Gladbach come up empty in Mainz
January 29, 2016
Mainz 1-0 Gladbach
(Clemens 21')
The nightmare is starting to make Borussia Mönchengladbach toss and turn again. A team that lost five matches to start the season is seeing a similar pattern in the first fixtures of 2016, losing their second-straight match of the year 1-0 to Mainz.
Wanting to get the bad taste of last week's loss to Borussia Dortmund out of their mouths, the Foals came flying out of the gate. Their efforts culminated in an early chance for Havard Nordtveit, but the midfielder could not beat Loris Karius. Gladbach did not have another shot for 25 minutes, giving Mainz the opening they needed.
Jairo Samperio took that opening, taking advantage of a defensive error from Ibrahima Troare to advance the ball quickly for Mainz. Samperio found a wide open Christian Clemens, who sliced the ball over the head of Yann Sommer to open the scoring. The concession from Gladbach was the beginning of the end.
Fortune not favoring the Foals
Gladbach remained in the match despite being a goal down, Andre Schubert creatively slotted Fabian Johnson into central midfield with the absence of Mahmoud Dahoud and Granit Xhaka. Luck was not on Gladbach's side though, with scoring chances fluttering away right when an equalizer looked to be close.
The headbanging moment for Schubert came inside the final 20 minutes, with Gladbach unable to score because of what can only be described as divine force. Oscar Wendt crossed a ball to Lars Stindl from the goal line, but the forward's header bounced off the back of an unsuspecting Gaetan Bussmann a meter away from the goal line. Raffael put all of his might behind the rebound, but Loris Karius sprinted across his goal line in time to make the save.
Thorgan Hazard and Andreas Christiansen fired whizzing shots goalwards near the end of the match, but neither could get their attempts on target. Gladbach left the Coface Arena empty-handed in terms of goals and points, missing a second opportunity to inch closer to Hertha Berlin in third place. Having allowed six goals in their last three Bundesliga games, Schubert will need to wake Gladbach up to prevent his team from experiencing another nightmare dip in form.