Football is a matter of the mind. This is not always as clear as in the 90 minutes between Eintracht and VfB Stuttgart on Saturday. Until shortly before Rodes 1:0, the robust Swabians kept the Frankfurt far away from their own goal, even seemed a bit safer and more mature in the playing area than the Champions League participant.
With the deficit, VfB buckled, seemed almost lifeless, and Eintracht played at least in rudimentary as powerful as their fans were used to in the first half of the season. But the first Stuttgart counterattack in the second half promptly led to 1:1 and turned everything around again. In the final phase, the suddenly courageous VfB was closer to the winning goal than the again unsettled Frankfurters.
It bumps, stumbles, jerks and rumbles
Eintracht did not lose all their qualities over the winter break, but they lost their self-confidence and naturalness. Only minutes by minute their class shines through in the games, otherwise it bumps, stumbles, jerks, jerks and rumbles, where it still ran like clockwork in autumn.
Why? Because the opponents of Eintracht are more careful and respectful, making their football life more difficult. And because individual mistakes plunged some Frankfurters into self-doubt. And then there is the courageously issued goal Champions League – which means fourth place in the Bundesliga. Any outcome that does not clearly serve the ambitious undertaking is disturbing. The Frankfurters are in the process of giving themselves a leg up, also because they want too much.
As if the situation on the pitch wasn't difficult enough, there is also rumbling outside the grass square. Neither the future of the players Kolo Muani, Lindström, Sow, Ndicka and Kamada has been clarified, nor that of coach Glasner. Not even that board spokesman Hellmann remains loyal to the club is a certain fact. The DFL is determined to continue to engage him as managing director when his interim term expires on 1 July. Thus harmony would lose one of its driving forces, if not the greatest driving force of its universally admired upswing.
It is always amazing to see how quickly the signs change in professional football. In autumn, everything in Frankfurt seemed pink, shortly before the beginning of spring everything looks threateningly grey. But these are only feelings and moods. Nothing was gained in autumn, nothing is lost in early spring. There remains only one solution. Do not let yourself be driven crazy by emotions, but create the best possible conditions for success through serious work.