Dino Toppmöller was really upset after Eintracht Frankfurt lost 2-0 at 1. FC Köln. “We always make these simple mistakes. That’s why we’re not yet a top team,” he said, among other things, referring to the two sendings off. With a successful start to the second half of the season in terms of results, the Hessians had stalked their way into the Champions League places, but the deserved defeat against the relegation candidate stopped the race to catch up in a sobering way.
“We have to look after our own noses,” said the 43-year-old, who was not sparing with criticism. The first half was “very, very thin in terms of football”, the yellow-red card against Niels Nkounkou was “unfortunately stupid”, Hrvoje Smolcic’s mistake before the 0-2 was “inexplicable” and the yellow-red card against Tuta was “also justified”. Above all, says Toppmöller, “these constant, simple ball losses annoy me. You can’t win a game like that.”
After the last-minute sale of star striker Randal Kolo Muani, for whom a replacement could not be brought in in the summer, Eintracht had significantly strengthened themselves with four players after an overall decent first season in the winter. But there was hardly any time to play. Donny van de Beek was on the bench for 90 minutes in Cologne, striker Sasa Kalajdzic was completely hanging in the air, Hugo Ekitiké and Jean-Mattéo Bahoya celebrated their debuts but only came into the game late.
32 new players: All additions from Bundesliga clubs in winter 2024
Andreas Luthe | VfL Bochum | Market value: €300,000
Toppmöller did not gloss over the good results from 2024 so far. “It was already catastrophic against Mainz,” he said, referring to the 1-0 derby win the previous week. His team “simply has to present itself differently in terms of football. And it’s best we start next week.”
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