Timothy Chandler completed the last sprint of the day with a smile on his face.

When the job was done, the first thing the Unity Defender had to do was to link with the family, who hurried down to the stands to see how he was doing at the end of an exciting afternoon.

Chandler took his daughter in his arms, but the blonde three-cheesy boy did not sit still for long, rather he wanted to play catch with papa on the large, green meadow.

Marc Heinrich

Sports editor.

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The 31-year-old went along with the joke and ran after the little one, who hit quite a few hooks, with loving care. Chandler spoke shortly after, in the arena catacombs, confident that he had had "great fun" that afternoon. He was mainly referring to being able to assert himself again as a member of the Eintracht starting eleven against a Cologne team that showed its unruly nature.

The 1: 1, which in the end gave both teams a point, was all in all a fair result after 90 minutes, which left its mark on many participants.

Not least with Chandler.

The German-American played with a large band around his head from the end of the first half.

That he was able to continue at all, after a collision with Benno Schmitz, surprised many of the 24,000 spectators, who watched with anxious looks as team doctors and physiotherapists took care of Chandler, who had fallen to the ground.

"See what happens next"

During the half-time break, the “bigger cut”, as he called it, was sewn with numerous stitches. From then on, Chandler was still, as if nothing had happened, one of the busy players of Eintracht, who invested a lot to achieve the first win of the season - but again did not get beyond a draw. It was the fifth in a row. "I'm proud of the boys," said Chandler, "we fought and fought."

The fact that his head is buzzing is a side effect that he can live with, because he feels “ok” and is in the best of hands with the doctors who coordinated his further treatment.

Chandler wasn't the only one on the verge of knockout.

Erik Durm got it early and was struck down by a body check by Florian Kainz (11th).

And coach Oliver Glasner reported in the early evening that the 2014 world champion was “not quite as good”.

"We have to see how it goes with him."

"Wild game"

Already on Thursday (6.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Europa League and on TVNOW) the Frankfurters are in action in the Europa League in Antwerp, three days later the business trip to FC Bayern is waiting. Durm is out for it, as the club tweeted on Sunday lunchtime, and there is no option for the full-back position. “We're not entirely happy,” said Glasner, referring to the result, which also applied to the personal situation. Never before in their Bundesliga history has Eintracht been unsuccessful on the first six match days of a season. “We are longing for a win,” admitted Glasner.

He spoke of a "wild game" against Cologne, in which he saw on the one hand that his players had a "great character", as they "bit into" after the "cheap goal" by Ellyes Skhiri (14th minute) would have. But he again discovered items that should be on the list of flaws. So it was not possible for Eintracht to move the action quickly and precisely from the center to the top after conquering the ball. Often the attackers' paths were not right, they also held the ball too long by their feet and did not get enough order and security in their performance when they moved backwards.

It was thanks to a combination of newcomer Jens Petter Hauge and Filip Kostic that they did not go away completely empty-handed.

The Norwegian put the Serbian flank giver on the left in scene well worth seeing.

His cross ended up with Rafael Borré, who was also only hired in Frankfurt in July.

With a placed shot in the right corner, he left FC goalkeeper Timo Horn no defense (45th + 6th).

Glasner called the completion of the attack "wonderful".

Nonetheless, he admitted that it is “not easy” for some people to acclimatize in an unfamiliar environment.

They had experiences that they had not known before, “now they are really getting to know the Bundesliga”.

The gain in knowledge also includes: In the comparatively simple kick-off program, Eintracht only collected five out of 18 possible points.

And now the tasks are getting more demanding.

Chandler drew a conclusion for himself from the experiences of the first few weeks, which testified to his sense of reality, which had grown over the years: "If you cannot win, you have to make sure that you at least do not lose."

They last managed to do that in Frankfurt.

Not more.

For their sporting presence, this also means that they were not able to realize the progress hoped for with Glasner's entry right away.

Instead of narrowing the distance to the top, for the time being in Frankfurt it is a question of not letting the gap between the (rear) middle field of the table widen.