Giving presents for the enthusiastic supporters of Frankfurter Eintracht: Shortly after the 1-0 home win over Mainz 05, which was the most valuable gift for them on Saturday, the players threw presents into the audience.

It was also worth looking up at the video cube.

Because a couple of solemn professionals brought their Christmas greetings and New Year's wishes to the fans in picture and sound.

Jörg Daniels

Editor in the sports department

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Before that, the current Bundesliga table was displayed on the video cube.

When the stadium announcer said in a loud and excited voice that Eintracht had "slipped" to fifth place, an outcry of joy went through the World Cup arena among most of the 15,000 spectators.

At the end of the first half of the season, it was the perfect landing for the Frankfurt team.

The seventh win of the season was a “fantastic end to a very good first half of the season,” said coach Oliver Glasner.

“At the back we got a lot of points, our performance has stabilized.” The English week even ended Eintracht with the maximum return of nine points.

Especially in the games against Leverkusen (5: 2) and in Gladbach (3: 2), it offered plenty of spectacle.

No more rolling course

The Frankfurters, who collected a remarkable 70 points in the calendar year 2021, climbed to fifth place with a lot of diligence and did not "slip". They left their initial dodging course through the league, which was accompanied by nasty sporty slip-ups like in the cup, behind them.

After ten match days, the Hessians, who are successfully represented as group winners in the Europa League, were only 15th - with a meager nine points and 10:15 goals.

They recorded only one win of the season with three defeats and six draws.

The team of coach Glasner lined up against their goals among the relegation candidates.

One or two club officials, stunned by the crash, which was not factored in, feared a transition season with a final position in eleventh or twelfth place.

With FC Bayern the strongest team

Today, however, the 27 points gained so far are a sign of the regained strength of Eintracht, the goal difference is now at a much better 27:24. The Frankfurters have won six of the past seven games. In the group of contenders for the international starting positions, they are, together with Bayern, the most formidable team. The Hessians have found a level of stability and constancy that they could hardly have expected for a long time. In the end it was only going in one direction - steeply upwards, as if the Frankfurters had suddenly set the autopilot to success.

However, Markus Krösche warns against a sure-fire success. The sports director does what the club officials like to do at such moments: He speaks of a nice “snapshot” that everyone would enjoy. "But we also know that in the first few weeks and months we went through a time when it wasn't so good."

Coach Glasner, the club and the team have come together in the past few weeks. Despite the setbacks, they showed unity at the beginning and together they showed the will to steer things in a positive direction. “All the players were always there for the team and for Eintracht Frankfurt. That is the real key. "Everyone has invested" everything so that we can get out of the rumble start, "says Glasner happily. Even Makoto Hasebe, who will soon be 38 years old and who is the head of the three-man defense chain, has made progress in one area or another. The coach mentioned “defending up front. Makoto has dealt with it from day one and then realized: What the coach is saying is probably not that nonsense ”.

The biggest step in his development was made by the youngster Jesper Lindström, who moved from Copenhagen to the Main in the summer for almost seven million euros. His 1-0 winning goal (35th minute) against Mainz was already the fourth goal of the season for the 21-year-old and, considering his two assists, his sixth goal participation in the last six matches.

The Danish international, who is now brimming with self-confidence, has grown stronger from game to game.

The offensive player has played his part in ensuring that the team has developed significantly in terms of play.

“We have currently achieved more than one might have expected at the beginning of this journey,” said Lindström.

Glasner, who has become a guarantor of success as the man in charge of the coaching bench, seems to have found his way in Frankfurt.

The back four that he let play for a while is now obsolete.

In addition, the rotations in the line-up are a thing of the past.

On the fourth matchday, Christopher Lenz, Sam Lammers, Jens Petter Hauge, Erik Durm and Ajdin Hrustic were still part of the starting line-up.

On Saturday against Mainz none of them were among the first team.