How Frankfurt Wants To Prevent 11th Defeat In A Row At Bayer – Only 2 Series Of Bankruptcies Longer

“Have weapons”

When Eintracht Frankfurt plays against Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Saturday (3:30 p.m.), it will not only be a top Bundesliga game, but also an opportunity for the Hessians to end a bad series in the BayArena. Coach Dino Toppmöller’s team has lost ten competitive games in a row in the double winners – only two Bundesliga clubs have a longer series of defeats in all competitions within the league. But the Eintracht coach doesn’t want to be deterred by this.

“We know about this series. Nevertheless, we are driving with the confidence that we can hurt Leverkusen,” said Toppmöller on Thursday at the matchday press conference. Frankfurt have won four of their five away games this season, with only one defeat at BVB (0-2) on the first matchday. Meanwhile, Leverkusen lost 2-3 in front of their home crowd on matchday 2 against RB Leipzig, something that hadn’t happened for a long time.

The Werkself have ten previous home games against Frankfurt, nine in the Bundesliga and one in the cup, with a goal difference of 39:6. When the Eagles drew 1-1 at Bayer in December 2014, Thomas Schaaf was in the dugout and “football god” Alexander Meier scored to take the lead.

The first of the ten defeats for Frankfurt came in April 2016. The longest losing streaks include Werder Bremen’s 17 home defeats against FC Bayern (since January 2010) and Borussia Mönchengladbach’s eleven away defeats at BVB (since November 2014). Due to their short stay in the upper house, Holstein Kiel’s eight-game losing streak at VfL Wolfsburg (since November 1985) and St. Pauli’s six consecutive defeats at VfB Stuttgart (since May 1997) began much earlier. In home games against Eintracht Frankfurt, the storks have suffered three defeats in a row since May 10, 1953, back then in Group 1 of the German Championship. Kiel last won a home game against the Adler on June 1, 1930 (4:2).

Toppmöller: Eintracht Frankfurt had weapons to “hurt” at Bayer Leverkusen

However, Toppmöller has come up with a match plan to surprise his counterpart Xabi Alonso: “We have weapons to hurt the opponent, but we also know how difficult it is against Bayer Leverkusen: incredibly good football, great positional play and strong counter-pressing. It’s always nice to be able to prove ourselves against absolute top teams. (…) The switching game is one of our qualities, but it was also due to the fact that we played against strong opponents and were often in the lead. In order to remain successful, we have to master all phases of the game.”

Eintracht doesn’t just want to be strong in individual phases, but also “on track”: “That’s why we didn’t lie in each other’s arms for two weeks after the 3-3 draw against Bayern, but also discussed critical things like the two corner goals conceded.”