Eintracht Frankfurt stands for goal danger this season. Together with Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund, Hessen is the second best offensive in the Bundesliga. The decisive factors are an outstanding André Silva and the playful approach of Adi Hütter.
Eintracht Frankfurt started the second half of the season with a big exclamation mark. At Arminia Bielefeld, who did not concede a goal in the previous three games and scored seven important points in the relegation battle, the Adler won 5: 1 thanks to a strong performance.
After just 33 minutes, the guests were leading 3-0 because André Silva tied his fourth brace since the end of November and Filip Kostic rediscovered his nose for goals. Substitute Luka Jovic concluded the game with his third goal since his return to Eintracht (77th) after Bielefeld’s Joakim Nilsson scored an own goal in the 51st minute.
André Silva in particular should amaze the Eintracht fans. With fourteen goals now, the Portuguese has more goals on the account after the 18th matchday than in the entire 2019/20 season, in which he was there twelve times. “Of course I want to keep improving,” he said at the end of October, referring to his goal statistics Sport1 – this ambition can be seen in the statistics. Thanks to his goals in Bielefeld, Silva Erling has caught Haaland in the scorers list, only Robert Lewandowski (22 goals) is a few steps ahead of the duo.
At the same time, the striker pointed out that the team’s performance is paramount: “Football is not an individual sport,” says the 25-year-old. “I have to keep an eye on the whole team. It would be selfish if I just shoot on goal to somehow score.”
In fact, Eintracht isn’t a one-man show this season. Adi Hutter’s switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation with creative players like Daichi Kamada, Amin Younes or Aymen Barkok behind the only point has done the Hessen’s offensive game incredibly well. The burden is no longer solely on Kostic’s or Silva’s shoulders, rather the Frankfurters attack in the team and show more enthusiasm and dynamism than last season.
This also has an impact on the goal risk: In the 2019/20 season there were 29 goals after 18 games, there are currently 35 goals. Above all, the number and quality of the opportunities are right: Loud fbref.com The Eagle Bearers achieved an expected goals value (xG) of at least 2.0 in eight league games, while only in the games against FC Bayern (0: 5) and Borussia Dortmund (1: 1) an xG value below 1.0 was reached.
The team moves forward with speed, agility and dynamism, and they also have a strong finish: Of a total of 85 shots on goal that went on goal, 35 ended up in the net (via understat.com). Here, however, Eintracht clearly benefits from Silva, who was successful 14 times with 23 shots on goal.
In the meantime, as in the previous season, Hütter was criticized, but the 50-year-old trainer has shown courage to make changes. His success proves him right: Eintracht has now been unbeaten for seven games, they only suffered point losses in the games against Borussia Mönchengladbach (3: 3) and SC Freiburg (2: 2).
Thanks to the current series of successes, the team is in the middle of the fight for a European place. In the coming weeks she has the chance to prove that she is right in this table region.
