Is Itakura's Absence the Cause of Gladbach's Crisis, or Just the Curtain?

I start with a number at a desk in Barishal. Seven. Seven starting-XI candidates out of Borussia Mönchengladbach's matchday squad at once. In German football's accounting language, that is not a small figure. An outfield eleven fields ten; seven is 64 percent. On paper this is an injury report. Underneath, it is an accountability document — the first draft of a question about who is responsible. According to Bild's report, Ko Itakura is out with a muscle problem, joined by striker Tim Kleindienst. A Japanese centre-back who can carry the ball forward, who can play in a back three or a back four, is not a like-for-like substitution. Losing that profile means losing the speed of the build-up. The ball now goes wide, or goes long. Turnover risk in the middle third rises. But the real question hides here. Why do so many muscle injuries arrive together? The question coming from inside the club is not about the count — it is about training-load management. Coach Alexander Blessin has publicly accepted responsibility, which is unusual. A coach takes ownership of an injury cluster from his own accord only when the alternative explanation — the medical staff's role — is already circulating inside. So what is the verdict? This is a story about a football crisis whose actual subject is institutional blame allocation. Seven injuries is a number. The question is who owns that number.