European Cup starter Eintracht Frankfurt has to wait for the first sense of achievement under the new coach Oliver Glasner. Despite their clear superiority, the Hessians did not get past FC Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday and did not win in the third competitive game under Adi Hütter's successor - after the 0: 2 in Mannheim and the 2: 5 in Dortmund was in front of 22,000 spectators but at least the first draw of the season. Augsburg showed a bit better a week after the bitter 0: 4 against Hoffenheim, but they are still winless and goalless in the league.
How much the false start with Cup-Aus and Dortmund-Schlappe unsettled Eintracht and Glasner, just a look at the starting line-up proved.
The Austrian not only switched from back three to four, but also swapped seeded players such as creative man Daichi Kamada or veteran Makoto Hasebe on his five changes.
"You can tell that we are still a bit in the discovery phase," commented Glasner on the TV broadcaster Sky.
He spoke of "a little change".
Defense solid, attack weak
What Glasner achieved was defensive stability.
Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp spent a quiet afternoon in the newly formed back four around defensive boss Martin Hinteregger.
The only drawback was: Eintracht didn't bring much together offensively in the early stages either.
The first good chance had striker Rafael Borré, who was blocked at the last moment (19th). The most remarkable scene in the early stages was a clash between Hinteregger and Augsburg's Florian Niederlechner, who then had to be replaced with an injury to his head. From the beginning, the FCA had to do without captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, for whom the game came too early after adductor problems.
Only after half an hour did Eintracht pick up speed when the fans returned. First, Ajdin Hrustic (31st) fell after a duel in the penalty area, but that was not enough for referee Harm Osmers and the Cologne video cellar. After that, Milan signing Jens Petter Hauge could have achieved the long-awaited and deserved lead with two chances to shoot (38th / 41st), but the Norwegian failed both times against the strong keeper Rafal Gikiewicz.
Even after the change, the Hessians were the much more active team, Augsburg limited itself almost exclusively to defending. The next chances of Filip Kostic (shot after counterattack) and Jesper Lindström (free kick from 18 meters) were again thwarted by Gikiewicz, who became a one-man wall against all efforts of the Frankfurters. It stayed that way until the end, the Pole saved a few opportunities and saved a lucky point for coach Markus Weinzierl's team.