Eintracht Frankfurt 1 – 1 Borussia Dortmund
Bundesliga, matchday 10
05/12/20
Favre seems of the opinion out with the old and in with the new after choosing a front three made up of a 16, 18 and 20-year-old and leaving season vets Hazard and Reus as unused substitutes with Dortmund frustrated in Frankfurt.
Favre introduced the youngest player to have ever played in Bundesliga in the second-half to try and shake his passive Dortmund side to life, however what the BlackYellows really needed was the quality of the missing Erling Haaland to add that finishing touch.
Frankfurt went ahead within ten minutes through Daichi Kamada after Dortmund’s defence, which included 21-year-old French centreback Dan-Axel Zagadou, looking more like a hop-scotch grid rather than a defensive line playing the offside trap, which allowed Kamada to wander in and score.
The only real bit of quality came in the second-hlaf through Giovanni Reyna’s twenty yard strike that thundered into the top corner of the net to bring proceedings level.
The result leaves Favre under mounting pressure after Dortmund have picked up one point out of six and see themselves three points behind title contenders Bayern Munich who have a game in hand which they play at 5:30pm (GMT) versus the third team in the meisterschale mix, RB Leipzig.
Further articles:
–All is not well at BVB as fans turn on Favre: Analysis
–Muller delighted under coach Hansi after being left out by Kovac: Bundesliga interview
–Look back at the first Klassiker of the season, Lewan outshines Haaland: Report
1st half – ‘Favre the butcher’ sees his side go one-nil down
You could have given him the moniker ‘the butcher’ with the way Dortmund boss Lucien Favre carved up his team for the trip to Frankfurt.
Some of the changes were enforced having been revealed Haaland will miss at least six games due to a hamstring injury.
Also missing from the roster were Akanji, Delaney, Meunier, and Guerreiro, whilst club captain Marco Reus and Thorgan Hazard, who you would have thought would be prime candidates to fill the canyon left by the missing Haaland, were only given places on the bench.
When managers are desperate they come up with desperate solutions which, for Favre, included introducing 21-year-old Dan-Axel Zagadou to a three man defence and bringing Nico Schulz into the frame at left wing-back.
Schulz introduction seemed inspired when the German, making only his third appearance in the league, produced a goal saving tackle to deny Frankfurt attacker Aymen Barkok on six minutes.
However Favre’s inspiration quickly turned to delusion seeing the defensive shape that allowed for Daichi Kamada to stay onside and waltz in behind Dortmund to open the scoring on nine minutes.
One of the men tasked with filling the enormous void left by Haaland – 10 of the teams 21 goals so far this season have come from the Norwegian – will be Jadon Sancho.
Sancho’s form has been below par having mustered only two assists in seven games in the Bundesliga this campaign.
On twenty minutes the former Watford and Manchester City forward was millimetres away from opening his account and what a goal it would have been as Sancho stepped inside and unleashed a vicious shot from 20 yards trying to curl it into the top corner of Kevin Trapp’s net.
Five minutes later Sancho had another glorious chance aided by a bit of fortune. With the ball falling kindly after bouncing around his shins Sancho was in on the left hand side of the six yard box but dragged his shot across Trapp’s goal.
Dortmund have only scored 3 goals in the first half of matches this season and as the first half drew to a close at the Commerzbank Arena, other than some flashes from Sancho, the team that looked most like finding the net were Frankfurt, adding to their tally and piling the misery on Favre.
The Eagles would perhaps rue not going into half-time further ahead after Barkok blazed a half-volley over the bar from eight yards on thirty-five minutes, and considering Dortmund have scored 18 goals in the second half of nine Bundesliga games so far this season.
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2nd half – the introduction of a 16-year-old wonderkid
There were many names on the team sheet today that were unfamiliar, one of them being Youssoufa Moukoko, the 16-year-old Dortmund forward born in Cameroon who represents Germany at international level and who Haaland has said is a better player at 16 than he was.
Moukoko is the youngest player to ever play in the league, breaking the record set by Nuri Sahin when he was introduced as a substitute for Haaland during the 5-2 win over Hertha Berlin in matchday 5.
It really could have been a ‘remember the name’ moment on 49 minutes when Reyna played Moukoko in but Trapp came running out to clear the ball.
Whilst players from both sides were enamoured with Moukoko, wishing him luck and giving him pats on the back, it was clear Frankfurt keeper Trapp was in no mood to make new friends as he looked to take everything clearing a cross that Moukoko challenged for on fifty-five minutes.
To tell the truth though, in Bundesliga, winning games comes down to experience, which is why Dortmund looked to “old reliable” Giovanni Reyna to restore parity.
A minute after all the attention was on 16-year-old Moukoko, 18-year-old Reyna powered a finish into the top corner of the net from eighteen yards giving Trapp no chance.
Dortmund had the opportunity to go ahead four minutes later and it was through the link-up of Reyna and Moukoko that got Moukoko in in front of Trapp’s goal but the young striker’s touch let him down.
Dortmund wore down Frankfurt and the remaining quarter of the game turned into attack versus defence, however Favre’s boys couldn’t save their old master from dropping more points and enduring more criticism in the week to come.
Man of the match: Giovanni Reyna
Whilst Sancho deserves credit for his huff and puff the Englishman is still trying to do too much with the ball whilst his American counterpart Reyna has the midas touch, which he demonstrated with his superbly taken goal in the second-half.
Eintracht Frankfurt, 4-2-3-1: Trapp (GK), Abraham (C), Hinteregger, N’Dicka, Sow, Durm, Kostic, Rode (->67′), Barkok (->74′), Kamada, Silva (->74′)
Subs: Schubert (GK), Ilsanker (-> 67′), Hrustic, Dost (->74′), Hasebe, Chandler, Da Costa, Kohr (->74′), Tuta
BVB, 3-4-3: Burki (GK), Hummels (C), Morey, Zagadou, Dahoud (->45′), Witsel, Can, Brandt (->74′), Sancho, Reyna, Schulz
Subs: Hitz (GK), Hazard, Bellingham (->74′), Drljaca, Moukoko (->45′), Reus, Piszczek, Passlack
Goals: Kamada 9′, Reyna 56′
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 