Simply not enough: Eintracht Frankfurt 1:1 Borussia Mönchengladbach

 
Can you be both encouraged and disappointed at the same time?  Eintracht's performance vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday was as good a performance as we've seen in the last 7 weeks, which is why it is also disappointing to come away with only 1 point.  Die Adler played hard, they played with passion, and they displayed (for the most part) interest and passion to bring home 3 points.  They were the better team.....mostly.  They also displayed too many lapses in focus to put this game away and bring home the three points.  In a game Eintracht needed points, they did enough to bring home 1 at the friendly confines of Deutsche Bank Park.  Are they gaining late traction?  Is this a sign of turning things around?  That remains to be seen, but let's look at what happened in the most recent game in this frustrating streak of results.

What went right:

Defensive Pressure:

Eintracht really disrupted Mönchengladbach's attack with their pressure. That not only limited the touches that Florian Neihause (29) and Marcus Thuram (52) got, it also disrupted many of the passes downfield allowing the defense to get back and recover.  The pressure seemed to really get to both fullbacks Joe Scalley and Ramy Bensebaini.  Scalley (19 possessions lost on 59 touches) was often caught deep in his own end with few options to go to as RKM, and the Eintracht midfield applied pressure.  Bensebaini (23 possessions lost on 73 touches) wasn't much better.  The pressure forced Daniel Farke's side to play from the back, but the midfield marking of Sow and Rode kept the counter at bay (mostly). 

Part of the reason that Mönchengladbach only managed 4 shots was Eintracht was pushed up soo high that they barely broke into the final third.  Die Fohlen managed only 45 touches in the final third the entire night, and only 14 touches inside the box.  

You can see from this sequence how the combination of marking and trapping essentially took the midfield out of the attack.  The sequence ended with Lenz deflecting the ball for a turnover without possession even taking place across the midfield line.  Oliver Glasner put together a near-perfect defensive game plan for this game, and it was executed really well.  There was one time that Hasebe and Tuta got caught high AND Mönchengladbach was able to make a good combination pass, and it cost Eintracht badly.

The Transition Game.

Eintracht had no problem moving the ball down the field and into the attacking third.  By contrast, Eintracht had 240 touches into the final third, and 35 in the box.  It was more than just quick counterattacking play, however.  Eintracht was able to progress the ball forward and a variety of ways.  Long forward runs, deep passing, slow build-up, quick-hitting combos, they were all there.  The possession stats show how varied the attack was.  59% possession, 623 passes attempted, 90 of which were longer than 30 yards.  This was a totally dominating effort, especially in terms of winning the ball back, progressing it down the field, and creating chances. In the second half, Eintracht only allowed 1 shot (a soft header by Eveldi off a free kick). 

What went wrong?

Finishing.  

The finishing was atrocious.  Eintracht had 10 shots inside the penalty box including some point-blank misses by RKM, and Ebimbe.  There were some tough misses by Tuta and an RKM shot that was saved by the woodwork.  Credit to Jonas Omlin who also made some a couple of tough saves.

Set Pieces and Corners.

Eintracht had 10 corners, 6 in the second half.  Even though there were a few close plays they couldn't get one play in the back of the net.  The corners seemed to have little imagination to them, as Eintracht was lobbing it up hoping someone could get on the end of it.  But without Evan N'Dicka on the pitch, there was really little threat to actually go up and get a head on it.  The set pieces and corners seemed extremely bland from a team that was at a significant height deficit entering the game.

Final Thoughts:

• Glasner:  "That's encouraging. This team has a great character. Everything else shouldn't influence us. If we keep going like this, the victories will come again." 

• Krösche: "The performance and the dominance give us hope," 

I tend to agree with both of these statements.  The effort and the execution were there, and the game literally came down to being unable to make 1 play.  1 play on defense, and this game is 1-0.  Finishing 1 of the chances in front of the net, it's 2-1.  This is often the way in the game of Fußball, but Eintracht played well enough to win.

Thanks again for reading.

#Nur Die SGE.

Brian.

Glasner's Angry, Gotze is complaining, but how does Eintracht get back on track?

 The newspapers (at least the usual German Newspapers that I read) all have the same things to say: (1) Glasner is angry and thin-skinned. (2) Mario Gotze complains too much. (3) This drop at the end of the season was predictable and is an almost yearly occurrence.  But what no one is talking about is how Eintracht gets back on track?  This is not your usual Eintracht squad.  This one has depth, experience, and the talent necessary to be in a top 6 spot. While tired legs and (probably) some bruised egos are to blame for the current fall from a European contention, the currently sit only 2 points behind Leverkusen for the 6th and final European spot.  Yes, they still have life to qualify for Europe through the Pokal, but for the sake of this article, let's just focus on getting Eintracht back to winning in the league and moving back up the table with 7 games left to play.

