The Eintracht Frankfurt footballers start the new season with a defeat. Because they don’t “live in the here and now” enough.
The Eintracht Frankfurt footballers were in a good mood: Juventus beaten in Champions League qualifying and moved into the playoffs, midweek solved the compulsory task in the DFB Cup – it was all set for a successful start to the league at SGS Essen. But things turned out differently.
The Hessians went back on Sunday with a 2-0 defeat to Frankfurt, a disappointment at the start for the ambitious Frankfurters. And a defeat in which, according to head coach Niko Arnautis, the Juventus game may have played a role. “It’s a clear learning thing,” Arnautis said at the post-game press conference. “We had a huge highlight last week with Juventus Turin, had a cup game during the week, today the first matchday. We have to learn to give every competition, every game the fullest. We didn’t manage to do that completely today.”
“We have to live much more in the here and now”
Sophia Kleinherne put it a little more poetically: “We have to live much more in the here and now,” said the defender and explained: “The trick will be to be able to play consistently in all three competitions, we couldn’t do that today. We were “It’s clear that it’s a different competition, but that we need the same intensity.”
The difficult dance at three weddings. And in fact, the Hessians in Essen didn’t present themselves as well as they usually do. They had a hard time with the committed and offensive Essen women – and ultimately deserved to lose.
“We didn’t invest enough there”
“This game was decided at the grassroots level. We didn’t invest enough there,” said Arnautis, who particularly criticized assertiveness and decision-making. “It took us too long to make decisions and we didn’t assert ourselves in the crucial situations. That wasn’t what we were capable of.”
The Hessians recently showed what they can do against Juventus when they literally defeated the top Italian club. After the international break, the next highlight awaits when VfL Wolfsburg comes to Frankfurt. At the latest against the top club from Lower Saxony, the Hessians should live more in the here and now.
