6th matchday
First defeat of the season: Frankfurt too harmless
Wolfsburg’s Jonas Wind (r) gave Eintracht keeper Kevin Trapp no chance at 1-0. photo
© Swen Pförtner/dpa
Eintracht Frankfurt suffered their first defeat of the season. It is also clear in Wolfsburg: top striker Kolo Muani leaves a big gap.
Frankfurt’s world champion Mario Götze also saw a yellow-red card in the 58th minute (58th). Jonas Wind scored both Wolfsburg goals again in front of 28,323 spectators (31st/84th).
That’s another reason why this game was a plea for the classic center forward. Because on the one hand, wind is already reaching goals six and seven of the season. When the score was 1-0, the 24-year-old Dane was in exactly the right place in the penalty area when Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was unable to hold on to a shot from Lovro Majer, but was only able to deflect it to the side. In the 2-0 win, he also scored with a shot after Trapp had initially saved a penalty from him.
No replacement for Kolo Muani
On the other hand, there is still a big gap in Frankfurt’s attack since the Frenchman Randal Kolo Muani was sold to Paris Saint-Germain for 95 million euros in the final hours of the transfer deadline, but could no longer be replaced due to time constraints. In the 21st minute, Ellyes Skhiri shot completely free in front of the goal, but was denied by the strong reacting VfL keeper Koen Casteels, as was the former Wolfsburg player Omar Marmoush from an even shorter distance shortly afterwards (35′).
Eintracht simply no longer poses a threat since Kolo Muani and the Dane Jesper Lindström (SSC Napoli) left for more than 120 million euros in the summer. The centre-forward on Saturday was played by the Egyptian Marmoush, who was used at VfL last season sometimes at the front right, sometimes at the front left, but only rarely in the center of the attack.
Even when Ridle Baku slipped in his own penalty area shortly before half-time, Frankfurt didn’t know how to take advantage of it. Majer blocked a shot from Junior Dina Ebimbe (45th).
Another difference between the two teams for a long time was the intensity. Wolfsburg initially ran more, sprinted more and won more duels – just as coach Kovac had preached in Frankfurt from 2016 to 2018. There he led Eintracht to stay in the league and win the cup. The club’s steep development, which is currently stagnating a bit, is largely due to Kovac’s work.
Götze weakens his team
In the second half, VfL was also able to thank Götze a little. Because just when Frankfurt became more dominant and the hosts retreated a little too far, the 31-year-old weakened his team considerably by being sent off. Götze kicked the Swede Mattias Svanberg in the heels in midfield.
Shortly afterwards, Ridle Baku (63′) and Maxence Lacroix headed the crossbar (67′) missed an earlier 2-0. Nevertheless, VfL had everything under control with the majority and scored their second goal thanks to the wind.