PLAYER RATINGS | Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 Borussia Dortmund | OneFootball

The official beginning of the second half of the season saw an Omar Marmoush-less Eintracht Frankfurt side beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0.

The first half started off hot, Deutsche Bank Park was loud and Frankfurt brought the energy, and Dortmund struggled to deal with the pressure. Dortmund had a good early chance as Serhou Guirassy hit the post, but apart from that it was all the hosts. Frankfurt were lethal on the counter and constantly found Dortmund’s backline exposed and it was only a matter of time before they scored as they had chance after chance to take the lead. That chance came in the 18th minute when, like Bayer Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel before them, Frankfurt squared the ball and Hugo Ekitiké converted. Die Adler had a couple more chances like that as the half died down as we approached half-time, but Dortmund were able to deal with these.

The second 45 were a lot less eventful as Dortmund just looked so tame when it came to creating anything going forward, because of this, Frankfurt were happy to sit back and soak up the pressure as Dortmund did not trouble Kevin Trapp in any way at all, who only made three saves all night. Frankfurt bided their time as we approached full-time and in a similar vain to Kiel’s fourth goal in midweek, Dortmund tried to recycle a corner later in the game but were pressed by Frankfurt and allowed a three-man Frankfurt break which was finished off by Oscar Højlund, the brother of Manchester United striker Rasmus, to score his first senior goal.

The win shows Frankfurt can play without Marmoush as Ektiké stepped up to show that they were not a one-man team after all, while things go from bad to worse for Dortmund as they can finish the weekend as low as 11th if results go against them.

It is another damning performance by Dortmund and probably doesn’t help Nuri Şahin’s case either. They had 68% possession tonight and did nothing with it, which is really more of a player issue than a manager one as the likes of Julian Brandt were just absent once again. As I said in midweek, Dortmund need a big squad refresh and the need to show ambition in their squad building to try and achieve this, whilst they also need to be ambitious when it comes to hiring their next head coach instead of trying to force the Jürgen Klopp 2.0 narrative, as Klopp is a once in a generation manager and Dortmund were one Hamburg being less snobby away from him going elsewhere.

It is obvious that Şahin is out of his depth now, but this was the case in the summer as well, and he would probably have been better suited to an assistant role like last season, just under a better head coach. The big question now is if he will be in charge of Dortmund’s next game against Bologna in midweek.

Both things need a drastic change sooner rather than later as Dortmund’s season is at stake, but as long as they are financially afloat, nothing else matters (Hans-Joachim Watzke probably said this).

Eintracht Frankfurt XI:

Kevin Trapp (5), Nnamdi Collins (6), Robin Koch (6), Arthur Theate (6), Rasmus Kristensen (6), Mario Götze(6), Ellyes Skhiri (6), Hugo Larsson (5), Nathanial Brown (5), Ansgar Knauff (6), Hugo Ekitké (7)

Others: Tuta (5), Oscar Højlund (6), Can Uzun (-), Jean Bahoya (-), Fàres Chaïbi (-)

Borussia Dortmund XI:

Gregor Kobel (5), Julian Ryerson (5), Waldemar Anton (5), Nico Schlotterbeck (5), Ramy Bensebaini (3), Emre Can (4), Pascal Groß (4), Felix Nmecha (4) Julian Brandt (3), Jamie Gittens (5), Serhou Guirassy (5)

Others: Yan Couto (5), Karim Adeyemi (5), Maximilian Beier (5), Giovanni Reyna (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Hugo Ekitiké (7)

Question marks about Frankfurt’s life without Omar Marmoush would have persisted if they did not get a result, but Marmoush’s strike partner stepped up when it mattered. Ekitiké was active the whole evening and called several issues for Dortmund’s defence and if Frankfurt want to qualify for the Champions League this season, the Frenchman will be the focal point going forward and he should be able to deliver.

GGFN | Jack Meenan