Alexander Blessin has taken on Borussia Mönchengladbach’s most difficult immediate task: stopping the club’s worst start to a Bundesliga season.
Bottom after four rounds
Gladbach are 18th after four matchdays, still without a point and with a goal difference of 6:16. The run is the weakest four-game opening in the club’s history.
- Matches played: 4
- Points: 0
- Goals scored: 6
- Goals conceded: 16
- League position: 18th
The club had not collected more than three points from its first four league fixtures since four years ago. This time, the early damage has been heavier, particularly at the back.
Blessin’s first priority
Blessin arrives with the job of restoring defensive order and pulling the side out of the relegation places. Gladbach have scored six times, but have conceded 16, leaving little margin for recovery during matches.
The atmosphere around the squad is strained after a sequence in which little has worked. Kevin Diks, Florian Neuhaus, Moritz Nicolas and Hugo Bolin are among the players facing the early-season pressure.
Another early coaching change
Eugen Polanski left after matchday three. Jan-Moritz Lichte was unable to produce an immediate turnaround, leaving Blessin to take over with the club already at the foot of the table.
His first work will be simple in outline: make Gladbach harder to beat, reduce the defensive errors and give the side a platform to escape the bottom.
