Despite little European experience, Eintracht Frankfurt’s performances in the UEFA Europa League have been stellar up to this point, with some even calling the Bundesliga outfit the dark horses of the competition.
The team has come away with two clean sheet victories, with the win against APOEL Nicosia the most resounding given that only two seasons ago the Cypriot side made it to the Champions League quarter-finals. Frankfurt’s recent results in the DFB-Pokal are equally convincing, with wins over Bochum and Illertissen to reach the round of 16.
Overall, Frankfurt’s stats outside the Bundesliga are impressive. They’re on top in Group F, and next to Rubin Kazan are tied with Red Bull Salzburg as the second highest scoring team in the Europa league. Naturally, it’s too early into the competition to tell if the recent success will amount to something at the end, but more or less it’s an inspiring start.
Sadly, the same cannot be said of its league form. Success at the European level and in the German Cup has denied them a stronger start in the Bundesliga, where they’ve earned just two wins in eight matches and sit 13th in the table.
Surely that’s an underachievement for a club of the Eagles’ standard. Even though they were dark horses last year and no one expected a team that was relegated to come back a year later and place sixth, Frankfurt’s best showing in nearly a decade, expectations are higher this time around.
To place their two Bundesliga wins into context, the team has only one more than last place and newly promoted Eintracht Braunschweig. It also doesn’t help when Frankfurt concedes more than it scores. Plus, they’re the only team in the league, along with those currently in the relegation zone, to not win at home yet.
Undoubtedly, a season-opening 6-1 loss to Hertha Berlin was a kick in the teeth. But that defeat alone doesn’t explain the issue of inconsistency as the team is still waiting to win two games in a row.
Even Frankfurt’s victories haven’t been truly reflective of their ambitions and talent. The first win was against a much weaker side in Eintracht Braunschweig and the other one, despite the 3-0 score line and a brace by Czech striker Vaclav Kadlec, came against a 10-man Werder Bremen side.
Coming into the season, depth was a concern for manager Armin Veh. So he brought in reinforcements in order to increase his squad’s rotation in order to compete in three different competitions. The club’s most recent acquisition was Kadlec, who already leads the team with three goals and an assist. Kadlec, of course, was signed not only because of his Champions League and Europa League experiences, but also to address the team’s absence of a consistent striker up front.
Veh also added newcomers Jan Rosenthal and Johannes Flum from Freiburg, along with Joselu and Stephan Schroeck from Hoffenheim, and loanee Tranquillo Barnetta from Schalke 04. Marco Russ, who initially returned to Frankfurt from Wolfsburg on loan in January, has also had an excellent start to the season providing two goals.
Even though a few Frankfurt players felt they deserved the victory against Freiburg last weekend, at the end it was an own goal by Christian Guenter that helped the Eagles to gain a 1-1 draw in the first place. While it’s true that they dominated for most of the first half, at the end, attempts on goal and possession were quite even.
Still questions have arisen over their ability to play in three competitions simultaneously without sacrificing one over the other. It’s a timely concern for the team, but the real danger for Frankfurt is to focus too much on one competition at the expense of their form in the Bundesliga.
This could just be a poor stretch at the start of the season, but Frankfurt must remain wary that success on one stage shouldn’t come at the expense of another. As hard as it seems, striking a balance is what continues to evade this team.