On the day the series broke, those responsible for Eintracht painted a rosy picture. Lost 2-0 at VfL Wolfsburg, didn’t score a goal again – it wasn’t all that bad. Sports director Markus Krösche and coach Dino Toppmöller, who took a stand in the catacombs of the Wolfsburg Arena after the first defeat in the sixth Bundesliga game, highlighted more positives than negatives. “We played a decent away game in the first half,” said Toppmöller. “We were dangerous from set pieces against a very disciplined, compact Wolfsburg team.”
Toppmöller was upset about the way Mario Götze was sent off. The Frankfurt playmaker saw yellow-red in the 58th minute. “Mario deserves more respect from the referees,” said the Eintracht coach. The decisive factor for his later suspension was the first yellow card that Götze had seen again for complaining.
The “penalty situation”, which shortly before the end led to 2-0 for VfL thanks to the double goalscorer Jonas Wind (84th minute, the opening goal came in the 31st minute), “is incomprehensible to me”. Niko Kovac, who used to work for Eintracht and is now the successful coach of VfL, which is in seventh place with twelve points (Eintracht is eighth with seven points), spoke of a “clearly deserved victory” after the reunion with his old club.
Goal area scenes from Eintracht? In short supply. We already know from previous games that Toppmöller’s team finds it incredibly difficult to create chances and penetrate dangerously into the opponent’s penalty area. In Wolfsburg it took a long time, a very long time, before Eintracht could come up with their first serious attack. With the wonderfully initiated action in the 21st minute, they could have even taken the lead. But Ellyes Skhiri, who had a first-class opportunity to shoot in from around eleven meters after an excellent backheel pass from Fares Chaibi, was denied twice by the outstanding Wolfsburg keeper Koen Casteels. First with the left direct shot, then following up.
A 1-0 would have turned the game on its head at this point, because VfL dominated the game from the start. The “Wolves” were rewarded for their effort in the 31st minute. After Lovro Majer tested Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp with a low shot, it was wind that pushed the rebound into the empty goal. For the fast Dane, who is exactly what Eintracht is missing, namely a quality striker who likes to finish, it was already goal number six of the season.
The 35th minute made it clear that Eintracht has had a real problem finishing for many weeks. Omar Marmoush, back at his old stomping ground for a game, showed up alone in front of Casteels. But the keeper reacted again outstandingly and prevented the possible 1:1. A short time later, another goal was scored for VfL – but this time it didn’t count. Referee Frank Willenborg’s decision not to recognize Majer’s supposed 2-0, achieved with great force and determination, was correct. Assist provider Ridle Baku had an illegal hand in the game. 1-0 instead of 2-0 – for Eintracht this meant that they still had every opportunity to correct the result in the second half of the game.
