Frankfurt freeze as ‘lame ducks’ threaten to derail top-four charge | Andy Brassell

If there’s one thing more difficult than keeping a stiff upper lip in the case of things going wrong, it is doing so with the addition of often well-intentioned but deeply unhelpful onlookers asking you if you realise that things are going wrong. Adi Hütter experienced this sensation in his Thursday press conference, as members of the media addressed the shrunken gap between his Eintracht Frankfurt team’s fourth place and the under-achieving but chasing Borussia Dortmund in fifth. “We noticed,” Hütter said tersely. “It’s up to us to do our homework.”

The Swiss coach will need to use the coming fallow weekend, which he plans to give his players off, to work on that poker face. Despite defeat at Bayer Leverkusen – and Dortmund’s 2-0 win at Wolfsburg, which closed the gap to a single point – Eintracht still have the chance of a maiden Champions League qualification in their own hands as it stands, with three palatable remaining fixtures against Mainz, already-relegated Schalke and Freiburg. Yet with nerves jangling a visit to Bay-Arena, where they had lost their last seven visits, was the last thing they needed right now. That sequence rarely looked like being broken on Saturday even if it took Leverkusen until the final quarter to break the game open.

It is often said that current staff and players care little for their club’s historical records, but this was genuine déjà vu for Hütter, who saw the Champions League dreams of his last great Frankfurt team – spearheaded by the trio of Sébastien Haller, Luka Jović and Ante Rebić – unravel in exactly the same corner of north-west Germany two years ago, in between Europa League semi-final legs against Chelsea. Those two games with Maurizio Sarri’s team could not have made the high ceiling of that Eintracht side clearer as they pushed the Blues to the limit, which made the crash and burn in Leverkusen even more difficult to decipher, even factoring in tiredness, injury, rotation and the mental strain of a relentless calendar.

Kai Havertz had opened the scoring in the second minute on that day but the sheer escalation of the events lives long in the mind. Eintracht were 6-1 down after 36 minutes which ended up being the final score, on the end of a result which is a rare occurrence in a professional career. Much has changed since then, and Hütter’s building of another competitive team is laudable – and has been recognised by Borussia Mönchengladbach’s willingness to pay his buyout clause of €7.5m to make him Marco Rose’s replacement next term. Yet this felt as if it was all done three weeks ago, when the talismanic André Silva’s late goal sealed a late win in Dortmund.

Yet if much has changed in the two years since the last great Eintracht incarnation fell short, things have evolved at a rapid pace since that joyously celebrated result at Westfalen. The confirmation of Hütter’s exit to Gladbach is the major one, and the team sits on a run of two defeats in three since his imminent departure was announced (with comprehensive losses at Gladbach and now Leverkusen leaving more of a lasting impression than the win over a struggling Augsburg in between). Sporting director Fredi Bobic, whose forthcoming departure has also been very public and in his case, less than straightforward, has since had his next post – at Hertha – confirmed.

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Bundesliga results

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Augsburg 2-3 Cologne
Union Berlin 3-1 Werder Bremen
Mainz 2-1 Bayern Munich
Freiburg 1-1 Hoffenheim
Wolfsburg 0-2 Borussia Dortmund
Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
RB Leipzig 2-0 Stuttgart
Borussia Mönchengladbach 5-0 Arminia Bielefeld

A potential release clause in Silva’s contract has not-so-mysteriously filtered into the public domain in the interim, adding to the sense of change at the club. Not to mention, of course, that this season’s stab at the Champions League might be a one-off for the foreseeable future, with a prolonged period of reconstruction not to be ruled out. The current tension, accordingly, is not just caused by the fear of blowing a chance. It’s the fear of blowing the only chance.

That tension starts at the top, with Hütter getting out his teacher’s red pen over Eintracht’s display and strangely, on Kevin Trapp’s performance, harshly laying the blame for Leon Bailey’s opener – from a cross that never should have even got as far as the Jamaica international – at the goalkeeper’s feet. “That shouldn’t happen to him,” chided Hütter, who also recognised that Trapp had kept Leverkusen off the scoresheet until the 70th minute with a string of saves. That build-up should have bothered him more. Frankfurt were passive and submissive, lacking the spark that took them into the top four in the first place.

“The fact that lame ducks are sitting in the dugout and on the board is not an alibi for poor performance,” wrote Kicker’s Julian Franzke, though it’s clearly not helping. “The players have to pull themselves together. A performance like those in the last three games will probably not be enough against Mainz. Everyone has to look at themselves now or face the threat of the much-cited historic opportunity being given away lightly.”

Hütter’s Frankfurt legacy will rest on his team recouping their composure. “All the trump cards remain in Eintracht’s hands,” as Frankfurter Allgemeine’s Ralf Weitbrecht wrote. “They can achieve their dream goal all on their own.” It may well be easy to clear their minds without the shadow of Leverkusen looming over them.

Talking points

It’s not just Eintracht who are sweating, with Erling Haaland’s double in Wolfsburg overcoming a Jude Bellingham red card for Dortmund and putting them not just a point behind Hütter’s men, but only two shy of their opponents. “You have to withstand the pressure,” said coach Oliver Glasner. “If we start to show nerves now, then I don’t understand the world anymore.”

Erling Haaland celebrates one of his two goals against Wolfsburg.
Erling Haaland celebrates one of his two goals against Wolfsburg. Photograph: Alexandre Simões/Borussia Dortmund/Getty Images

On the other side of the coin there were more brownie points for Leverkusen’s Hannes Wolf, who masterminded another enterprising home display against Eintracht. “We had to make up for something after the first half in Munich,” he said after their midweek loss to Bayern, with Die Werkself’s win even keeping alive a mathematical (if unlikely) chance of Champions League football.

Bayern were hoping to mathematically seal a ninth straight title but sensationally went down at Mainz, set on the way by Manuel Neuer’s early error which led to Jonathan Burkhardt’s opener. Robert Lewandowski, who looked understandably rusty on his return, did get a last-gasp goal which didn’t avert defeat but did get him back on track chasing Gerd Müller’s season goalscoring record.

By Sunday the loss was almost forgotten, with widespread reports that Bayern have made their approach to Leipzig for Julian Nagelsmann. Their price to release him could be as high as €30m but it will be all change at Red Bull Arena anyway with the club confirming on Monday that sporting director, Markus Krösche, is leaving.

The coaching changes continue apace, with Augsburg firing Heiko Herrlich and replacing him with former coach Markus Weinzierl, after Friday night’s 3-2 home defeat by Köln (in which Ondrej Duda scored perhaps the goal of the season for the visitors). Meanwhile Werder Bremen’s board are discussing the future of Florian Kohfeldt after a seventh straight loss, this time at Union, with club legend Thomas Schaaf a potential replacement.

Bundesliga table

source: theguardian.com