Completely different

Preview ahead of Frankfurt game

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Yuya Osako and the rest of the Werder team will come up against a new look Frankfurt side. (Photo: Heidmann).
First Team
Thursday, 30.08.2018 / 17:05

A draw against Hannover wasn’t the end of the world for Florian Kohfeldt, even though he admits being a little frustrated: “We could have done more”. The first three points should come against Eintracht Frankfurt in Werder’s first away game of the season. On Saturday (01/09/2018) at 15:30 (CEST), the green-whites will face last season’s DFB-Pokal champions Eintracht Frankfurt who have had a mixed start to the season. After the 5-0 loss to Bayern München they then went on to be knocked out of the DFB-Pokal by Regionalliga side SSV Ulm. However, head coach Adi Hütter turned things around on Matchday 1 of the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win over Freiburg. The three matches saw three very different Frankfurt teams show up.   

The last meeting: Florian Kohfeldt admits he will never forget the fixture against Frankfurt at the beginning of last season, as it was his first game as a Bundesliga head coach. Despite a good performance and Niklas Moisander’s equaliser after 24 minutes, SVW ended the game with no points. Sebastien Haller scored the winner for Frankfurt in the 89th minute. However, when the two sides met again in the second half of the season, it was Werder who came out on top thanks to a blunder by one of the Eintracht players. With the score at 1-1 on the 79-minute mark, central defender David Abraham managed to header the ball towards his own net and Goalie Hradecky let the ball slip through his hands.

 

Florian’s Bundesliga managerial debut came against Frankfurt (Photo: nordphoto).

Kohfeldt on Frankfurt: Werder’s head coach is famous for his detailed analysis of the opponent, however, this time he has found the Frankfurt team hard to gauge. “The Frankfurt team has changed a lot and they have a new coach. Their last three games have all been very different, players have changed and the style of play in each game has been different,” commented Kohfeldt. The coach is sure that there will be a point on Saturday’s when Werder will be able to turn the game. It is just a question of “finding that moment”.   


Squad update: Almost the whole squad will be fit for the weekend game. Max Kruse and Milot Rashica returned to training on Thursday. Martin Harnik is also fit for his first match after his return to the club. The Werder coach has a lot of options: “It’s a good problem to have as a coach. We have so many players and different playing styles. It’s a nice feeling to be able to choose from such a talented group of players”. It’ll be tough to decide who will make the squad and starting XI.   


Strong home record: The fixture against Werder will be new Frankfurt coach Adi Hütter’s first home game. Previous coach Niko Kovac laid the fountains for the Austrian. Under Kovac’s guidance Frankfurt lost just one of the last ten home games, (3-0 to Hertha). However, of this ten, there were seven wins and three draws. 

Florian’s Bundesliga managerial debut came against Frankfurt. (Photo: nordphoto).

Away record: VfB Stuttgart are the only Bundesliga side to have won more games away to Frankfurt than Werder. Stuttgart have 14 wins in the Commerzbank-Arena, whilst Werder have 13, the same amount as Bayern. Of course Saturday’s game could change this.

Kohfeldt’s debut: Florian Kohfeldt is not sentimental when he thinks back to his Bundesliga managerial debut: “It’s not the right time to be thinking about old games. I’m concentrated on preparing for the next game,” commented the coach during the pre-match press conference. The 35-year-old also pointed out the numerous new faces in the Frankfurt squad: “This season’s Frankfurt are not going to be like last season’s Frankfurt.”

The referee: Sören Storks will referee Saturday’s encounter. He will be assisted by Thorben Siewer and Tobias Christ on the touchlines. The fourth official is Eduard Beitinger. Deniz Aytekin and René Rohde will be the game’s Video assistants.  

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