Three games. That is all it took. Eugen Polanski is out at Borussia Mönchengladbach, the first managerial casualty of the Bundesliga season, and nobody with eyes on what has been happening at that club should be even slightly surprised.

What makes it worse is that they sacked Gerardo Seoane at exactly the same point last season. Three games in. Different manager, same club, same moment of crisis. That is not bad luck. That is a pattern.

What Happened at Freiburg

Saturday's 5-0 defeat at Freiburg was not a blip. It was a mirror. Freiburg, backed by purpose and a 100% record, had Gladbach 2-0 down inside the first half-hour before captain Tim Kleindienst picked up a second yellow card and left his side with ten men. Former Gladbach players twisted the knife: Yannik Engelhardt scored twice, Matthias Ginter provided two assists. The scoreline could have been even heavier than five.

Polanski resigned on Sunday morning. He had every reason to feel the job was not his to fail in the first place. He came through the Gladbach academy, made his professional debut for the club in 2004, spent three years managing the under-23s and was only handed the first-team role to steady the ship after Seoane was sacked less than a year ago. Inheriting a bad situation with a squad of limited quality, he never really stood a chance.

His statement said everything and nothing at the same time: "Borussia Mönchengladbach was and always will be my club. That's why it hurts so much that things have turned out like this." You believe every word. You also believe the hope in his farewell message carries more weight than any realistic expectation of what follows.

A Club in Serious Trouble

This is the part that matters beyond the coaching change. Not so long ago, Gladbach were a Champions League last-16 side. Marco Rose's squad had Yann Sommer, Ginter, Denis Zakaria, Ramy Bensebaini, Jonas Hofmann and Marcus Thuram. That was five and a half years ago. The club since lost Thuram and Bensebaini when their contracts expired, both departures symptomatic of how poorly succession has been managed.

Sporting director Rouven Schröder is now under real scrutiny, both for backing Polanski beyond any reasonable point and for a recruitment drive that has not delivered. And then there is Kleindienst, who had a go at some of his teammates in a ZDF interview after last week's home defeat to Elversberg, suggesting they should "watch less TikTok, or whatever," and then went and got sent off at Freiburg. Brilliant.

[Freiburg's 100% start and Dortmund's momentum](//getohedz/football/european-football-dortmund-win-again-but-freiburg-top-after-gladbach) tell you what a well-run Bundesliga club looks like right now. Gladbach, by contrast, are drifting in a direction that should worry their supporters seriously. The 2. Bundesliga is already full of fallen giants, and at this rate, Mönchengladbach are pointing straight at the exit door.

The sacking of Polanski is the symptom. The problems at this club run far deeper than who is standing on the touchline.