Some progress is unmistakable, but Eintracht’s offensive play in particular needs to be further refined. Coach Oliver Glasner repeatedly criticises the inadequate penalty area possession. Meanwhile, there is praise for Goncalo Paciencia, who scored a wonderful copy-and-paste goal against Antwerp (2:2).
When Paciencia rose into the air in the fourth minute of stoppage time and headed a Kostic cross from the left precisely into the right corner of the goal, it inevitably brought back memories of the evening of 11 April 2019. Back then, Eintracht were almost hopelessly 1:4 behind at Benfica Lisbon in the Europa League quarter-finals when the Portuguese scored a magnificent header from an almost identical position after a corner kick from the right to make the final score 2:4 and thus lay the foundation for the comeback in the second leg. In the Waldstadion a week later, a 2:0 was enough for the Hessians to enter the semi-finals because of the away goals rule. The goals are so extraordinary because Paciencia aimed for the farther right corner a few metres to the left of the penalty spot and gave the goalkeepers no chance with the perfect trajectory of the ball. “That was a really difficult header. The way he put it almost a little bit in reverse was fantastic, “ Glasner raved.
Injury stopped Paciencia
Paciencia was already on the “up” (Glasner) in the 3:1 against Olympiakos Piraeus five weeks ago, but subsequently injured his thigh in Bochum (0:2). The striker was only gradually integrated into team training last week, but after only three complete sessions with the team, it would probably have been too early for him to start. The coach brought Paciencia on in the 90th minute – late, but not too late, to provide the much-celebrated 2:2 equaliser. “I’m happy that Goncalo was able to help the team,” said the coach.
He is less satisfied with the offensive play as a whole. “We came through the outsides too often, and then there were maybe two players in the penalty area. That is too little. We have to create these spaces for ourselves, ideally by jumping into them, in order to get into finishing situations,” Glasner demands and states: “When we scored in the 94th minute, we had four players in the penalty area…” Otherwise, however, “there is still a bit too little personnel in the penalty area “ The coach points out, among other things, that the outfield players Timothy Chandler and Filip Kostic prepared the two goals, but did not record any finishes in the sixteen. Conclusion: “We played very well with the ball until the last 20 metres. But in the penalty area we still have a lot of room for improvement in terms of our running. We can, should and will do even better. “
The next task against “probably the best team in terms of physicality “
The next opportunity to do so comes on Sunday in the home match against Union Berlin. “I expect a very intense, two-on-two game. It will be important that we find the gaps, which are not that big, pose problems for Union defensively and are always well secured to run into as few counterattacks as possible,” Glasner elaborates. He rates Union as “probably the best team in the Bundesliga physically, who are also very dangerous in set-piece situations”.
He also warns against the Berliners’ “lightning-quick “ switching. In order to achieve their first Bundesliga home win under Glasner, the team will have to play more consistently over 90 minutes than they did against Royal Antwerp. Especially in the second half, the distances on the field were far too big, which meant that the team did not have as good a grip in the duels as before the break. Added to this were inaccuracies in passing. “We gave the balls away too quickly,” Glasner criticised. That had better not happen against Union, otherwise the “extremely fast Taiwo Awoniyi” and the “extremely intelligent Max Kruse “ – Glasner explicitly singled out both offensive players – could counter Eintracht.
