Bundesliga Champions League Check | Eintracht Frankfurt | OneFootball

In the fourth Champions League feature involving a Bundesliga club here on Get German Football News, it’s time to check in with the most intriguing club of them all. What’s up with the “moodiest diva” of them all? Pretty much what one expects from Eintracht Frankfurt. What we witnessed in Saturday’s absurd Bundesliga “Top Spiel” effectively counts as “vintage Eintracht”. SGE fans nicknamed their club after a mercurial opera singer for a reason. Long before Oliver Glasner led the RheinMainAdler to Europa League glory, this club displayed serious bi-polar performance runs for decades.

Our GGFN preseason check-in with Eintracht heralded the Hessians as title contenders. Since then, Dino Toppmöller’s fickle crew have done their best to dispel that notion. Two league losses against Bayer 04 Leverkusen and 1. FC Union Berlin already leave this team six points off league leaders Bayern München. Given Bayern’s mostly spotless record through eight competitive fixtures thus far, it’s probably about time to cancel that prediction outright. Eintracht, as usual, are never boring. Unfortunately, true championship sides know how to be boring when they need to be.

When one considers the other Bundesliga Champions League clubs we’ve checked in with – and throw in current third-placed RB Leipzig – there’s been a healthy dose of boredom in each case. Bayern bore by virtue of the fact that so many of their lopsided victories have been non-competitive. Dortmund specialize in boring everyone in both victory and defeat each season. Leverkusen deliberately seek to bore in order to step out of the spotlight and regroup. And Eintracht?

FOR CHRISSAKE!

ALL SEVEN  MATCHES HAVE FEATURED AT LEAST FIVE GOALS!!

Eintracht never bore.

Let’s hop on it.

First, a brief flit thorough personnel:

Eintracht Frankfurt UCL Squad

A few surprises here, beginning with the fact that the SGE feels the need to nominate five goalkeepers for some reason. Odd. Aurelé Amenda has been selected for the UCL squad despite a busted transfer and no real Bundesliga playing prospects. Nnamdi Collins could have been safely pocketed on the “B-squad”, as could have 20-year-old defender Fousseny Doumbia. Timothy Chandler and Mahmoud Dahoud are also around despite not being really needed.

Goalkeepers:

Zetterer, Grahl, Siljevic, Santos, Obert

Defenders:

Baum, Theate, Koch, Amenda, Kristensen, Brown, Chandler, Buta, Collins, Doumbia

Midfelders:

Højlund, Knauff, Skhiri, Larsson, Dahoud, Bahoya, Doan, Götze, Is, Dills, Fenyö

Forwards:

Chaïbi, Burkardt, Wahi, Batshuayi, Uzun

Young midfielders Eba Bekir Is (16) and Marvin Dills (18) put down some slight accent marks in training camp. The author can tell readers absolutely nothing about 19-year-old Noah Fenyö, whom he might have seen during the pre-season scouting but honestly cannot remember. The injured Jessic Ngankam remains the only player on the Bundesliga roster omitted for now. Hugo Larsson stood on the B-List until a loan out for Hrvoje Smolcic could finally be completed.

Eintracht Frankfurt Remaining UCL Schedule

Replete with the perfect atmosphere and banners that only rhymed when the words were spoken German accent,Toppmöller’s crew got their UCL campaign off to an ideal start. Leroy Sané and Ilkay Gündogan rolled back into the Bundesrepublik with Galatasaray Istanbul. Showing little to no fear after falling behind early, Eintracht proceeded to make mincemeat out of these storied German internationals and their Turkish club. Before the first half was out, splendid stuff from Ritsu Doan, Can Uzun, and Jonathan Burkardt gave the SGE a 3-1 lead. Burkardt and Ansgar Knauff added goals later in the 5-1 win.

Looking at the remaining schedule, one must concede that this happens to be an exceptionally difficult draw. The general strength of the opponents ultimately seems irrelevant, however, as the team presently plows through all of its opponents like an autumn thunderstorm with a personal vendetta against the last leaves lingering on the trees. Leading the way, we’ve none other than “one-man-cyclone” Can Uzun. One might as well christen the 19-year-old the “Turkish Twister”. He spins like a totem top in the box and finishes from all distances and angles. Ridiculous.

