Gladbach captain Kleindienst tears his team-mates apart in several interviews

Captain Tim Kleindienst publicly tore into his team-mates in several interviews. He snapped into the ZDF microphone: "We should get our focus up quickly so that it also lasts 90 minutes, and I have no idea what the reason is, watch less TikTok or whatever, I really don't care what they do."

After losing 3-0 at RB Leipzig on the opening matchday, Gladbach looked set for their first win against Elversberg when they went 3-1 up midway through the second half. Instead, they let that comfortable lead slip and allowed the underdogs to turn the game around. The Foals are now bottom of the table and have already shipped seven goals in two matches.

Kleindienst found it unacceptable. The Germany international also vented his fury on DAZN. In the end, Elversberg's win had been "completely deserved". Then he reeled it off: "You're 3-1 up here, have everything under control and have no idea what then happens. Whether there was a power cut somewhere, or what is happening in the brains of some people."

Scoring three goals at home should, according to Kleindienst, "really be enough against a promoted team, but I think we've already been in a phase where we can't score as many goals as we concede every time." His advice was blunt: "We should start questioning a bit what we're actually doing back there."

When asked whether the goals conceded were also linked to the number of young players in head coach Eugen Polanski's team, Kleindienst said: "It's also normal that they make mistakes. But after the second, third, fourth one, at some point it should stop. And you have to learn a little within a game. And that just didn't happen."

Instead, they had already "gifted Elversberg the first two goals". The striker was especially unhappy with the move that led to the visitors' interim 3-3 equaliser in the 80th minute. Gladbach lost the ball in the build-up, Mathieu Nguefack then fouled Maurice Krattenmacher, who scored twice, and Felix Keidel brilliantly curled the resulting free-kick into the Gladbach net.

Tim Kleindienst: "Smash the thing into the fans here for all I care, I don't give a shit"

That passage enraged Kleindienst most of all. "We play a pointless pass there, with which we lose the ball again," he said: "We're 3-2 up at home, smash the thing into the fans here for all I care, I don't give a shit. But don't play such harakiri football. (…)." In the end, according to Kleindienst, it was "the biggest rubbish we put together there." The striker was no longer on the pitch by then. Eugen Polanski had replaced him with Isac Lidberg in the 77th minute after a decent display, even though he did not score.

Next weekend on matchday three, Gladbach face Freiburg of all teams, and they have made a brilliant start. SC Freiburg sit top of the Bundesliga table after opening the season with two wins.

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