What happened on Sunday in the An der Alten Försterei stadium was a little reminiscent of 1. FC Union’s first victory in the Bundesliga. Almost exactly two years ago, the Berliners defeated Borussia Dortmund in the third game after promotion and provided a first big exclamation mark on the big stage. A win against the other Borussia from Mönchengladbach is no longer such a sensation as it was back then, but some parallels were noticeable. Union only had less ball possession in a win than on Sunday (28 percent) against Dortmund (26) in 2019. In both games, the technically superior opponent was in control and pushed the Berliners into the penalty area at times. Nevertheless, Union earned the victories with a lot of leg work, a compact defense and ice-cold counterattacks.
There was, however, a big difference – and this illustrates the development that the team has made in recent years, from Bundesliga debutants to European Cup entrants. While everyone involved was happy two years ago, critical voices also mingled in the cheers on Sunday. “We had a hard time playing with the ball, we were hectic and not so precise,” complained coach Urs Fischer. For Max Kruse, who once again proved his extra class in teamwork with Taiwo Awoniyi, the game was “not a treat” due to the many long balls his team had. Last season the team had already shown that it could play very good football, said Kruse and warned: “We don’t want to go backwards either.”
While there is still a lot of room for improvement in the game with the ball despite the excellent second goal, there was little to complain about in the defensive work. Gladbach had a clear visual preponderance, but found hardly any gaps against the compact Berlin five-man chain. “We defended very well and had a brutal mentality,” said goal scorer Niko Gießelmann, addressing two points that Union has already distinguished in the past two years and which many opponents sum up with the adjective “disgusting”.
In the first games of the season, the Berliners had revealed unusually large gaps in the back team. This was most evident in the second goal in Hoffenheim, when Union did not get into the duel in midfield and the assignment in the back row was incorrect. Against Gladbach, the defensive work worked much better. The team moved well, won most of the decisive duels and did not allow many clear scoring opportunities. “That was a step in the right direction,” said Fischer. There is still room for improvement, but that is normal in this phase. “We had a change and that takes time.”
What happens to Marvin Friedrich?
The Swiss coach was satisfied with Paul Jaeckel. The 23-year-old newcomer from Fürth moved into the starting line-up and only showed a strong performance in his second appearance. Jaeckel did not miss Marvin Friedrich, who had to pause after 44 league games in a row, and was the strongest Berliner. This is a good sign for Union, because until the transfer deadline on Tuesday evening, Friedrich’s farewell cannot be ruled out. A move to Hertha, which was speculated about on Sunday, was ruled out by the coveted defense chief at “Sport1”. But of course there is no shortage of interested parties with a player of this quality with a contract that expires in 2022.
But Union could also do something on the access side. The club is said to be interested in central defender Marco Friedl (23) and midfielder Kevin Möhwald (27) from Werder Bremen. Both were not used on Sunday, Friedl is said to have refused the cadre nomination. While Union is well positioned in terms of both quantity and quality in defense, reinforcement in the defensive midfield would make perfect sense.
So far, the Berliners have mostly played with Rani Khedira as the sole six and two clearly more offensive players in front of them. However, this approach has not yet been convincing in the long term. The departure of Robert Andrich to Leverkusen has left a gap – in the game with and in the game against the ball. But even without a transfer from Möhwald, improvement is in sight. In the friendly game at Lichtenberg 47 on Wednesday, Grischa Prömel will probably be playing for the first time after a long injury break and the international break will give time for training and recovery. “We’re not where we want to be yet,” said Fischer. “Now it’s time to use the next two weeks.”
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