Eintracht Frankfurt often has shots on goal against VfL Bochum, but only finds it once. A stupid phase? Just bad luck? Captain Rode comes to a different conclusion.
Then he really tried everything, the man from Barranquilla. Shots with the left, with the right, headers, he scored seven goals in the Bundesliga game between Frankfurt Eintracht and VfL Bochum (1:1) on Friday evening in the direction of the opposing goal. On top of that, he tried several times to put his teammates in the limelight with passes. Cross passes from the sides, sometimes thundered in sharply, sometimes pushed in gently. Crosses and through passes too. Only: The ball never wobbled in the net when he had his feet in the game, the almost pitiable Rafael Borré.
The Frankfurt striker could have decided this one-sided game on his own, no question. Sometimes there was a bit of bad luck, for example after 66 minutes when Bochum’s Konstantinos Stafylidis cleared the Colombian’s header at the far post just before the goal line. Not every team orders a defender to take this position when opposing corners. More often, however, there was also a certain inability to play, a full-fledged panic shooting at goal, which Rafa Borré had accumulated throughout this bad season for him. But it wasn’t just the 27-year-old who lacked the clipping gene against Bochum.
19 to seven shots on goal for Eintracht, 15 to two corners. The yield: maximum minimum. Bitter statistics. “In autumn we were still the most efficient team in the league,” Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner began his sentence and let it mean nothing. Meanwhile, his squad – with the exception of the outstanding Randal Kolo Muani – is the exact opposite of that. A week ago at Union Berlin, the Hessians left a lot of things that could be done in front of the opponent’s box. “Sometimes, unfortunately, this is a phase,” said Frankfurt sports director Markus Krösche.
A second scorer is missing
A stupid phase? Just a little bad luck? Or a lack of quality? “That might be the case then, yes,” Sebastian Rode replied after thinking about this sentence for two or three seconds. Great effort does not lead to great success, “that’s frustrating.” In some situations there was a lack of greed.
The Eintracht captain went a little deeper into the analysis – and hit one of the current problems to the point. “Kolo can’t score two or three goals every game. We have to spread this burden over several shoulders.” A second or third man is missing in addition to the outstanding Frenchman, “who sometimes scores ten or twelve goals to keep us in the top third of the table,” said Rode.
In the Frankfurt starting eleven, Rode himself was the second-best shooter after Kolo Muani with his four league goals. That midfielder, then, whose strengths certainly do not include the tight shot. The other offensive forces: Mario Götze, two hits. Rafael Borré, also two. Substitute Lucas Alario, a goal. Meager yields.
Glasner isn’t worried
Since Jesper Lindström has been out injured for four compulsory games and this will be the case for a while, and Daichi Kamada is in a deep slump, Eintracht lost the non-Kolo-Muani option. The “Kicker” headlined “Kolo Muani – nothing behind it” at the beginning of March, which could have been dismissed as a bit hasty at the time, but has not been refuted by the Eintracht offensive since then. Sure, there’s not much missing to bursting the famous knot, but at the moment there’s always a crucial piece.
Especially since Eintracht, it should also be noted, did not miss one hundred percent chances against Bochum every minute. The Frankfurters didn’t constantly run freely towards Manuel Riemann, and the VfL keeper didn’t have to unpack a series of world-class saves to prevent further goals being conceded, a solid goalkeeping game was enough for him.
Borré missed miserably after eight minutes from the best position (Glasner: “He’s not lucky”), Kolo Muani, who scored his twelfth goal of the season from the penalty spot, in the second half with the outside of his foot from a very acute angle. Later Borré again – as noted at the beginning – with his head. Otherwise, however, the shots were often blocked by the multi-legged Bochum defense, went over it and missed. Many promising attacks fizzled out when the last pass was faulty.
Of course, Oliver Glasner preferred to emphasize the positive on this day of the seventh winless game in a row. He, the coach, was right: “In 2023 that was our best football performance.” And: “I’m not worried. We’re on the right track with our attacking game.” If only it wasn’t for the lack of greed and quality.