The current season of the Bundesliga is good, first of all, by the fact that he gave us so many spectacular, unpredictable football performed by many teams that became a real opening of the championship. If you are a dedicated fan of German football, take a look at the standings and tell me if there is at least one club in it that has not hit you in the last eight months in a good or bad way. Moreover, the opening can be called not only those teams that are at the forefront of the table, but also those that have not yet fully revealed their potential. Today I would like to talk about one of these clubs, which, while not at the leading places, but is in the active process of restructuring, and its result is already visible to the naked eye.
Frankfurt am Main - the fifth largest city in Germany with a population of 732 thousand people (with 2.3 million suburbs. ), The banking center of the country with the largest airport in Germany and the fourth in terms of passenger traffic in Europe. Center for Commerce, Education and Tourism. But even in such a global-city, there is a place for sport, the pearl of which is Eintracht. Although the locals call it only "Frankfurt", and this despite the presence of the second team in the city with this name. Here also there is a 51-thousandth "Commerzbank-Arena", which is filled on average by 94% per game, that is - 49. 000 viewers. And, mind you, it's all without titles, European cups and star players!.
We will not recall the past history of "eagles", which although not very rich in glorious victories, but rather old, because the team was founded already in 1899. Modern football fans outside Germany know about this club a little, because Eintracht won only once in the national championship (in the distant 1959) and the grandee can not be named. Moreover, even some six years ago he even flew to the second Bundesliga, although he returned in the next season.
So, today we will talk about why the Frankfurt Eintracht, the finalist of the German Cup, can now be called one of the most promising and best teams in the country.
The final of the Cup and the struggle for the zone of the League of Europe - very solid achievements for Niko Kovacs a year later, after the appointment as head coach of Frankfurt. The former coach of the Croatian national team challenged by taking the club last season for nine rounds before the end of the championship. At that time, Frankfurt was on the 16th place. This appointment caused a lot of questions, because in some ways it became very risky. On the one hand, the potential of Kovacs as one of the most promising mentors in Europe, thanks to his work with young people. On the other hand, the leadership of the "eagles" entrusted the rescue of a swiftly sinking ship to a coach who never headed an adult club team. We remember that before that he was at the helm of the youth team and the first Croatian national team, which he brought to the World Championship in Brazil.
And, Nico started not in the best way, several defeats set the club even more questions than after the dismissal of Armin Fe. However, the main thing that the new coach, once the winner of the Bundesliga 2002/03 season in Bavaria, managed to do is to raise the spirit of the players, forcing them to believe in themselves. As a result - in the last four matches of the championship Eintracht had three steep victories, two of which over the future participants of the European cups - Dortmund - 1: 0 and Mainz - 2: 1. As a result, the "eagles" remained in the 16th place, and participated in the playoff games with the third team of the second Bundesliga Nuremberg. And, the home match wards Kovacs played a 1: 1 draw, having recouped in the 65th minute. But on the road, they minimally beat opponents and kept a residence permit.
In the summer, Eintracht refused to make high-profile transfers, so Niko Kovac had to resort to his well-known system of work with young players and those that he had in the previous season. In addition, for a penny bought the contract Mascarelo from Real Madrid, from here came to rent an incredibly promising Jesus Vallejo, whose lease ends already at the end of this season. And Kovacs insists on extending the Spaniard, but Zidane wants to see the player in its composition, at least, at least for the period of summer fees. Actually, only these two new players became stable players of the starting lineup. Almost with the same selection of players that was at Armin Fe, Niko Kovac created a team fighting for the European Cups!.
He built a clear ideology, not only on the field, but also in the locker room. German media at the beginning of the season actively discussed that the team finally had a single balanced team, which positively affects the atmosphere within the team. In this case, it is worth noting, Kovacs - a man with a sense of humor, and often himself can joke with the players, when the moment allows. In one of the German television programs, even a story was made with three Spanish-speaking leaders Eintracht Fabian, Vallejo and Mascarelle, who noticed that in the locker room there is always a friendly, respectful atmosphere that allows players to come to the training and leave with a smile on their face! Of course, this is one of the most important achievements of Kovacs in the club.
In addition, the mentor put his tactical scheme, which is quite successful results. To begin with, Eintracht often plays in three central defenders, and Kovac does not get tired of shuffling the lineup, changing the players so often that it is difficult for the opponents' trainers to predict the Croatian decisions for the next duel. It is also interesting that Frankfurt is easily reconstructed and into four defenders. And, this often happens during the game!.
