Matthew Marshall, Borussia Park – Borussia Mönchengladbach held on to claim a 2-1 win against Bochum at Borussia Park. Alassane Plea started and starred in the victory, opening the scoring and assisting Jonas Hofmann who scored before the break.
Bochum rewarded their travelling support by storming home and making it an exciting finish. Danny Blum’s textbook free kick narrowed the margin in the 87th minute, Yann Sommer saving Milos Pantovic’s strike deep into added time to secure victory.
Foals start fast
Borussia Mönchengladbach started well and took the lead in the 12th minute. Joe Scally was left with time and space, his cross picking out Alassane Plea who headed past Manuel Riemann.
Gerrit Holtmann flashed wide from a tight angle and Takuma Asano volleyed wide, but Bochum were soon undone by a beautiful team move.
Lars Stindl’s long ball picked out Alassane Plea, he held the ball up before feeding Jonas Hofmann who fired past Riemann from a tight angle.
Plea on fire
Alassane Plea collected a ball from Stindl and found space in the box before firing narrowly wide.
Bochum fired a warning shot in the 70th minute with Yann Sommer tipping Takuma Asano’s shot over the bar. Vasilios Lampropoulos headed the resulting corner against the post.
Plea was determined to dominate the headlines however, playing a perfect ball to Hofmann who rounded Riemann and saw his shot cleared off the line by Danilo Soares.
Frantic finish
Bochum refused to go down without a fight. Christopher Antwi-Adjei shot wide in the 83rd minute and three minutes later they reduced the deficit.
Danny Blum unleashed an unstoppable free kick, the ball swinging into the top corner and giving Sommer little chance.
There was time for more drama in added time. A long ball into the box fell to Milos Pantovic, his fierce shot saved by Sommer in his 300th competitive game for the Foals.
All about Plea
Alassane Plea had come off the bench for four straight matches. He made the start against Bochum count with a man of the match performance. Scored the opener, assisted Gladbach’s second and was close to grabbing another goal and assist. His movement caused Bochum’s defence all sorts of headaches.
Hütter makes the switch
Adi Hütter will be relieved to back up the Bayern Munich victory with three points against Bochum, a game he described as “more or less a must-win game.”
The decision to start Alassane Plea meant a central defender was sacrificed, switching to a back four in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Plea’s ability to switch positions with Lars Stindl, Jonas Hofmann and Breel Embolo means that Gladbach’s attack are continually probing for openings and looking to stretch defences.
Let’s see if Hütter persists with those tactics in Mainz on Friday.
Bochum battle hard
Bochum continue to battle hard in the Bundesliga. After beating Greuther Fürth, Eintracht Frankfurt and edging past Augsburg in the DFB-Pokal, they were desperately close to taking a point in Mönchengladbach.
Thomas Reis continues to praise the effort of his players, saying “On the whole, I’m not worried about the rest of the season if we continue to perform like this. We knew before the game that Borussia would not be the measure of our strength.”
I anticipate ‘Die Unabsteigbaren’ will pick up enough points at home to stay up.
