At least Oliver Glasner's forecast for the future looks rosy in rather gloomy times.

The Frankfurter Eintracht coach is “rock solid” that he will be successful with his team.

That teaches him his "experience from many years in football", said the 47-year-old Austrian and justified his confidence with the composition of the squad: "We bring the quality with us, that is the crucial point."

Jörg Daniels

Editor in the sports department

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His team has not yet passed the quality control on the pitch.

There are seven competitive games behind the Frankfurters in the Bundesliga, the Europa League and the DFB-Pokal, so far it has not worked with one win.

Who would have thought?

Four points in the first division after five match days mean only 15th place.

The Hessians, who want to play for the international places again, lag far behind their claims with this winless statistic.

After their own tours, like last Sunday in Wolfsburg (1: 1), they have already lost six points.

Unity was often unable to show stability at a high level over 90 minutes.

Glasner praises the strong character of his players, "we have a really cool group that is willing to improve," he says.

Only good approaches

At the moment, however, it can be said that it seems to be a year of upheaval with many pitfalls for the Frankfurters. Glasner's protégés are still a long way from having arrived at the game. "We are in the process of finding each other," says the coach, naming one of the problems: "One or the other of us has to get used to the intensity of the duels in the Bundesliga." He recognizes that with other players in the league, too der Eintracht are "four players who are new at the same time".

Glasner means above all the offensive players Jesper Lindström, Jens Petter Hauge and Rafael Borré. In the case of the 21-year-old Dane Lindström, the physical deficits in the competition for the ball can be seen most clearly: Compared to seasoned top division players, his game looks youthful. The savvy and assertive Wolfsburg defender Kevin Mbabu made Lindström look like a junior player in some situations. Much to the annoyance of Glasner, who got angry when Lindström destroyed a counter opportunity with his help.

His team-mate Hauge is also looking for ways to better assert himself in the duels. The 21-year-old Norwegian is still unable to act purposefully enough in the attacking game. And from the 26-year-old Colombian Borré, versatility is required when adapting to the way of playing in the Bundesliga. Intended as a center forward, the national player should prove himself on the right wing in Wolfsburg. Borré could not get beyond good approaches. He is waiting for his first competitive goal for Eintracht.

Although he came to Frankfurt later, center forward Sam Lammers Borré is one step ahead as a goalscorer. The Dutchman has already scored twice in three competitive games. But even with the 24-year-old Dutchman it is unmistakable that he still lacks the bond with his new teammates. The Frankfurters could get the fine-tuning in training. The English weeks, which are now increasingly coming towards Eintracht due to the Europa League participation, mostly only allow units in which the expiry and immediate preparation for the next game must be in the foreground. "If you want to improve processes and have no training time for it, then you have to get that over playing time together," says Glasner.

In the duels with Fenerbahce Istanbul and Wolfsburg, the coach relied on the same starting line-up. In the second half against Wolfsburg, a certain tiredness had spread. "The players are at their limit," said Glasner. Before the games against Cologne (September 25), Royal Antwerp (September 30) and Bayern Munich (October 3), he gave them two days off before they continued their training on Wednesday. "If we continue to invest so much, we will soon win another game," said right-back Danny da Costa in Wolfsburg. Without a sense of achievement, the only thing left for the Frankfurters to do is to persuade them to succeed.