Eintracht Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner is shocked and angry after the 1-0 loss to VfL Wolfsburg. After the final whistle, he announced that he would read the riot act to the pros. The second Champions League game in Marseille is on Tuesday.
Frankfurt / Main (dpa / lhe) - With his head red with excitement and angry, Eintracht Frankfurt's coach Oliver Glasner sharply criticized his football professionals. "It had nothing to do with how we can and want to play. It was missing everywhere," complained the Austrian after the 0-1 draw against VfL Wolfsburg about the performance on Saturday, which was not suitable for the Bundesliga, in front of 47,000 spectators.
The weak appearance was missing at all "corners and edges": "Slow, sluggish, little punch, zero assertiveness and disastrous offensive standards," Glasner listed the shortcomings. It's just not enough "to play a bit of football, push the ball and everything where it doesn't hurt - the comfortable version," said Glasner.
In a big thunderstorm on Sunday, the 48-year-old wanted to "hold up the mirror and speak very clear words" to his players. "It's important to look at yourself in the mirror and acknowledge when there are a few scars and wrinkles - and not to say I'm the most beautiful and amazing thing in the world," said Glasner. The Hessians had previously won in the Bundesliga at Werder Bremen (4-2) and with a gala performance against RB Leipzig (4-0).
Now Glasner has to shake up the Eintracht pros, because the second group game in the Champions League at Olympique Marseille is on Tuesday. After the 0: 3 false start against Sporting Lisbon, Frankfurt are already under pressure to succeed. Lisbon and Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Marseille, lead Group D with three points.
"We're looking forward to it," said Glasner defiantly, but also added a warning: "Those who can play our power football for 90 minutes will play on Tuesday. If one can't, another will play." Sports director Markus Krösche is confident that things will get better for the Europa League winner in the French port city on the Mediterranean: "It will be a completely different game against Marseille."
Glasner did not want to use the long list of injured players with captain Sebastian Rode, Almamy Touré or Christopher Lenz as an excuse for the lame performance against Wolfsburg. "We have a few players who are injured and a few players who are unable to play 90 minutes of Bundesliga football," he said. "That's the way it is and I'm not complaining about it."
The Eintracht professionals could not and did not want to contradict the criticism of the coach after the final whistle. "Wolfsburg didn't have to invest a lot to take the three points," said midfielder Djibril Sow after the defeat by Maxence Lacroix (60th minute). "We weren't goal-oriented and consistent enough. Such a performance shouldn't happen again."
