There is no one reason for the upturn in recent weeks, but rather many individual pieces of the puzzle are coming together better and better in Frankfurt. This is especially true of the double six, where Djibril Sow and Kristijan Jakic are now harmonising splendidly and have even discovered how to score goals.
Sow’s spectacular strike for the 5:2 final score against Leverkusen was already his third goal within two weeks. He had already scored in the home match against Union Berlin (2-1) and in the 1-1 in Istanbul. “I know I’m on a roll and floating on a cloud. You can’t expect me to score a goal every game. But I always try my best,” Sow says with his usual modesty.
Oliver Glasner sees no coincidence in the six-year-old’s increased scoring prowess. “You can see how it was in the years before with the teams I coached. The sixes were always scoring a goal or two,” the coach reports and explains: “I think there are certain mechanisms that the players have seen very often in recent months, especially via videos. At some point, that becomes second nature. The self-confidence of the last week also helps us.” The fact that Sow’s sidekick Jakic also keeps getting into finishing situations and scored his first goal for Frankfurt against Leverkusen supports this reasoning.
Markus Krösche now sees Jakic and Sow as “the heart of the team”, and the sporting director is pleased to note: “They have found each other and are growing together very well. You notice more and more that they have a good feeling for each other and the coordination is getting better and better. They have a good balance between offence and defence. “
This was an outstanding home game, a performance of will and energy. After the 1:2 I knew we were back again.
Not least noteworthy is the high running effort, with both marching an average of twelve kilometres over 90 minutes. Sow has already covered 169.9 kilometres this Bundesliga season, which puts him in second place in the league behind Manuel Prietl (184.4). Unlike the Bielefeld player, Sow is also in demand internationally in the Europa League and for the Swiss national team, which makes his mileage all the more impressive. The 25-year-old is thus emblematic of what defender Christopher Lenz said after his comeback: “The mentality of the squad has no limits. Not many teams turn a 0:2 into a 5:2 against Leverkusen. “
The 90 minutes were also a rollercoaster ride for Sow himself. First he caused the penalty kick for 0:2 with an unfortunate and clumsy handball, less than ten minutes later he played a world-class pass into the area for the onrushing Jesper Lindström, who scored to make it 2:2. Sow crowned his top performance with a wonderful shot from the second row into the corner. His conclusion: “That was an outstanding home game, a performance of will and energy. After the 1:2, I knew we were back. “
Variability in the scorers
With the centre-backs also scoring – Tuta and Evan Ndicka each scored their second goal of the season – at least for now no one is talking about the loss of top scorer André Silva. In the league alone, the statistics show twelve different goal scorers, and in the Europa League there are two more in Daichi Kamada and Almamy Toure. This also pleases boss Krösche: “We are pleased that we have variability among the goal scorers. That makes us unpredictable and is of course good.” On Wednesday evening, Frankfurt’s former coach Adi Hütter, who is hosting Eintracht with Borussia Mönchengladbach, should also feel the effects of this. Depending on the outcome of the other games, Frankfurt could climb up to 6th place with another win.
