Trainer Oliver Glasner is optimistic for the last league game of the year. How could it be otherwise after seven wins in the last eight mandatory exercises and the almost intoxicating performance against Hoffenheim? “I don’t see any signs that we won’t put our performance on the pitch on Sunday,” said the Austrian on Friday about the surrender against neighbors Mainz on Sunday afternoon (3:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on DAZN). Eintracht is about to make their 18th appearance in the past six weeks.
But the old views of what a Bundesliga professional can withstand in terms of stress do not currently apply to Eintracht. The term “functioning mode” introduced by Glasner last week no longer applies. As with marathon runners, the constant exertion triggered feelings of happiness that carry the Eintracht players over their tiredness. There is no other way to explain how the team pounced on their Hoffenheim opponents last Wednesday and played them against the wall. The result of 4:2 seemed like a bad joke in the end.
That is also the reason why the Eintracht coach said on Friday that his team still had a lot of room for improvement, although the Eintracht fans thought they were in heaven. “There wasn’t room for improvement in the individual phases, but in consistency over a whole game.” The bewitching moments of playful elegance and stormy determination were repeatedly followed by moments of defensive disorientation after a good half hour.
Two personal question marks
“We didn’t have the absolute defensive mentality there, we were too inconsistent,” criticized Glasner, who assumes that his team cannot afford this attitude against Mainz. “It will be a real challenge. With coach Svensson, Mainz have a very clear playing system, are compact, aggressive, have good physical strength and a lot of power and momentum going forward.” But he sees his team well prepared.
Personally, there are two question marks. Sebastian Rode’s calf didn’t develop as hoped during the game break prescribed by Glasner. Contrary to the coach’s original announcement, Rode will not be “certain” against Mainz. It remains to be seen what condition his calf will be in after the final training session. Kristijan Jakic is also stricken. After a hit to the ankle in the encounter with Hoffenheim, he twisted his ankle.
“It’s nothing serious, but his ankle is thick and hurts,” Glasner said. As always, he won’t take any chances. “My players’ health is my greatest asset.” Apart from that, Glasner can call on the team that was so enthusiastic against Hoffenheim and could have scored eight or ten goals if they had better exploited their chances.
After the performance of their magic football in the evening, comparisons with the great Frankfurt Bundesliga teams of the past involuntarily come to mind. With magical kickers like Jürgen Grabowski, Bernd Hölzenbein, Bernd Nickel, Uwe Bein, Andy Möller, Jay-Jay Okocha and Anthony Yeboah. Like Mario Götze, Daichi Kamada, Randal Kolo Muani and Jesper Lindström today, they all represented the special moments of football.
Weighing the performances of the players against each other is forbidden, because compared to the seventies, eighties and nineties, football has become a different kind of sport due to the immense increase in athleticism and speed.
Good score
But what the art of football was and is worth in terms of points can be easily understood. Seen in this way, the Eintracht of the 1991/92 season, which ended with the tragic loss of the title in Rostock, was the best. Stein, Binz, Bein, Möller, Yeboah and Co earned the equivalent of 68 points according to the three-point rule, which had not yet been introduced at the time, on the 34 match days, that’s exactly two per game.
Coach Glasner’s current team has 26 points after 14 match days, which is an average of 1.857 points and extrapolated to 63 points for the whole season. With which the Eintracht of the year 2022 would do slightly better than the first Bundesliga team in 1963/64 with Solz, Trimhold, Kreß, Lindner and Huberts (1.83 points) and also better than Grabowski, Hölzenbein and Nickel in their best season 1974/75 ( 1.79). Then follows the successful team of coach Adi Hütter 2020/21, which collected 60 points (1.76 on average).
If Eintracht maintains the level they reached after a shaky start to the season and doesn’t neglect defending in their exuberance, then they can actually become the best in Bundesliga history. Which would only correspond to the overwhelming impression of Wednesday.
