A device for needling a fibrous web includes a needle bar. The needle bar carries a needle board having a plurality of needles and is guided by a bar carrier that is driven in an oscillating manner with superimposed horizontal and vertical motion via a crank drive. A phase-adjusting device adjusts a phase position of a crankshaft of the crank drive. The motion of the bar carrier is guided by a guiding device. To absorb inertial forces in the horizontal direction on the needle bar at large phase angles and to guarantee the mobility of the needle bar, the guiding device is formed by one or more guiding rods, which are connected to the bar carrier via a swivel joint. The driven needle bar is guided by the guide rods at the phase angle set by the phase-adjusting device in the angle range of 0 to 30 DEG.