60 seconds on Eintracht Frankfurt | Andy Brassell, European football expert | OneFootball

One of the voices of European football on talkSPORT and Sky Sports, well known for The Football Ramble podcast, an author and writer for The Guardian - and a regular contributor here at Spurs for almost 10 years - Andy Brassell continues to give his insight into our UEFA Champions League opponents as part of our '60 seconds on...' feature this season.

Next up, it's Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt at Deutsche Bank Park in our final match of the UCL league phase, MD8, on Wednesday evening (8pm UK) - a win secures our place in the top eight, and straight into the Round of 16 in March.

@andybrassell

Increased expectations at DB Park...

Andy: "It’s fair to say Eintracht Frankfurt are in a bit of a spot at the moment. They've just fired the coach, Dino Toppmöller, the son of Klaus Toppmöller, who took Bayer Leverkusen to the Champions League final and to the brink of the treble in 2002. It was a real shame to see him go because they've progressed so much under him, brilliant to watch. They've recruited and sold brilliantly in recent years, of course, under Markus Krösche, the sporting director. However, that in turn - and I think you can add the Europa League win under Oliver Glasner as well - has increased expectations. So, even though Krösche said just before Christmas that they had to be aware of the fact that they've come a long way in a short time, and expectations are higher, maybe they should be a bit more humble… he was also driven to distraction by the fact that, in his words, the team kept making the same mistakes again and again and again, particularly defensively, this season."

Defensive issues...

Andy: "So, they've conceded 42 goals, which is the joint largest amount in the Bundesliga alongside Heidenheim, who are bottom, favourites for relegation and not won in absolutely ages - and lost a couple of big players over the last couple of years. It felt to me before the start of the season that Bayern Munich were going to be too good for anyone else, but maybe Eintracht Frankfurt could be the next best, but they’ve fallen short of that. Of course, they're not going to get into the next round of the Champions League, either - they're not going to get into the knockouts (Eintracht Frankfurt are 33 of 36 teams and can't make it into the top 24). At the moment, they're nine points off the Champions League places - the top four - in the Bundesliga. They're also five points off the top six. So, they're well short at the moment."

Three goals in 13 minutes...

Andy: "We saw again at the weekend against Hoffenheim how Eintracht Frankfurt took the lead, played quite well in the first 45 minutes and then conceded three goals in double-quick time - 13 minutes (52, 60, 65). Defensively, they just can't get a hold on the game at all. They're very vulnerable to counter-attacks and set-pieces as well and concede goals in flurries. Now, the players they've got suggest that shouldn't really be happening. They may be missing a number six-type player, which I think is potentially good news if your name's Xavi Simons going into this game, maybe it's a game that he could run. This is also expected to be the last game under caretaker management of Dennis Schmitt. He's the Under-23 coach and Under-19 coach, Alex Meier, who was a goalscorer of some renown for Eintracht Frankfurt back in his day, he was a great player for them."

Replacing Ekitike...

Andy: "So, from a pride perspective and, of course, from a winning-money perspective, this is important for Eintracht Frankfurt. But, at the moment, they're not the equal of the side that Spurs knocked out of the Europa League (2-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals) last season and made it difficult for them. They've struggled to replace Hugo Ekitike (signed for Liverpool in the summer) as well. Now, they've got on board Jonathan Burkardt, although he wasn't a like-for-like replacement, a very different type of striker – he scored eight in eight Bundesliga starts and he's been out injured since November, which is a real blow to them. Jean-Mattéo Bahoya, who started the season very well, his form has slowed a little bit, which means a lot is leaning on Can Uzun, who's a terrific player and I think will end up in the Premier League in the next couple of years. They're not compact, unbalanced all over the place and they need to get a new coach and turn things around, which is potentially all good news for Spurs for Wednesday night!"

Last time we met...