Dino Toppmöller knows exactly how Eintracht Frankfurt should play under him as coach: uncomfortable for the opponent. And he comments on the advance praise before the start with a joke.
Black T-shirt, three-day beard and hair gelled to the side: Not only in his words, but also in his appearance, Dino Toppmöller was above all down-to-earth on his first public appearance as the new Eintracht coach on Friday morning. Even if he knows that the demands on his team’s performance are no longer there: “We want to continue the positive development that the club has had in recent years together as a team.”
In order to achieve this goal, Toppmöller wants to play aggressive and courageous football. Even more ball possession and flexibility in defense – regardless of whether it’s a back three or four. In his work in Frankfurt, the family man also wants to follow the saying of the fan choreo “Frankfurts makes trouble” and become a “positive troublemaker”.
Dino Toppmöller – a world class coach?
There was great advance praise for the new coach of Eintracht well in advance: Frankfurt’s new sports director Timmo Hardung had already described Toppmöller as a “world-class coach” at the beginning of June. “I wrote to him immediately afterwards: Thanks for the high bar,” said Toppmöller when asked about this praise on Friday morning with a grin: “I try to burn for the task from day one so that I can do justice to this praise to some extent.”
Toppmöller has already completed one task: he and his family have found a house very close to the stadium. “I’m glad we settled down,” said the former assistant coach at FC Bayern. In the third move in three years, Frankfurt as a city would also have played a major factor. Toppmöller knows the city on the Main well and played for Eintracht himself between 2002 and 2003.
Already the second Toppmöller as Eintracht coach
The connection to Frankfurt and Eintracht also runs in the family: his father Klaus Toppmöller was also a coach on the touchline for the Hessians in the 1990s and even celebrated the autumn championship in the 93/94 season. “He rubbed his start record under my nose,” said Toppmöller Junior about his conversation with his father: “I said that he could keep the start record if I stayed longer for it.”
Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche is also convinced that the working relationship between Toppmöller and Eintracht could become a longer-term one: “Dino fits in perfectly with Eintracht Frankfurt and what we are planning.” He particularly likes the way the coach would play football, emphasized Krösche.
Koch as a missing piece of the puzzle in defence
Toppmöller has room for improvement less in the game going forward than much more in defensive work. In particular, the 19 goals conceded by standards last season were too many, emphasized the new Eintracht coach. One reason for this is said to have been the lack of height of the previous defenders – with Robin Koch and his 1.92 meters, they were able to close this important gap in the defensive structure.
With the additions, however, it is important to close at least one important position, because another assistant coach is to join the Hessians. “We want to find a solution so that the new assistant coach joins us as soon as possible,” said Krösche. He didn’t want to name a name yet.