Football Season Guide

Under the leadership of Lucien Favre, Borussia Mönchengladbach have become one of the better sides in the league but will be breaking new ground again this year. The gradual improvement that Favre has achieved with the club has taken them into the group stages of the Champions League, and certainly the toughest challenge that Favre has had so far. This will be the first group stage of the Champions League the club has ever taken part in and that brings with it a tough calendar of fixtures to add to their league and domestic cup duties. It will be down to Favre to get his side ready for the punishing schedule ahead of them. But Gladbach have one of the best records with injuries in the league so they will be well positioned from a fitness point of view, the main question mark now will be their performances. Their transfer dealings over the summer have been dominated more by the players leaving them than those joining. Max Kruse has moved on to Wolfsburg after a few years with the club and he has been replaced by Josip Drmic who has yet to prove himself with a top side in the league after failing to make his mark with Bayer Leverkusen. Perhaps more important is the loss of Christoph Kramer who has ended a two year loan spell with Gladbach. But in that time he had become a crucial member of the squad and he will be badly missed. Lars Stindl is a similar type of player but not of the same calibre. They will also be hoping that one or two of their younger players will step up into first team roles. Apart from the clear step up in quality from their Europa League campaign last season, Gladbach will mainly be hoping that their squad will be both strong and deep enough to get them through. They will hope to progress from the group stage of the Champions League but that will depend hugely on the draw as they will most likely be a third seed. In the league they will once again be one of the teams aiming for the top four but there will be other sides with the same goal and it could be a challenging season for Favre’s side.