The long international break is a blessing and a curse for Gladbach

Borussia Mönchengladbach is heading into a long international break with an awkward mix of benefits and problems. According to kicker, the downtime gives Alexander Blessin extra time to train, but it also leaves him short of the bulk of the professionals in the areas he most needs to address.

More time to work

As kicker explains, the break effectively buys the coach some breathing room to plan sessions more calmly and fine-tune his approach during these days.

Missing the key pieces

The catch is that, at the moment where he needs to make the biggest impact, the majority of the first-team players are unavailable due to national-team duties. In other words: the area of work that matters most becomes the hardest to tackle.

Even so, the pause can still be useful for resetting the team’s momentum and getting ready for the return to Bundesliga action. The decisive point, as kicker frames it, will be how quickly the squad can integrate the internationals back into the plan and translate the training focus into results once the season restarts.