Stand: December 16, 2024, 5:09 a.m
Von: Ingo Durstewitz
PressSplit
Eintracht Frankfurt is over the defeat in Lyon and wants revenge in Leipzig for the bad defeat in the cup – but without the Brazilian Tuta.
Dino Toppmöller was asked at lunchtime on Saturday whether his team was running out of steam just before Christmas and after three games without a win in a row. The Eintracht coach didn't go into detail about the statement, but rather painted a pretty picture that came to mind on the flight back from the Europa League game in Lyon. While flying over the sun-drenched Alps, the Frankfurt football coach almost became a bit philosophical, and he also shared this with the public.
“You can compare a season like this to a mountain expedition,” he said. “We plan to climb an 8,000 meter peak. It is clear that this is not easy. We started with great euphoria, with a certain lightness. The higher you go, the thinner the air becomes.” Sometimes you lose strength, the weather also gets worse, “the wind blows in your face,” and there are phases on the climb that don’t feel quite so good, “in which you have to overcome resistance. But then the next beautiful view awaits you. It’s worth fighting to get to the summit,” says the 44-year-old. And adds: “We will go as far as our feet take us.”
First of all, we're off to Leipzig for the Bundesliga game on Sunday evening (7.30 p.m./Dazn). And of course this is not a normal game, because the mini-series of failures began in Saxony ten days ago. Not only that: In this cup game, Eintracht showed by far their weakest performance of the season.
A fact that doesn't let Toppmöller go. This 0-3 defeat was already a blow to the scoreboard, a real setback. “The cup game plays a role. “We don’t want to leave it like this,” says Toppmöller. “I think there is still some anger in my stomach. We want to convert that into positive energy.” Or, to put it in Thomas Müller’s words: “We want to start the anger engine.”
But Toppmöller also knows that, especially in such a constellation, there is a danger of going too crazy and turning the great motivation into the opposite. “We should stick to ourselves,” he says. “And don’t become headless.”
Incidentally, Fares Chaibi's drop in performance could also be explained by too much motivation, the head coach predicts. At home in Lyon, the 22-year-old had a very unfortunate performance in the 2-3 defeat. “We know that he didn’t operate at the top level. Of course he has room for improvement,” said the coach, who had the feeling “that Fares wanted to do something special because he was playing in his city.” At least 50 friends, acquaintances and relatives were in the stadium. “That can inspire or hinder you,” explains Toppmöller, who previously saw the midfielder on the rise. “And we won’t pin it on him now either. We weren’t good enough as a collective to get anything out of it.”
Dino Toppmöller is currently going against the trend a bit and doesn't want to create any doubts or a bad mood because the last three matches didn't go as hoped. “We’re playing a sensational round,” he says. “That’s exactly my message to the team.”
Under no circumstances should you let your self-confidence and joy be taken away from you, but rather be aware that you have an outstanding record, especially in the Bundesliga. “We are rightly in second place in the table. I want to see this self-confidence from my team.” The game in Leipzig is definitely a great opportunity. “We want to round off a very good first half of the season.”
The Brazilian Tuta, who suffered a calf injury from the Lyon game, cannot help. Annoying: Coach Toppmöller had actually been toying with the idea of resting the defender in France.
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