6. Matchday (28.08.2011, 13:30 Uhr)

0 : 0

Eintracht Frankfurt

  6. Matchday   2. Bundesliga

SC Paderborn

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Goalless Draw against Paderborn

Despite a strong team performance Eintracht is still waiting for their first home victory. A 34,200 crowd saw Eintracht´s first match  against Paderborn in the 2. Bundesliga. The only change in the line-up was Meier returning after his 1 match ban for Korkmaz, who is suffering from a minor injury.

Goalie Nikolov organised the defense with Anderson and Schildenfeld in the center, Djakpa and Jung covering the left and right side. Lehmann and Schwegler were responsible fort the structure in central midfield, Koehler (left), Meier (center) and Rode on the right wing completed the midfield. Theofanis Gekas was supposed to keep the Paderborn defense under pressure.

The Eagles showed their ambitions from the start and created a chance after only 40 seconds when Meier forwarded to Gekas, who was stopped by referee Leicher for being offside. 3 minutes later a left footed Lehmann shot from outside the box was blocked. In minute 12 Sebastian Jung crossed to Gekas whose header from the center of the box missed to the left.  Only 2 minutes later  Gekas received another chance after a fine combination with Meier, but his shot missed closely to the left. Alex Meier created the next chance in the 19th minute, but his shot also missed the goal.

The first 20 minutes belonged completely to a strong Eintracht team creating many chances, but the ball just didn´t pass the line. Koehler and Meier once again showed much effort, well supported by Schwegler and Rode.

It took the guests 25 minutes to test Oka Nikolov, who saved a first shot. A minute later Alex Meier almost scored after a fine through ball by Lehmann, but his lob couldn´t pass Paderborn keeper Kruse. The Eagles continued their dominant match against a struggeling guests´ defense. Schwegler´s pass to Rode was a little bit too long, so his cross could be blocked.

With 7 minutes to go in the first half Paderborn had  a decent chance after a corner, when Schildenfeld tried to defend but put the ball above the crossbar. In the last 5 minutes of the first half Paderborn managed to hold the ball a bit longer under control, but all in all the guests were lucky to keep their goal save so far.

The second half began without changed personal on either side. Schwegler was attacked by Paderborn´s Brueckner in the 51st minute and needed a minute to be back on his feet again. Again  it was Meier who started a counter attack passing to Koehler, but he hesitated a bit too long, so his ball was blocked. After the following corner a Meier header went above the crossbar.

Schildenfeld received a yellow card in minute 55 after a minor attack outside the box. The Eagle´s wall blocked the following free kick, and Kroesche´s shot went above the crossbar.

The match continued to be a one-sided affair with much more possession on the Eintracht side, but the amount of good scoring opportunities went down with the clock ticking. Paderborn seemed to realize their chance to hold one point in their hands, and they even had the chance to score themselves in the 64th minute. Nikolov´s great save after a Proschwitz shot prevented the worst.

A free kick by Djakpa in minute 66 almost led to the well deserved lead for the Eagles, but the blocked shot passed the left post on the wrong side. Manager Armin Veh tried to strenghten the offense by substituting Hoffer for Schwegler (67th), who had problems with his back after an attack. But after a nice shot by Lehmann it was a double save by Nikolov and Schildenfeld in the defense which kept the Eintracht goal save.

When Caio replaced Gekas (82nd) and Matmour came on for Koehler (86th) the crowd was hoping for a late goal with more offensive creativity, but it was not suposed to happen. Already after a minute overtime Matmour´s header was saved nicely by Paderborn keeper Kruse, but Matmour was offside anyway.

Then referee Leicher blew the final whistle and despite a good performance with 68 % ball possession and many chances to score Eintracht still has to wait for their first home victory. The 0-0 is not a satisfying result and the scoring opportunities should have lead to 3 points,  but the team performance during most of the match was determined and nice to follow.

Coming up is the match away to Energie Cottbus (Saturday, Sept. 9th, 13.00h CET).

- AR -