VfB Stuttgart can set the clock accordingly. So far this Bundesliga season, the third-place team has won all of the games played on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Eintracht Frankfurt was also unable to contribute to a new era to the Swabians’ disadvantage on matchday 29.
Coach Dino Toppmöller’s weakened and overwhelmed team, which played a very error-filled game, had to admit defeat 3-0 away on Saturday evening to VfB, who were highly superior in the first half. The goals for the Swabians were scored by Serhou Guirassy (11th minute), Deniz Undav (17th) and Jamie Leweling (37th).
“We rightly lost – even at altitude,” said Eintracht sports director Markus Krösche. “Stuttgart was very efficient. We have to make sure we don’t allow goals to be conceded so easily.”
The Stuttgart team, who are on course for the Champions League in their remarkable Bundesliga record season and are unbeaten in eleven matches, have at least qualified for the Europa League early – and to a certain extent against a fearful opponent who was unable to take on this role this time.
Eintracht’s personnel needs
In front of their own audience, VfB, who had already won the game 2-1 in the first half of the season, had not won any of the last five competitive games against Eintracht; the previous three were even lost. The Frankfurt team, who let VfB lose their edge far too easily in the first half with an inadequate performance, are again being put under pressure by FC Augsburg due to their seventh defeat of the season.
With the 2-0 home win over Union Berlin, Augsburg (39 points) moved within three points of sixth-placed Frankfurt. The race for sixth place has become exciting again.
In terms of personnel, Eintracht’s need was great. Even before the game started, Mario Götze had to travel back to Frankfurt because he was suffering from conjunctivitis. Makoto Hasebe started in the so-called six position – it was only the second time in this round that the Japanese was in the starting lineup.
After the game, the Frankfurt professionals sneak across the pitch in frustration. : Image: dpa
Before his seventh nomination, the 40-year-old, who was fouled after a few seconds and lost the ball a little later and was hardly able to convince, had only been on the pitch for a total of 128 minutes. What made the personnel situation even more difficult: Toppmöller had to switch to the right side against the attacking Stuttgart team.
In the clash with Werder Bremen a week ago, Tuta received a red card and junior Dina Ebimbe received a fifth yellow card. At VfB, the Führich/Mittelstädt duo, which took off this season, exerts a lot of pressure on the left. That was also the case against Eintracht at times. Right-back Aurelio Buta, who was new to the Frankfurt team, played a fairly decent game compared to his defensive colleagues.