Eintracht Frankfurt is eliminated from the Conference League with an anemic performance against Union St. Gilloise. It is the second competition that Eintracht has lost. The Hessians are in danger of losing their season completely.
The mood in the catacombs of the Waldstadion couldn’t have been more contrasting. There was loud cheering and shouting whenever Union St. Gilloise’s cabin door opened. A few meters away, the people in charge of Eintracht Frankfurt, whose interviews followed, had stoney expressions on their faces elimination from the Conference League were almost swallowed up by the noise of the celebrating Belgians.
“That was the worst game we have played so far,” said a pissed off Eintracht sports director Markus Krösche. “All dreams are shattered,” said Timothy Chandler a little later. And finally, when you could no longer hear the Belgians celebrating, coach Dino Toppmöller sat at the press conference, visibly touched, and said: “I don’t feel 100 percent ready for an analysis right now.”
“Not European Cup-like at all”
In fact, the achievement is unity on this European Cup evening difficult to explain. The 2022 Europa League winner appeared weak, emotionless, almost afraid. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was left of the once exhilarating European Cup nights, in which the entire stadium seemed electrified, in which the players left their hearts on the pitch to reach the next round. “We didn’t do anything like a European Cup on the pitch. We can’t play football like we did in the first half, especially not internationally,” said Krösche rightly.
And so in the mixed zone, a good deal of perplexity quickly mixed in with the frustration. The squad has enough quality to beat the Belgian league leaders, 1.FC Köln, VfL Bochum, Not to mention Saarbrücken etc. But for that you would have to appear completely different, self-confident, dominant, courageous. Eintracht seems miles away from that. But why actually? “It’s difficult to explain rationally,” said Kevin Trapp. “We started the game very sluggish. The fire was missing. We have to find our energy again,” said Chandler.
Martina Knief, sports show, February 23, 2024 7:37 a.m
“I would have expected them to play more offensively”
No energy, no fire – and that in a European Cup game, traditionally a day of celebration in Frankfurt, is actually unthinkable. What’s more: Eintracht appeared so harmless against Union that even the opposing coach Alexander Blessin seemed downright irritated. “After ten minutes I knew there was something to be had here,” said Blessin after the game. “I would have expected them to play a bit more offensively. For a home team you can ask, was it the right approach or not? But that’s not my job to comment on.”
Which he already did. And not wrongly. In addition to Blessin, around 57,000 other people in the stadium would have expected Eintracht to be a little more offensive, to attack the opponent more aggressively, to want to win the ball, to look for depth and to score an early goal. None. “The gaps were too big. Occasionally we started at the front, but then didn’t push forward. Then you always feel like you’re a step too late,” analyzed Toppmöller.
“The main drawback is playing with the ball”
And so Eintracht Frankfurt looks like quite a major construction site in the spring of 2024. There is a lack of basics such as tackling and passion, there is a lack of intensity and synchrony against the ball, but there is also a lack of playful finesse, ideas and creativity. Nobody tries, nobody dares, nobody is surprised, Eintracht Frankfurt games are currently many things, but certainly not “heavy metal”, as Krösche recently demanded.
“I think the main shortcoming recently is playing with the ball. We didn’t create enough dangerous situations from our own possession,” said Toppmöller. And because it has been this way for weeks, Eintracht Frankfurt is threatening to ruin a promising season. Judging by the squad, things could have gone far in the DFB Cup and also in the Conference League, both competitions were handed over virtually without resistance. “We have to show a reaction just because of the support on Sunday,” said Toppmöller, who was demonstratively supported by Krösche in the mixed zone. “We want to get European Cup nights in the coming season through the Bundesliga.” In the current state, that sounds like a pious wish.
