The unrest surrounding Eintracht Frankfurt has become increasingly louder in the last few days. Now Germany’s record national player Lothar Matthäus was extremely critical of the developments at the SGE under head coach Albert Riera, who was unable to lead the team out of mid-table.
In his “Sky” column, Lothar Matthäus painted a sobering picture of the current situation at Eintracht Frankfurt: “In recent years, we have all fallen in love with the football that Eintracht Frankfurt has shown, in the Bundesliga and in Europe. But at the moment the team is unsettled.”
For the 65-year-old, it is clear that the appointment of the new head coach in February of this year has not brought about any improvement: “I believe that the change of coach from Dino Toppmöller to Albert Riera has brought nothing.”
The 1990 World Cup captain is particularly critical of the tactical changes under Riera. New systems and unfamiliar roles would have caused additional uncertainty.
Matthäus cited Ritsu Doan’s new position as an example: “Ritsu Doan, who played on the right wing for years in Frankfurt and previously in Freiburg, is suddenly playing in midfield.” For Matthäus one of the signs that the balance in the team has been lost.
Compare with Sandro Wagner’s situation at FC Augsburg
He also considers the recent background noise to be problematic. The public turmoil surrounding Jonathan Burkardt was more than a warning signal: “There can be discussions between the coach and players, but nothing should come out, as was the case recently in the Jonathan Burkardt case. The coach hasn’t gone public, so there must be a mole.”
The TV expert sees the SGE team as responsible, as it recently failed to win more than one win out of six games. But Matthäus also added: “I wouldn’t wish any coach to be kicked out, I’ve experienced something like that myself for other reasons, but Riera has a bit of herself to blame.” Above all, the external representation was problematic; recently everything revolved too much around the coach himself.
Matthäus even drew parallels to other coaching misappointments this season and compared Riera’s current situation at the Eagles with that of Sandro Wagner at the start of the season at FC Augsburg: “Similar to Wagner, Riera has to learn to approach things in such a way that he is less visible in the media as a coach.”
The former world footballer’s conclusion is clear: “I don’t think Riera can still have a future in Frankfurt. Too much has happened for that.”
