Sometimes time doesn’t heal all wounds. The hopes that the recent break in the Bundesliga calendar would be enough for Robin Koch to recover from his calf injury have proven to be deceptive. The central defender, whose qualities contributed a lot to the solid performances that brought Eintracht forward in the autumn, is still out.
This Saturday (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky), the 27-year-old, who is considered a national team returnee, will not be available to Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmöller when it comes to VfB Stuttgart’s expected attacking momentum around goalgetter Serhou Guirassy to break. For Koch, said the coach, who was serenaded for his 43rd birthday by his team on the club campus on Thursday morning, “patience” was required.
He would like the professional on loan from Leeds United, whose services the Frankfurt team would like to secure long-term after January 1st, to be ready for action again “as quickly as possible”. But it is also important to carefully weigh up the circumstances in consultation with the medical department so as not to run the risk of a setback.
Koch exercises caution
With Koch as a leading figure, Eintracht still has a lot to do in this generally pleasing season, and the events surrounding captain Sebastian Rode, who was slowed down by a similar impairment in September (and then wanted too much at once in a comeback attempt) , stands before all of them as a warning example. Rode may not be able to report back until January. Koch had complained about pain on November 7th in the final unit before the Conference League test in Helsinki (0-1), which an examination revealed to be a “muscle injury” which Toppmöller did not specify, and which he now prefers to be cautious about prevail.
The coach was happy that after everything he recently heard from and about Willian Pacho, he firmly believes that he will be able to call him up for the defense. The Ecuadorian has been involved in the selection of his home country in the World Cup qualifiers in Venezuela (0-0) and against Chile (1-0) in recent days and was on the pitch for over ninety minutes in each case. He only returned from South America on Thursday evening. Regardless of the travel strain, Toppmöller trusts that the 22-year-old will help “keep the Swabians’ good offensive” in check.
The machine from Ecuador
Because: “Willian is a machine.” For the first time since October 29th, the Frankfurt team, who climbed to seventh place in the table, will once again present themselves in front of their own audience in the sold-out arena with 58,000 people. Since the 3-3 draw against BVB, they have played away four times in a row because the club, as stadium operator (for good money), gave the area in the city forest to the NFL for their football spectacle. Toppmöller expects a difficult task because they would ultimately be facing an opponent “who has the best form”.
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At the front, the selection of colleague Sebastian Hoeneß is “excellent” and at the back, including keeper Alexander Nübel, they are in an extremely “stable” condition. With the 2-1 win against Dortmund, Stuttgart established themselves as third in the top group. There will be “a lot of energy in it,” Toppmöller speculated, considering the power over there. “I’m not expecting a 0-0 draw and hope that the zero is on the right side,” he added.
“We have extremely exciting tasks ahead of us,” said Toppmöller in anticipation of the appearances that have to be completed by Christmas and include, among other things, the test of strength with the Munich record champions and league leaders Leverkusen. Toppmöller stated that there would only be three more days off, but he did not complain about the “tight program”, but rather saw it as a good opportunity to clarify his own ambitions: “I am convinced that we can keep up.”
