In the end it was like almost always in 2026. Frankfurt Eintracht also conceded three goals against Bayer Leverkusen and remained winless on Saturday. Nevertheless, there was a small glimmer of hope with the 3-1 defeat against the Werkself. In the fourth and final game under interim coach Dennis Schmitt and his assistant Alex Meier, after weeks of depression, the Frankfurt team remembered better times in at least one phase of the game, when they were considered candidates for the European Cup places.
After Koch’s goal to make the score 1-2 in the 50th minute, Eintracht involved the Werkself in an open exchange of blows, even put them under pressure and had chances to equalize. But two misses from Ellyes Skhiri ended this interim high after 20 minutes. The Tunisian was warned twice within 90 seconds for serious foul play and had to leave the pitch with a yellow-red card.
Even when they were outnumbered, the Frankfurt team fought tirelessly and more successfully than in previous weeks and even had the opportunity to make it 2-2 in the final phase thanks to headers from Koch and Amenda after standard situations. But with the advantage, the Leverkusen team largely controlled the action and increased it to 3-1 through Garcia in stoppage time.
On Sunday Riera is still looking after NK Cele
Coach Schmitt gave his team a big compliment in his farewell press conference. “The boys showed what they were capable of in the second half. We planned to do what we played in the second half in the first half. But we were too passive.”
The team’s signal to the new coach Albert Riera, who will start work in Frankfurt on Monday, was: We are still alive. Nevertheless, the task is a very difficult one for the 43-year-old Spaniard. In a foreign country, in a foreign league, it takes great expertise and persuasiveness to build a team that has been winless in eight games, lost five times and conceded 21 goals. To do this, Riera, who looked after his club NK Cele in the Slovenian league one last time on Sunday, has to get back into attacking routines. Under interim coach Schmitt, Eintracht has recently been a little more compact again, but has no longer found solutions to create scoring opportunities when in possession of the ball.
Sports director Markus Krösche sees challenges for Riera: “He has to bring the belief in his own strength back into the group.” He commented on the work of the interim trainer team as follows: “Dennis Schmitt and Alexander Meier did well, but in terms of results it didn’t work.” The two coaches will return to their duties with Eintracht’s U21 and U19 after getting a taste of professional coaching for the first time.
The first half did not represent any progress for Krösche, although Eintracht had kept the Werkself away from their own penalty area for 26 minutes with great running effort. But as has often been the case in recent weeks, the opponent’s first successful attacks led to a deficit. Arthur (26th minute) and Tillman (33rd) made great moves. This was followed by a phase of Frankfurt hopelessness until the half-time whistle. “We overslept the first 45 minutes and conceded goals that were too easy,” said Krösche.
Eintracht had a great chance to score in the first half thanks to the VAR, which had alerted referee Robert Schröder to a foul on Kalimuendo in the penalty area. But even after a second look on the video screen, Schröder remained of his opinion that Andrich’s kick was not worthy of a penalty.
The sports director liked the second half better, except for Skhiri’s sending off: “He has to behave more cleverly in this situation, after he had just been warned,” said Krösche about the Tunisian’s second foul. The experienced Tunisian international’s misjudgment shows that the Eintracht players are unsettled after a series of failures and have lost their center. They are miles away from claiming a place in one of the next European competitions. In the current state the view in the table can only go downwards. Unless the new coach pulls off a little football miracle. Midfielder Oscar Hojlund said in an Eintracht fan talk after the final whistle: “We are now looking forward to the new coach.” The Dane didn’t want to give out goals: “We have to stand together as a group and think from game to game.”
