Coach Niko Kovac managed to break free with VfL Wolfsburg at his former place of work. The Lower Saxony achieved their first win of the season in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 (0-0) win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
Maxence Lacroix (60th minute) scored the goal of the day in front of 49,000 spectators. Kovac saved Eintracht from relegation in 2016 and led them to cup victory in 2018.
Upward trend of Eintracht stopped
The upward trend of Eintracht in the Bundesliga after the last two wins has been stopped. At the same time, after the false start in the Champions League against Sporting Lisbon (0: 3), the Frankfurt pros could not gain self-confidence for the next international task: on September 13th they continue in the premier class against Olympique Marseille.
In Frankfurt, too, Kovac continued his search for a brilliant tactical system and a successful starting eleven. He returned to the back four with a 4-4-2 and made changes as in every game, this time in three positions compared to the 2:4 against Köln. Striker veteran Max Kruse was not even in the squad.
The change paid off in the first half. After the setback three days earlier against Lisbon, Frankfurt started with commitment and good combinations, but they were rarely able to put the VfL defense under pressure.
Mistakes by Eintracht keeper Trapp
The Wolfsburg were more dangerous. After a Mattias Svanberg corner, Bartol Franjic got the ball, but Eintracht keeper Kevin Trapp parried the header brilliantly with his arm. Fifteen minutes later, the national goalkeeper prevented the deficit again by fending off a concealed low shot from Svanberg (32nd) from 20 meters with an outstanding save.
The Hessians were unlucky in the 39th minute when Kristijan Jakic hit the left post with a shot from ten meters after a pass from Daichi Kamada. After the restart, the level of play dropped somewhat, but was revived by the Lacroix goal.
After his two brilliant acts, it was Trapp’s blunder that made it 0-1 after the hour: After a cross from Josip Brekalo, he misjudged the defense and Lacroix was able to head into the goal. Three minutes later, Trapp did not look good again, but Lukas Nmecha’s supposed goal was disallowed for offside. After that, the Frankfurters tried to avert the defeat against coach Oliver Glasner’s ex-club, but could not find a gap in the this time tight Wolfsburg defense.
