonas Hofmann and Rocco Reitz, and Blessin must now take them up from the foot of the mountain without too many stars of note. Union Berlin’s long-awaited first win, against Elversberg, made the peak look even steeper. Blessin may not be the coach Gladbach fans dreamed of, but in this era of reduced means he is probably the right one for now.