Juan Arango's (m.) sensational 30-yard strike opened the scoring for Gladbach against Frankfurt
Juan Arango's (m.) sensational 30-yard strike opened the scoring for Gladbach against Frankfurt

Gladbach inflict Frankfurt's first defeat

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Mönchengladbach - Borussia Mönchengladbach inflicted Eintracht Frankfurt with a first league defeat of the this season with a 2-0 victory that lifts them up to tenth in the table.

Arango strikes again

A sublime Juan Arango strike from distance knocked the wind out of the visitors' sails early on before Luuk de Jong gave the Foals a two-goal cushion. Frankfurt controlled possession as the match progressed, but were unable to find a way through a determined, if not entirely stable, home defence.

With just one league win all season, Gladbach's campaign could hardly have begun in starker contrast to Frankfurt's, who had won five of their six opening fixtures. Nonetheless, it was the hosts who began the brighter, pressing high up the pitch and soon taking a deserved lead.

There appeared to be relatively little danger when Arango collected a stray pass 30 yards out, but the Venezuelan unleashed an unstoppable dipping shot into the top left hand corner that left Kevin Trapp standing in the Eintracht goal. Occean had the chance to make amends minutes later when Gladbach goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen fumbled a cross, but with the empty goal at his mercy, the Canadian dragged his shot wide.

Tactics pay off


There was little to see of the self-assuredness that had characterised Frankfurt's displays of late and they were caught off guard in midfield once again when Gladbach doubled their lead. Unchallenged, Havard Nordtveit was afforded the time to play a superb diagonal pass which fell perfectly into de Jong's path. The Dutchman did well to control his first-time effort, driving the ball low and hard beyond Kevin Trapp for his second league goal of the season.

Perhaps aware that Frankfurt had already come from behind to win twice this season, as well as coming from two goals down against champions Borussia Dortmund to draw 3-3, Gladbach began the second period deep in their own territory. They succeeded in snuffing out their guests' attacks through defending in numbers, but rarely threatened at the other end.

Positive development


Noting that ter Stegen had let several crosses slip, Frankfurt began to test the young keeper with high balls into the box. The young custodian looked far from comfortable in dealing with the aerial bombardment, but even this tactic proved ineffective for the guests, who seemed to wearily accept their fate as the final whistle approached.

With his side just starting to click, Gladbach coach Lucien Favre will no doubt be frustrated to lose a considerable contingent of his squad to the international break, but the Swiss will have taken heart from the progress his side showed, especially after they registered a second clean sheet of the season.

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