Tuesday, September 30

Atletico Madrid (A) 21:00

Wednesday, October 22nd

FC Liverpool (H) 21:00

Tuesday, November 4th

SSC Napoli (A) 18:45

Wednesday, November 26th

Atalanta Bergamo (H) 21:00

Tuesday, December 9th

FC Barcelona (A) 21:00

Wednesday, January 21st

Qarabag Agdam (A) 18:45

Wednesday, January 28th

Tottenham Hotspur (H) 21:00

One can hardly wait for the re-match with Spurs! The author assures all readers that the SGE ultras have this fixture in their sights. Toppmöller promised visiting Spurs supporters that they would “feel” the force of the Eagles last time around. Even if – and this is naturally a possibility – Eintracht find themselves playing a meaningless match by the time the next calendar year rolls around, the amount of time Frankfurt fans will invest in preparing for this match shall remain the same. That constitutes a promise!

Reiterating how brutal this path is remains necessary. The DFL computers weren’t kind to Eintracht when it came to the Bundesliga schedule either. Bayern await before the October international break. Freiburg and St. Pauli complete the Liverpool sandwich. Then it’s time for Toppmöller’s Adler to host Dortmund in the Pokal before finally getting some relief against Heidenheim on All Saints Day. Whew! Never a dull moment! Expect more high scoring matches before November hits.

Tactics Check, Eintracht Frankfurt

Following their convincing opening round Pokal victory, the Hessians had no problem beating up on haplessly short-staffed Werder Bremen on opening day. Can Uzun actually made his first little bit of history against the Hanseaten and literally hasn’t stopped making history since. The 4-1 thumping of Bremen on opening day – replete with poor SVW captain Marco Friedl being mistaken for an Eintracht player by a Sky reporter afterward – was followed up by a much more impressive 1-3 away win over in-form Hoffenheim on match-day two.

Lineup—Frankfurt (Matches 1-2)

Toppmöller rolled out the same 4-2-3-1 in both fixtures. The only personnel change between weeks one and two saw Elye Wahi deputize for the injured Jonathan Burkardt up top. The team had some early defensive work to do against a much stronger adversary in Sinsheim. After Ritsu Doan did his little “Arjen Robben thing”, however, the German Eagles effectively retained control of the match. Doan had the 2-0 sewn up on a textbook counter before the half-hour-mark was reached.

The TSG fixture itself could have been sewn up much quicker had other SGE actors worked with Doan’s efficiency. Regrettably, Wahi simply hasn’t been able to parlay his strong training camp into quality performances this season. Jean-Matteo Bahoya, after a lightning quick start against Bremen, began to see his finishing touch decline in the second fixture. Uzun finally put the game to bed not long after the restart with the 3-0. Eintracht sailed into the international break tied with Bayern on points.

We arrive at the first league loss. Much went awry during the trip to Leverkusen. Toppmöller’s 4-2-3-1 remained as it was, with Burkardt (recovered from back problems) returning to replace Wahi and Oscar Højlund filling in for his GI-stricken fellow Scandinavian Hugo Larsson in midfield. Højlund’s Danish compatriot Rasmus Kristensen unfortunately succumbed to injury, meaning that the SGE trainer had to completely re-order his defensive ranks shortly after Alejandro Grimaldo gave the hosts the 1-0 lead with his first set-piece goal in the 10th.

Lineup—Frankfurt (Match Three)

What little we saw of this at least held possession reasonably well. When it became apparent that Kristensen couldn’t continue, Germans who made the mistake of following their team over the international break could only let out a collective sigh when they saw Nnamdi Collins swing out to the right back position. As embryonic a state as Leverkusen are in with respect to their wingbacks, one simply knew that Collins and Nathaniel Brown were going to struggle containing Hjulmand’s attack.

Lineup—Frankfurt (10th minute)

Collins and Brown did the best they could. In point of fact, Collins very nearly scored a wonder goal that could have led to a very different outcome for the match. Tackling rates among the young duo were nevertheless far too weak. Arthur Theate also never got settled after the positional change and managed to involve himself in most every foul that adversely affected the team. Leverkusen dominated the entire first half and took a 2-0 lead into the tunnel.

Uzun gave his fellows a lifeline with another splendid pullback goal in the 52nd. Robert Andrich’s sending off in the 59th gave the guests nearly a full half hour with the man-advantage. Not long after Andrich’s ejection, Collins’ aforementioned rocket saw Eintracht come within millimeters of a sensational equalizer. Perhaps waiting too long for Collins or someone else to try something similar, Toppmöller waited a while before reformatting for the win….

Lineup—Frankfurt (73rd minute)

….if indeed this counts as “reformatting for the win”. Players who have otherwise performed well this season simply weren’t able to make it work. Doan just wasn’t able to peel off the dribbles. Chaibi too kept getting stuck and stalled in open play and offered next-to-nothing as a set piece taker. No fluidity here as the entire team struggled to adjust.

