During the break, Jonas Hofmann found himself with two ice packs on his ankles in the dressing room in Borussia Park. He took a little bit in the first half and it didn’t look too good. Hofmann, Borussia Mönchengladbach’s current top scorer, looked close to being substituted. “But I really wanted to score another goal,” he later said cheerfully, “and I’m not going out because of two such scratches!”
Last Sunday, the 29-year-old scored the goal to make it 4-1 in Armenia when the German national team won. Apparently that only increased his appetite for goals, because he had already scored in the first half against Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth and heralded the 4-0 (3-0) victory with the first goal. But Hofmann wanted more.
The ice on my ankles helped. And so Hofmann actually scored a second goal in the 57th minute. It meant the final score against harmless Fürth guests. The Heidelberg native has already set his Bundesliga goal record of six goals from last season. And he is currently also the best goalscorer of the offensively by no means badly cast Gladbacher. With Hofmann’s help, the Borussia, who have only just started the season, want to slowly establish themselves in the top third. There are now only three points left to a Champions League place. “But what we really need,” says Hofmann, “is constancy.”
The Fürth people ignore any protection against Gladbach
Not much was to be read from the runaway win against the bottom of the table. In addition, the Fürth played too little at eye level with the opponent. “Mönchengladbach was superior to us in all respects”, well-known coach Stefan Leitl. “We can learn a lot from a team like that.”
Any indication that they could possibly break the historically bad Bundesliga record of Tasmania Berlin (two wins, four draws, 15 goals) from 1966 in the coming spring, evidently arouses the defiant need to play with the best teams in the Franks . This could be seen on Saturday, when the Fürth team eager for possession of the ball and were keenly interested in approaching the goal. However, they ignored any safeguards in their cheerful test of courage. After losing the ball, they did not come back quickly enough and offered the Gladbach team grateful opportunities to play through the seams and in the back of the defense.
It hit the guests’ goal three times in the first half. Hofmann (9th), Florian Neuhaus (28th) and Alassane Plea (43rd) decided the game before the break. The second goal was bizarre, before goalkeeper Marius Funk wanted to land a clearance about five meters to the left of his goal, but played the ball flat so precisely on Gladbacher Neuhaus that he could shoot directly into the empty Fürth goal from about 25 meters.
Gladbach benefits from two referee decisions
The second half could have given the guests a bit of relief, but the referee Benjamin Brand decided twice against the Fürth team in two dangerous situations. First he denied them a penalty in the 50th minute after studying video, which Gladbach’s Denis Zakaria would have committed to Jamie Leweling. The scene was already controversial, but the foul that Gladbach’s captain Stindl committed in the 57th minute prior to the fourth goal on Fürth’s Paul Seguin was even clearer. Stindl sent Hofmann to 4-0 and his second goal, but his conquest of the ball looked pretty illegal.
Stindl set up three goals on Saturday, but the best player in this team is currently Hofmann. “He’s got an incredibly good run,” said his coach Adi Hütter about him afterwards, “he’s bursting with self-confidence and is a key player for us because he invests a lot and has a great feeling.” With that, Hütter also meant the flexibility shown by the three attackers Hofmann, Stindl and Plea. They castellate on feeling and develop from it a goal danger that is difficult to calculate. They contributed six scorer points to the 4-0 victory.
For Hofmann, however, it should by no means end. “I hope there will be a little more,” said Hütter, smiling about Hofmann. Maybe next Saturday. Then the Gladbachers will make a guest appearance at 1. FC Köln – the most important game of the semi-series for the fans. “They made that clear to us right after the final whistle,” said Hofmann on Saturday of the farewell to the fan block. “I had goosebumps.” First ice packs, then goose bumps – the Gladbach therapy is currently taking full effect for Jonas Hofmann.