Polanski the first managerial victim of Bundesliga season as Gladbach fail again | Andy Brassell

It could not go on. Even at this early stage the sinking feeling was familiar and impossible to shake, and something had to give at Borussia Mönchengladbach. The first Bundesliga coaching change of the season is upon us just three games in, and it is not a major surprise that it is Eugen Polanski departing. Neither is it a shock that Gladbach are involved; after all, it was at exactly this point last season – three games in – that they parted ways with Gerardo Seoane.

A club with more prospects and direction would have chosen to move on from Polanski in the summer, but the reality is that Gladbach have few of either. Saturday afternoon’s humiliation at Freiburg – a club enjoying a 100% record, guided by poise and purpose, having spent the Johan Manzambi money wisely – was no bad day at the office but a season in microcosm. The home side cruised into a 2-0 lead inside the first half-hour before the Gladbach captain, Tim Kleindienst, was sent off for a second yellow card (after an utterly avoidable first one). One former Gladbach player, Yannik Engelhardt, scored twice while another, Matthias Ginter, made two assists. It finished 5-0 and could have been way worse.

Polanski fell on his sword on Sunday morning and there is no doubt how painful it is. Polanski first arrived at Gladbach when he was eight years old, came through the academy, made his professional debut for the club in 2004 and was head coach of the under-23s for three years before being parachuted into the first-team role to mop up the mess just under a year ago, after Seoane was sacked.

“Borussia Mönchengladbach was and always will be my club,” he reflected on Sunday. “That’s why it hurts so much that things have turned out like this. After successfully avoiding relegation, we made a number of changes for this season. We had high hopes, but we didn’t manage to achieve them. I’m sorry about that. I sincerely hope that Borussia gets back on track very quickly.”

Polanski’s sincerity is not in doubt but he must know that his words carry more hope than expectation. He never really stood a chance, an inexperienced coach inheriting a bad situation and a squad of limited means. The last time they were in Europe, five-and-a-half years ago, Gladbach reached the Champions League last 16, before being bounced out by eventual finalists Manchester City. Marco Rose’s team was equipped with talent including Yann Sommer, Ginter, Denis Zakaria, Ramy Bensebaini, Jonas Hofmann and Marcus Thuram.

Today’s vintage is just not of the same quality. The intervening years have not been kind and losing Thuram and Bensebaini, for example, after their contracts expired underlines how poorly succession has been managed. Roland Virkus, who stepped down as sporting director last September but is still involved in the scouting department, copped a lot of the blame for the talent drain, but many of the contractual issues were inherited rather than caused by him. The incumbent, Rouven Schröder, is now coming under the microscope – for sticking with Polanski in hope more than anything else, and for a wide-ranging recruitment campaign that hasn’t worked at all so far.

Kleindienst captured the current direction of travel. Having launched into some of his teammates after last week’s home defeat by Elversberg (in which they let a 3-1 lead slip before losing the game in stoppage time), suggesting in an interview afterwards with ZDF that some of them “should watch less TikTok, or whatever,” he left his side high and dry in Freiburg. The 2.Bundesliga is full enough of fallen giants. At this rate, another could be joining them soon enough.

Talking points

After the week in which the Ballon d’Or nominees were announced Harry Kane belatedly made his contribution to the Bayern-driven campaign in his favour, scoring an artful second-half winner for a first Bundesliga goal of the season which prised a tough win for his team at Elversberg. The home side lost their 100% record but gained plenty of credit, and Maurice Krattenmacher – bought from Bayern – scored a spectacular equaliser to offer the possibility a point against the champions. “We played bravely from the back,” said their goalkeeper Nicolas Kristof. “We can be proud of how we performed today.”

Nicolas Kristof makes himself big for Elversberg to deny Harry Kane. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Borussia Dortmund are the only other team apart from Freiburg on maximum points three games in after they swept aside Paderborn on Saturday afternoon. Though much has been made of Fábio Silva aiming to challenge Serhou Guirassy for his place they played well together here, with the latter setting up the former for the opener and both being at pains to demonstrate just how well they get along. Substitute Felix Nmecha sealed the deal with a late double (the second of which was a spectacular overhead kick) but the best news for Niko Kovac was fitness related, with Nico Schlotterbeck making a surprise first appearance of the season after injury and Konstantinos Karetsas judged well enough to travel back to his hometown of Genk and perform the ceremonial kick-off before the game with Gent after his worrying collapse in the Champions League against Villarreal; it is hoped he will resume training this week.

Leipzig and Martin Demichelis, on the other hand, desperately needed a result after Thursday night’s comprehensive Champions League defeat at Como followed a shock defeat at Werder Bremen domestically and, happily for them, Hamburg were very obliging visitors. It was a Sunday afternoon breeze capped by a first goal back for the returning Christopher Nkunku. HSV could be in for a long season, though the pending contract extension for coach Merlin Polzin is not expected to be threatened by this reverse.

Talking of early pressure Leverkusen avoided a second straight away defeat, this time at high-flying Augsburg, where the king of the rabona finish, Patrik Schick, applied one such touch in the penultimate minute of normal time to rescue a point for Carles Martínez. Sporting director Simon Rolfes firmly but fairly reminded it was “absolutely the coach’s job” to ensure the “concentration and fighting spirit in every situation” that had eluded Die Werkself at the beginning of the second half as they let an interval lead slip, with Michael Gregoritsch’s brace making him Augsburg’s all-time top scorer in the Bundesliga.

After last week’s heroic rearguard action against Bayern, Schalke were able to spread their wings and get a first Bundesliga win in nearly three-and-a-half years at Union. Robin Gosens’ superb volley to open the scoring in the first half was their first goal in the top flight in 1,203 days. Miron Muslic had not been joking when he said pre-match that this would be “no beauty contest,” but a determined defensive effort (and more Loris Karius excellence) secured the points and left the Union manager,Mauro Lustrinelli, with much to ponder.

The Niclas Füllkrug revival continues, with the on-loan West Ham striker scoring his second in two games to salvage a point for Bremen after they had trailed at Köln. “You can see that he leads by example as a player,” enthused his head coach, Daniel Thioune. “That’s what we’ve been missing. His connection with the club is very strong.”