A triple-change from Toppmöller in the 83rd (Angsar Knauff, Mahmoud Dahoud, and Wahi for Bahoya, Uzun, and Burkardt) brought a little fresh impetus from Knauff and Wahi. Dahoud proceeded to do absolutely nothing but commit dirty fouls. Grimaldo scored his second dead ball goal of the match at 90+8 and Leverkusen snatched a 3-1 home win.

Knauff’s spark off the bench led to him starting over Bahoya in the Champions League fixture as Toppmöller returned to the 4-2-3-1. Larsson was also back fit to take his spot back from Højlund. The UCL opener is covered in some detail above. The most important thing to keep in mind concerns the fact that – with the benefit of extra time and training – Brown and Collins performed much better.

Once Uzun, Doan, Burkardt, Chaibi, Knauff and Brown all made their contributions to the 5-1 Galatasaray dismantling, the time to face Union Berlin in the league came. The first of two goal-laden Bundesliga fixtures with ludicrous score-lines totally unreflective of the match itself saw the SGE lose 3-4 to Steffen Baumgart’s Eisernen at home.

Yes, there was more to that game than Baumgart’s late-match antics. Toppmöller opted to rest two of his better performing attackers (Knauff and Burkardt). Replacements Bahoya and Wahi (left and front center of the 4-2-3-1) didn’t produce the offensive goods. A very tired midfield six set-up of Larsson and Chaibi, meanwhile, served as a soggy midsection and conceded three goals on the counter.

Down 1-4, Toppmöller employed four changes late in the match. Burkardt and Knauff helped enliven the team off the bench. Doan and Koch produced some chances in the new 4-1-3-2. Uzun would eventually pull a goal back. Burkardt then snatched the 3-4 from the penalty spot on the call that left Baumgart flipping his middle finger towards no one in particular.

Lineup—Frankfurt (70th minute)

It’s rather safe to say that neither one of the late SGE tallies had anything to do with this tactical constellation. It immediately became apparent that Toppmöller had no “Plan B” for his team. Perhaps that’s why the trainer opted to try something significantly different against Gladbach on Saturday night. Larsson, Bahoya, and Wahi were all benched. Tunisian “midfield metronome” Ellyes Skhiri received a start in his first league appearance of the season.

Lineup—Frankfurt (Match Five)

It’s difficult for one to ascertain whether the five unanswered goals scored by Frankfurt in Saturday night’s wld ten-goal affair at Borussia Park had anything to do with this set of tactics at all. Interim trainer Eugen Polanski’s Fohlenelf marked like a bunch of kids fit only for the “D-Jugend”. Failure to defend on a simple corner enabled Robin Koch to put the guests ahead 1-0 in the 11th. Polanski’s team then proceeded to immediately fall apart.

Takeaway’s from such a blowout remain slim. As mentioned already in GGFN’s coverage of the match, Chaibi served as the player who – along with fellow “scoresheet kings” Uzun and Doan – probably made the strongest contribution to the winning team. Collins and Brown, though frustratingly weak in many one-vs-one situations, qualify for the coveted “unsung heroes” label.

Gladbach’s late padding of the scoreline had something to do with Toppmöller’s introduction of rusty defenders (and subjects of failed transfers) such as Auréle Amenda and Aurelio Buta. Mostly, however, it had to do with the fact that the team downshifted in the interest of preserving energy ahead of Tuesday’s big UCL encounter.

Tuesday tip:

Eintracht 3, Atletico 2

Some interesting history here as the two clubs once met in the old (and sorely missed) European Cup Winners’ Cup half a century ago. The RheinMainAdler prevailed over Los Rojiblancos in a two-legged Round-of-16 playoff back in November of 1975. Of course, when it comes to the more recent history of Eintracht competing on a European level, none shall forget the famous “White-out-crusade” undertaken by SGE supporters when Eintracht took on Barça in the 2021/22 Europa League quarterfinals.

Eintracht ultra will once again be out in full force at the Metropolitano on Tuesday, doing their utmost to turn one of Spain’s great footballing cathedrals into their version of the Waldstadion. Best not to bet against Hessian crusaders. Also not a good idea to wager against Can Uzun in his current form. In the humble opinion of this author, UEL oddsmakers have this one all wrong. A Bundesliga club on a tear like this one won’t take their foot off the gas pedal all night. Happy viewing to all!

GGFN | Peter Weis