Standards are Eintracht’s model for success
Wif Oliver Glasner The Eintracht coach has mixed feelings when he thinks of standard situations in his team’s game. On the one hand, he is happy about the finishing strength of his players in attack. Because 11 of the 32 Bundesliga goals came from dead balls before the winter break. In these statistics, only Freiburg (13) and Gladbach are ahead of Hesse after 15 match days. Set-pieces were Frankfurt’s 3-1 win in Stuttgart on the seventh day of the game, when all goals by Sebastian Rode, Daichi Kamada and Kristijan Jakic were preceded by set-pieces.
When it comes to this discipline, nobody beats the Japanese Kamada something that was successfully involved in six such game situations. Overall, the midfielder has become a goal guarantor in all competitions with twelve goals in the Champions League round of 16 participants. This brilliant rise in this season was not necessarily to be trusted.
Glasner will have to do without his pros Ansgar Knauff (slight fascia injury), who has already missed six competitive games due to a thigh injury, and Marcel Wenig (metatarsal fracture, suffered in training, downtime probably around three months) until further notice. Looking back at the past few months, the coach has another reason to be angry.
When defending, his players showed a different, unfavorable face. 11 of the 24 goals Frankfurt conceded also came from standard situations. Only Bochum (15), second to last in the table, is even worse when the ball is at rest. Glasner’s team had to concede five goals from corner kicks, which is the negative number among the 18 clubs in the league.
“Often inferior in height”
The coach also attributes this weakness to the fact that his team is “often inferior in height” to the opponent. Only two field players from among the core players can muster a body length of more than 1.85 meters: defender Evan Ndicka, who measures 1.92 meters, and striker Randal Kolo Muani (1.87 meters). When Eintracht drew 1-1 in Mainz on November 13, almost half the starting line-up was coach Bo Svensson taller than 1.85 meters: These included Alexander Hack, Edimilson Fernandes, Anton Stach, Karim Onisiwo and goalkeeper Robin Zentner.
The Hessians had won the game at Werder Bremen at the end of August 4:3. But Eintracht complained about the goals conceded after a corner kick, a free kick and a penalty. Only this time they had nothing to do with a lack of height. From time to time Glasner also misses the necessary speed and rip-off from his professionals. “If you don’t have eight players with a height of 1.94 meters and a weight of 95 kilos who clear away everything around them, you have to learn other virtues,” demands the coach.
Little time for standard situations
The Austrian sees his team in a learning process in which the first successes have already been achieved. Due to the many English weeks before the winter break, Glasner hardly had time to practice standard situations with his team. Nevertheless, it made standards on the offensive a model of success.
Very important: For the coach it is a question of conviction and the corresponding will. “Set pieces are a mental story for me,” he said after the away win against Stuttgart. “It has less to do with size and more to do with determination, do I really want to score the goal?” His players showed this will from the first second. There are also examples of his opinion “in world football”: “Sergio Ramos caused a sensation and often scored decisive standard goals with his power – and he is not 1.98 meters tall either,” said Glasner. The Spaniard measures 1.84 meters.
Before the three-week winter vacation, which begins for the Eintracht players on December 10th, the coach wants to use the ample time for training profitably without any competition dates. The focus should be “above all on defensive behavior, individually and team tactically,” he called the work program. He also keeps a close eye on “defensive standard situations. We have potential there.” Glasner wants to be doubly happy in the future.
