How Eintracht Frankfurt have been turned into one of Europe’s best under Dino Toppmöller

Heading into the October international break, Eintracht Frankfurt find themselves third in the Bundesliga and coming off a 3-3 draw with Bayern Munich. So after a poor season last year, how have they turned themselves around?

Last season was underwhelming for Frankfurt, the side finished sixth in the Bundesliga but crashed out of the UEFA Conference League to Union Saint Gilloise after scraping through their group and were knocked out of the DFB Pokal to Saarbrucken. This resulted in doubts surrounding head coach Dino Toppmöller as the club had all these talented players but it seemed he was unable to get the best out of these players while the team played dire football. Toppmöller has a big legacy to follow as his father Klaus, was a relatively successful manager in Germany with his crowning achievement being leading Bayer Leverkusen to their second-placed treble in 2002. 

However, last season the majority of the squad and the head coach were in their first seasons together. With the likes of Omar Marmoush, Hugo Larsson, Robin Koch, Ellyes Skhiri, Hugo Ekitike and Farès Chaïbi all joining Frankfurt at various points of the season, while Toppmöller was in his first season back as a head coach, but his first in a major league.

On top of this, Frankfurt also lost Randal Kolo Muani, Daichi Kamada, Evan Ndicka and Jesper Lindstrøm all players who had been key to the club in their recent successes.

In the summer, Frankfurt lost William Pacho after only a year at the club but they still have a wealth of talent at their disposal. The summer saw the arrival of Can Uzun from Nürnberg. The forward is one of the hottest prospects in German football after his 19-goal season for the Franken side. On top of Uzun, there is the aforementioned Chaïbi as well as Igor Matanovic who had a successful loan spell at Karlsruher last season.

But the biggest of them all is Hugo Larsson. The Swede is looking increasingly like he could be one of the best midfielders in Europe in the future. In his first season, Larsson put in a commanding performance against Bayern Munich as Frankfurt won 5-1, and since then he has gone from strength to strength complimenting midfield partner Skhiri well. The 20-year-old is already attracting interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs and if he continues at his rate of development, he could be Frankfurt’s next €100m sale. 

Next, there is Hugo Ekitké and Omar Marmoush. They are one of the deadliest duos in Europe at the moment sitting fourth in Europe’s top five leagues for goal contributions. The pair have 10 goals and six assists between them in the league, working in a modern-day big and small man pairing with Marmoush regularly running in behind, while Ekitike drops off to link play, this can be best seen in Frankfurt’s first two goals against Bayern Munich.

The Egyptian has always been a solid Bundesliga player, but this season has taken an extra step in his final product. Ekitiké also showed promise while he was at Reims but struggled in Paris and has finally found his feet again in Frankfurt. 

Not everything is completely great for Die Adler. Frankfurt does need to improve defensively as they have only kept one clean sheet this season against Borussia Mönchengladbach while also throwing away their lead against Viktoria Plzen, a team they realistically should be beating and against Bayern, Frankfurt’s poor defending can be the pined as the reasons for two of Bayern’s goals. 

Despite all this, Frankfurt continued to prove that they’re one of Europe’s most tactically interesting sides at the moment as everything seems to be clicking under Toppmöller.

GGFN | Jack Meenan