Clever Eintract On The Hunt For Points

First Team
Friday, 31.08.2007 / 14:16

What is going on with Eintracht Frankfurt? With three games played, Eintract are in fourth place on seven points and are, along wirh VfL Bochum and Armenia Bielefeld, hot on the heels of leaders FC Bayern Munich.

What is going on with Eintracht Frankfurt? With three games played, Eintract are in fourth place on seven points and are, along wirh VfL Bochum and Armenia Bielefeld, hot on the heels of leaders FC Bayern Munich. Last season’s fourteenth placed side in the Bundesliga, trainer Friedhelm Funkel is eager to shake off the rather grey image of his side and is going the right way about it. Against Hertha BSC Belrin (1:0), Hansa Rostock (1:0) and Armenia Bielfeld (2:2), Funkel’s men also had the necessary luck on their side. The Red-Blacks are in form and are enjoying their best Bundesliga start since 1999: “They’ve picked up a lot of points so far and the good start to the season will mean they can approach the rest of the season in a more relaxed fashion than they could last time around. They want clarity as early on as possible and to have nothing to do with the relegation battle”, remarked Werder coach Thomas Schaaf.

 

Funkel scouting in Zagreb

 

In the head to head statistics, the Green-Whites have the upper hand on Eintracht Frankfurt. From a total of 76 Bundesliga clashes, Werder have won out 35 times, drawn 15 and lost to Eintracht on 26 occasions. Last season saw the points evenly divided. On the first meeting of the two, Werder blew their guests out of the water and ran out 6:2 winners. The return leg in Hessen ended 2:1 for the home side. Now Frankfurt want to take something back home from Bremen. The coach even took it upon himself to go to Zagreb and view his next opponents first hand as they swept past Dinamo to qualify for the Champions League and Funkel will probably not be too encouraged by what he saw. Determined play, a will to win and some fantastic combination football over long periods. It was a performance that Schaaf’s men very much wish to repeat: “Over the last two weeks we’ve been improving on a daily basis. The team has really begun to gel and we intend to continue the process now”, said Thomas Schaaf.

 

Injuries leave hopes resting on Alex Meier’s shoulders

 

Funkel’s men are motivated and confident: “We are not without a chance in Bremen”, stated Frankfurt club captain Ioannis Amanatidis. Just like in Bremen, the team from Hessen have been able to hold onto the vast majority of their squad from the previous season. The departures of Benjamin Huggel (FC Basel), Jermaine Jones (FC Schalke 04), Christopher Reinhard (KSC) and Marko Rehmer (unsigned), have been compensated by the signing of Junichi Inamoto (Galatasaray Istanbul), Kreso Ljubicic (youth team), Mehdi Mahdavikia (HSV). To add to that there is the increasing maturity of the side: “We are cleverer now”, announced Funkel but he knows his side have injury worries. Patrick Ochs (knee ligament strain), Christoph Preuß (back injury), Chris (ligament tear) and Marcel Heller (spinal disc fracture) are all unavailable to Funkel Eintracht . Sotirios Kyrgiakos (tonsilitis) and Naohiro Takahara (knee injury) could be fit for the game though. Takahara was last season’s top scorer in Frankfurt with eleven goals to his name but this season’s hopes lie with Alex Meier. The youngster has scored three goals in the DFB cup and two in the league so far this campaign.

 

Thurk ready for exit

 

The midfielder will have the chance to show his true colours in the coming weeks with games agains Werder and HSV on the cards. The ‘Giants of the North’ be warned. The side from Hessen took the opportunity to get some shooting practice in during the week in a friendly against FC Union Niederrad which finished 11:0 (5:0). Top scorer in that game was Michael Thurk who will possibly no longer be in the Eintract squad when they arrive in Bremen. The Red-Blacks have given Thurk the go ahead for a move abroad.

 

Johnnie Muldoon

 

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