Frankfurt/Main (AP) – After two defeats by Eintracht Frankfurt and some criticism, head coach Oliver Glasner put himself in front of his defense to protect himself. “Our defenders got a good beating,” said the 48-year-old Austrian before the Bundesliga game on Sunday (5:30 p.m. / DAZN) at VfL Wolfsburg. “But the fact is that we conceded three goals fewer than at the same time last season. The fact is that we only conceded seven goals in the seven Bundesliga games in 2023.” Despite all the criticism, it is not the case that “we are open like a barn door”.
In view of the fact that Wolfsburg have the fifth best hit rate in the league with 40 goals and have scored almost as many as last season (43), Glasner’s efforts to give his defense self-confidence are understandable. The coach is happy before the game at Lower Saxony that his own offensive can build on the French star striker Randal Kolo Muani.
The vice world champion and with ten league goals best attacker in Hesse had to take a short break in training after an illness. Eintracht all-rounder Kristijan Jakic, who was also recently ill, is fit again. “Everyone is back in training and healthy,” reported Glasner. For the yellow-banned Djibril Sow, captain Sebastian Rode will start in sixth position alongside Daichi Kamada.
After two defeats against SSC Naples in the Champions League (0:2) and at RB Leipzig (1:2) in the Bundesliga, the Hessian table sixth wants to get back on the road to success against the seventh. “The two games left their mark. But I have a good feeling,” said Glasner.
It was once again good to have a whole week of training together and the players in a recovered state. “After two days off, we packed quite a lot of content and dealt with all aspects of our football,” he said before returning to his old place of work. Before his engagement in Frankfurt, he was head coach in Wolfsburg from 2019 to 2021, while VfL coach Niko Kovac worked on Main from 2016 to 2018.
In Wolfsburg, Glasner expects a tough fight against a team that has already experienced “all phases” this season: VfL played so well that they tended towards the Champions League, but also lost so many times in a row that they fell behind threatened to slip in. “We don’t know what kind of face the Wolfsburg are showing us,” he said. But the fact is: VfL (33 points) cannot outperform Frankfurt, who are five points ahead of them, in Sunday’s game.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:230303-99-817265/4
