Start of a crisis?

Domination does not make a victory. That is nothing but unimportant. The most important quintessence of the match: We will rather have to look down than to look at the top of the table. One more year in the middle of nowhere?


Thomas Doll did not give his critics a chance to let him look like the players’ friendly uncle. He seemed angry in light of the poor performance against Hannover last Saturday and changed the team on two positions. Buckley, “the silver bullet” (Doll) and Valdez who had been praised by the coach as he showed a good match against Munich, two weeks ago, had to sit down on the bench. Klimowicz and Kruska got a chance to put power to the offence and secure the defence, respectively.
As for Frankfurt, Köhler, Kyrgiakos, Thurk and Pröll got back in the team. Especially the last name meant hard work for our team and no one would have complained if he had been ill one more day.
75.300 spectators would have gone crazy unless Klimowicz had put a lovely ball beside the goal (2’).
No doubt: our team was about to dominate the match, but the decisive situation was still missing. Although Mladen Petric missed the goal after being served by Dede (23th), Frankfurt’s rigorous line of defence and missing ideas in our midfield did not allow better chances. As a consequence, Eintracht started some offensive actions but Takahara’s bicycle kick was no big danger for Roman Weidenfeller. In the last 15 minutes, both teams made more efforts and the match became faster: While Kringe’s (38’’) header and Petric’s shot (40’) were good opportunities, Weidenfeller saved Amantidis’ try at the end of the first half.
Borussia began very promising. Petric’s blast missed the posts and Pröll had to put in everything in order to save a nice shot by Tinga (53’). 95% of the spectators probably felt that Borussia was to score any minute. But then the shocking moment: 55 minutes were played when Ioannis Amanatidis, Eintracht’s most dangerous striker for years, could freely finish a cross by Ochs! Quite shocked but also angry, our team seemed willing to turn the match around. But apart from Tinga’s try (61’), the attack looked uninspired on how to break the Hessian defence. And thus, an odd situation had to help us with the equalizer: Unintended, Federico served Dede whose left-foot blast from 20 metres was diverted. Pröll could only save by using his left foot and it was Florian Kringe who finally made the bouncing ball roll into the net (and Frankfurt’s defender Chris look like a partner in the weekly judo practice). Borussia invested everything now and almost succeeded: Kuba duped a bunch of Frankfurt-defenders, entered the left part of the penalty area but Pröll luckily saved – the immediately reconquered ball was played to Valdez who was not able to take use of the (weak) pass. In the end, referee Stark blew the whistle and finished the match. A hard fight in the end was not awarded high enough in the end.
Such matches have to be won! A rather weak opponent, many chances and the opportunity to get out of the lower third of the table should have looked attractive enough to make this happen. But it became obvious that two things are definitely missing: A second reliable striker – Valdez and Klimowicz (who might be concussed; hopefully nothing serious) are not consistent enough at the moment. We are longing for Alex Frei’s comeback. The second issue: A playmaking midfielder who can score as well as serve the attack. Giovanni Federico has not assimilated yet into the Bundesliga, it seems. But this position is decisive for being in the upper third – and not fighting in the lower one. One thing is for sure: If the next match in Nuremberg is not won, we will be right in the middle of a struggle against relegation.
BVB: Weidenfeller (3) - P. Degen (3,5), Brzenska(3,5), Kovac (3), Dede (3) - Kruska (4) (Buckley (3,5) (62’), Tinga (2) - Blaszczykowski (3), Kringe (2) - Klimowicz (3,5) (Valdez (4) (30’) ), Petric (3) (Federico (4) (67’) )

Frankfurt: Pröll - Galindo, Chris, Kyrgiakos - P. Ochs, Preuß, Spycher, Köhler - Thurk - Takahara, Amanatidis

Yellow cards: Tinga, Kuba // Ochs, Spycher, Chris

Referee: Stark

Attendance: 75.300

Geschrieben von Domi