In the first defeat of the season in Frankfurt, Union did not cut a good figure, especially in the first half. Too often, the defenders were running behind the music
In particular, Robin Knoche was sorely missed in the 0:2 loss in Frankfurt. Union Berlin’s head of defence was in the squad and warmed up, but was not called up by coach Urs Fischer. He would not have played due to private circumstances, according to the football coach’s reasoning.
It is difficult to say whether the Eisernen would have been more successful with the perennial favourite. At least the Köpenickers would have been more stable defensively if Knoche had been in normal form. In some phases of the game, it seemed as if the coordination in the newly formed three-man backline was not yet right.
Baumgartl is still missing the “right timing “
In addition, Diogo Leite, Paul Jaeckel and Timo Baumgartl too often let the agile and nimble opponents have their way. The latter was self-critical: “After the long break, I still lacked a bit of the right timing.” But it was not only Baumgartl who looked shaky when conceding goals, but also his two supporting players.
In any case, Union made life difficult for themselves and had a lot of problems with the fast and tricky Frankfurt players. “We had a lot of spaces that we had to defend,” explained Baumgartl. This was also due to the fact that the distances between the individual team sections were unusually large. “They often went one-on-one in a large area. That is difficult for a defender to defend. But we still have to do that better,” the 26-year-old defensive man continued.
Khedira wants to “finally score” in Malmö
The Eisernen already have the chance to do so on Thursday in Malmö in their third Europa League match. “It would be desirable if we could finally score there,” emphasised vice-captain Rani Khedira. “After all, we’ve worked hard to be allowed to play games like this. “
