Eintracht Frankfurt got a point at the last second at Werder Bremen on Friday evening. In the six-goal spectacle, the Hessians showed their offensive class, but also worrying defensive problems.
Video
12:13 Min.|hr
The complete Eintracht PK after the game in Bremen
End of the video post
In the end it was 3:3 (1:1) between Werder Bremen and Eintracht Frankfurt. Arnaud Kalimuendo gave the Hessians the lead after less than a minute. Werder Bremen mercilessly exposed Eintracht’s defensive weaknesses and equalized in the first half through Justin Njinmah. After the break, Nnamdi Collins scored to take the lead again. Jens Stage and Jovan Milosevic turned the game around, but Ansgar Knauff saved a point deep into stoppage time.
After three winless league games in a row across the year, things had become noticeably shady at Eintracht. Dino Toppmöller emphasized emphatically that he did not feel any pressure. It was clear, however, that another failure would make things unpleasantly complicated. It was therefore to be assumed that the coach had thought of something for this game. It is quite obvious that he took care of the shaky defense.
to the audio individual page
In order to seal things up at the back, he called seven players into the starting line-up who primarily specialized in preventing goals. Meanwhile, behind striker Arnaud Kalimuendo, Farès Chaibi and Ritsu Doan should boost up front. The offensive skilled workers Ansgar Knauff, Can Uzun and Jean-Mattéo Bahoya initially stayed out.
Kalimuendo with the perfect start
All of this became gray theory in 51 seconds. Returnee Nathaniel Brown headed to Kalimuendo, who leveraged the ball with his long leg and outside instep into the far corner for an early lead. After Younes Ebnoutalib against Dortmund and Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab in Stuttgart, this is the third winter addition with a goal for Eintracht.
A rocket launch that noticeably boosted the guests. Preparer Brown and goalscorer Kalimuendo did some impressive work. But first there was a break: Isaac Schmidt hit Rasmus Kristensen in the face during a tackle. Although the Dane made many gestures to emphasize his integrity, he was bleeding heavily. Because Kaua Santos also felt something on his foot and sat down, the ball rested for a few moments.
It’s pulling again at the back
Both were able to continue playing and contributed to what was initially a thoroughly inspired performance by the Hessians. Goalscorer Kalimuendo in particular caused Bremen problems with his dribbling, but he also initiated the first big chance for the opponent with a bad pass: Jens Stage fed Justin Njinmah, who initially aimed past the left post alone in front of Kaua Santos (20th).
But the plan worked: Yukinari Sugawara sent Njinmah down again with a pass to frame the score, who shook off Nnamdi Collins a little too easily and this time placed the ball precisely on the left to equalize (29′). What the SGE had built up offensively, they tore it down again. That too: very familiar.
Toppmöller will probably have discussed this during the break. Immediately afterwards it continued with a noticeable amount of space for Werder’s Schmidt in the center, who via a detour enabled Senne Lynen to score the first goal of the second half (49′). Easy prey for Kaua Santos, but a warning shot.
Collins is impressive offensively
Toppmöller hadn’t actually planned any personnel changes, but after Kristensen bled again, it was over for him, Ansgar Knauff took over and Collins moved to the right-back position. This had an immediate impact: after strong forechecking by Kalimuendo, Eintracht won the ball deep. Chaibi spooned the ball into the path of the advancing Collins, who took the lead a short time later (56th).
Horst Steffen’s team now shed all restraint and had opportunities. Ellyes Skhiri let Romano Schmid shake him out on the goal line and was lucky that Njinmah’s shot was far too imprecise (63′). Then, after serious coordination problems with Robin Koch, Theate saw Njinmah’s taillights again, this time the Bremen attacker just missed the goal when he was free in front of the goal.
Chaibi misses the decision
Substitute Uzun demonstrated that the Frankfurters also mastered this move, who served Chaibi with a deep pass, but he also narrowly missed the goal and perhaps the decision. Instead, the complete opposite happened: Stage powerfully smashed a free-kick cross into the net to make it 2-2 (78th). The goal anthem had barely faded away when Bremen added one more: Samuel Mbangula pushed the ball forward to Schmid, who passed it on to Werder’s substitute Winter signing Jovan Milosevic, who turned the game around 3-2 (80′).
The decision – everyone thought. Knauff had a surprising final score with the 3:3 in stoppage time (90th + 4). Amaimouni-Echghouyab barely scratched the ball off the goal line when he made his assist. After a quick check it was clear: the goal counts.
Eintracht remains winless in the third game of the new year. The next task is already on Wednesday in the Champions League at Qarabag Agdam. It remains to be seen whether this is good news for the SGE these days.
Editor:
Aaron Knopp
Broadcast:
hessenschau.de, SGE: Remis in Bremen,
Those: hessenschau.de
Related reading