Run!

Very simply put, the loss of Jesper Lindstrøm has really hurt this team.  There are many reasons why the slip has happened since last year's Bundesliga Rookie of the Year went down with a ligament injury.  Lindstrøm's value to Eintracht was multidimensional, but none of those dimensions made more of an impact than his ability to run.  Lindstrøm's legs helped press the opponent's back line, wreak havoc in the transition game, and create huge holes for his teammates to run into.  Look at the picture above, right before Mario Gotze blows past Schalke's back line, finding Lindstrøm at the back post for a goal. All three are pressing the gaps of Schalke's back line with Embibe, Kamada, Sow and Knauf filling in behind them.  The front three, all set like loaded springs ready to uncoil unleashed fear on the opposing backlines for the majority of the season.  They were playing at track meet pace, but over the last few weeks that's changed.  Look below at his first goal against Borussia Monchengladbach on Match Day 11.

The pure speed of the front three, running tactically and in concert is 2/3rds of this goal.  Lindstrøm's quality and daringness make up the other 1/3rd.  This isn't a solitary moment though.  Jesper ran so fast and so often that his average position was actually slightly higher than RKM's. This was actually a common occurrence through the early portions of the year.

Jesper is still among the leaders in the Bundesliga in Intensive runs.  That's a credit to his work rate, and how running was opening up a large amount of space for Sow, Rode, and Kamada behind them. Without him, the timing, spacing, and directness of the offense have changed.  Borre is often playing closer to the mid-line, or more out wide than Jesper played which is changing the pace and directness that froze defenses all across Europe.  

Rafael Borré is also a much different player than Lindstrom.  Rafael is better in pockets of space, distributing and working meticulously towards the net.  Rafael is a very good back-to-the-net player and a smart and heady passer.  Jesper plays best when he plays like his hair is on fire, screaming down the field like an angry banshee.  He's more direct and has a much higher top-end speed than Borre.  

The second part of this is applying pressure to the opposing team's back line. Look here in the early part of the game against Leverkusen, you can see RKM trying to get Borre higher up the pitch to take away the other CB.

And granted, this is one possession within the first 1:15 of the game, but it was a trend in this game that led to his positioning being so low in this game.  By dropping and taking the holding midfielder away, Borre pushed Rode further back and as well and slowed down the transition game. This also may have been by design, because both he and Gotze are leaving the fullbacks wide open.   Whether by design or not, Eintracht is better when they are putting pressure on the opponents' ball handlers and covering the next pass.  Their biggest strength is their ability to cover ground quickly (especially with their front 7) and make the opponents play 70-80 yards under pressure.  When the opponents are able to sit back and make easy relief passes, Oliver Glasner's defense begins to break down.  They are also a deadly transition team with RKM, Gotze, Sow, and both wingback positions.  To really get back on track, Eintracht need to simply do what they do best and run.

The back line is in shambles.

The backline has been the most inconsistent part of this team all year.  Coming into the year, many were hoping that Tuta would be in the form that led Eintracht to the Europa league title last year.  He's been extremely disappointing this year.  The back three of Tuta, Toure, and N'Dicka have been in constant flux since Tuta went down with a quad injury early in the year.  Their size and athleticism had begun to be matched with game experience and instincts, but Tuta has seem to taken a step back (especially since his ankle injury in the game against Lech Poznan in January), and N'Dicka seems to be exhausted.  N'Dicka is missing plays he used to make easily.

1-0

2-0 and game.  This of course doesn't even cover the horrendous play by Jakic on the third goal, where he was completely unaware of the situation and allowed a ball to drop that he never should have.  Jakic is has been playing somewhat out of position at RCB most of the year, but this doesn't give him a pass.  He's a veteran, he should know better. With Max and N'Dicka both being down with injury, the left side of this team is in trouble if Jonas Hoffman plays.  

Final Thoughts:

It's not all doom and gloom as many prognosticators say.  But it's also not going to be an easy road to climb the table and catch Leverkusen, Freiburg or Leipzig.  It all starts with one game, and let's go get it on Saturday.  

Thanks again for reading.

Forza S.G.E.

Brian.