"Possession, selection, transition from defense to attack and back. These are the four main stages of the philosophy of the game of our team! "- Nico Kovac If you watched several games of" eagles "in the current season, then surely stressed that Kovac built an ideal defensive model of the game, showing indoor football. In the games with the participation of Frankfurt, the fewest goals are scored, which can sometimes speak of the non-entertainment of the team. However, this is already, as they say, the taste and color. Personally, for example, I have nothing against defensive football, especially if it becomes a corporate style of the team. Why not? Especially, this model of the game gave a good result: Eintracht is the ninth in the table, however, after 30 rounds in the championship, he missed only 34 goals! Less than "eagles" missed only three leaders of the Bundesliga Leipzig, Bavaria and Hoffenheim! Of course, we can not fail to note the outstanding game of Finnish keeper Lucas Hradecki.
By the way, it is in the matches with Eintracht's participation that the least amount of shots on the goal is applied - an average of only 21.5 per game. Frankfurt does not threaten the rival himself, but he does not allow him to do this either. On the gate "Eagles" on average, only 10 beats per match. Again, only Bavaria and Leipzig have less! Frankfurt itself is doing 11.5 - also a little.
Eintracht differs in its rigidity and rudeness. Frankfurt - the most rough team of the championship and it is confidently in the lead in the number of yellow cards - 75. And her opornik Masquerel leads in this indicator among the players in the Bundesliga: as many as 13 mustards saw before him a pupil of Real Madrid this season! And this is only in 28 games, that is, in every second game he has enough yellow card game!.
Perhaps, defense - this is the main trump card in Frankfurt, because in the attack he is not so strong. Of course, the reason is that the main striking force of the "eagles" is the 34-year-old Alexander Mayer. In addition to solid age, a footballer who became the best sniper of the Bundesliga a couple of years ago is also quite traumatic. But, despite this, he remains one of the team's best snipers - 5 goals in 20 games. More balls only from one of the leaders of the team of Marco Fabian - seven. By the way, the fact that the attacking midfielder is the best scorer of the team, once again proves some toothlessness of the attacking Kovacs. Khrgota scored only four goals, Seferovich and Rebic two, and Tarashai is completely alone!.
One of the main reasons for the problematic nature of Frankfurt's attacks is the very serious injury of the talented football player Mark Stender, who tore the ligaments in the second leg with Nuremberg in the 11th minute of the meeting. Since then, the winner of the youth European Championship has never appeared on the field. Thank God, now Mark already trains in the general group and is included in the applications for the matches, but he is not yet admitted to the squad. By the way, you could remember Shtender at the youth world championship of 2015, where he was an absolute leader in the composition of the Bundestim. While he was healthy, the Germans frankly ripped all the rivals, but after another injury to the player - Germany immediately flew.
By the way, it is young people, at the moment, the main potential weapons of Frankfurt for the coming years. If the leadership does not allocate funds to buy two or three players in the summer, especially the attackers, then Kovacs will be forced to rely on the young pupils of Eintracht. And these in Frankfurt, more than enough! The most promising, apart from the pillars, is Aimen Barcock. The 18-year-old boy has already played 16 matches for the club, which scored two goals!.
Despite the problems in the attack, the team has a wonderful physics, the players do not get tired, but, on the contrary, add to the actions in the endings of the matches. Out of 32 balls, 15 "eagles" scored in the last half hour of fights and ten - in the last 15 minutes! You will crumple if I say that only in the last round of the Bundesliga, in the match against Augsburg Frankfurt to the 78th minute lost in the count, but then the double of Fabian and Rebic's goal brought the "eagles" a confident victory 3: 1. In this match they won the first victory after the ten-match series without victories, during which there was also a series of five defeats! Moreover, it happened and such that in eight games Eintracht scored only one ball.
Now Frankfurt is on the ninth position, but only three points from the zone of the League of Europe. Niko Kovacs continues to fight in two tournaments and even if his players can not make it into the European Cups through the Bundesliga, then they have a chance to do this, beating Dortmund in the final of the German Cup. By the way, this trophy can become the fifth Cup of the country for Eintracht, who last time won in him already in 1988. Let me remind you that the other day, for the first time in 11 years Frankfurt again reached the final of the German Cup, beating in the penalty shootout Gladbach. And this finale will be very interesting and unpredictable. Eintracht won two of five matches with Dortmund, therefore making Borussia a clear favorite, I would not advise you.
Nico Kovacs with his coaching staff, which, incidentally, includes his brother Robert, continues to improve his defensive play in Frankfurt. And if in the summer transfer window the leadership of the "eagles" will allocate a proper amount for several point gains, then, I'm betting, next season in the struggle for the Champions League will add another "unexpected" team from the middle of the standings.