Overview
- On Thursday Gladbach beat Standard Liège 1-0 in a friendly that gave match minutes to several injured players and saw Nicolas Kühn set up Florian Neuhaus’s winner with a heel pass.
- Blessin praised the team’s early Gegenpressing and quick transitions in the first half but said the side lost structure after the break and must fix transition and defensive lapses.
- The coach outlined a cautious plan for Kühn that prioritizes repeated training blocks to rebuild sprint trust and clear defensive positioning before increasing his minutes.
- Despite no new setbacks in the test, a long absence list persists with Daiki Hashioka, Hugo Bolin, Lukas Ullrich, Tim Kleindienst, Jan Leszczynski and Enzo Leopold still unavailable.
- The friendly offers limited evidence of improvement and leaves Gladbach facing a short turnaround to shore up fitness and strategy ahead of the Bundesliga run that begins with Dortmund on 21 November.