Kostic takes measures: Frankfurt wins Sandhausen test

Dhe sports club 1916 Sandhausen at the end of May, when a line was drawn in the second Bundesliga after 34 matchdays, was fifteenth just escaped relegation to the third division. In a week, the Palatinate team, as well as the rest of the Bundesliga lower house, will start fighting for points again. On Saturday they demonstrated that Gerhard Kleppinger’s team, who previously coached the FSV and the “Lilien” in the region, are well advanced in their preparation – when they proved themselves to be a respectable sparring partner in the private game against the fifth place in the table the Europa League qualified Eintracht turned out to be. The 1-0 win for Frankfurt was, all in all, fully deserved.

The only and therefore decisive goal scored the most conspicuous player on the pitch before the break: Filip Kostic. The Serb, who at the beginning of the summer was certified to emigrate towards Serie A in his homeland (and who, regardless of this, from the first day of returning to training with the Hessians through exemplary work ethic), hit in the 32nd minute with a long-range shot from around twenty meters; Although Patrick Drewes had a clear view of the action between the SVS posts during the action, he did not get his hands behind the fluttering ball in time. Shortly before the final whistle, new signing Ali Akman had the chance to increase to 2-0 after a technically worth seeing individual action, but the Turk narrowly forgave. For Sandhausen, Erik Zenga shot against the crossbar in the middle of the second half.

Lively interplay

For the Frankfurters it was the second test directed by Oliver Glasner; the first was lost 1: 3 to SV Wehen Wiesbaden a week ago. The next one follows on this Tuesday, then it is at the same point against FC Gießen from the regional league. Glasner again made ample use of his transfer opportunities in both halves on Saturday.

He used the 90 minutes on Saturday on the field outside the Frankfurt Arena extensively to try things out, especially in terms of personnel; It was noticeable that his team first started on a 3-4-2-1 system (with Ajdin Hrustic and Rodrigo Zalazar as busy sixes) and later on a 3-4-3 with the substitute attackers Akman, Dejan Joveljic and Goncalo Paciencia surrounded. Glasner used a total of 22 players.

He was “very satisfied”, said the Austrian in the early evening: “That was better today than last Saturday in every respect.” As previously discussed, his players “worked well against the ball” and showed an “intense” performance to which he was completely in agreement. “That was a step forward,” said Glasner, who did not want to see the line-up up to the 45th minute and after that as a clue as to who might be ahead of him. “There is no A and B team, we are all Eintracht Frankfurt.”