Jean-Mattéo Bahoya was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ritsu Doan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 9.48 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 9.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
8.83. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 8.47 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Borussia Dortmund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marvin Friedrich has just signed for Borussia Dortmund, and for once the answer mattered.
Julian Brandt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Borussia Dortmund has to find a result from somewhere.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Eintracht Frankfurt has to find a result from somewhere.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Eintracht Frankfurt heard it as anything else.
Arthur Theate was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ritsu Doan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I did not go to Borussia Dortmund to sit and watch. I want to come back to Eintracht Frankfurt and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Eintracht Frankfurt will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Eintracht Frankfurt has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Eintracht Frankfurt this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Ritsu Doan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Ritsu Doan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I watch every Eintracht Frankfurt game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Borussia Dortmund runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maximilian Beier provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Serhou Guirassy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nico Schlotterbeck is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
14 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Michael Zetterer and Eintracht Frankfurt agree another 2 years.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Ritsu Doan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I did not go to Borussia Dortmund to sit and watch. I want to come back to Eintracht Frankfurt and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 16 matches say the rest.
1‑1 against Benfica, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Karim Adeyemi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A 3‑2 win over Werder Bremen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 9.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑3 to VfL Wolfsburg, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Eintracht Frankfurt hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Jean-Mattéo Bahoya was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Can Uzun is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I did not go to Borussia Dortmund to sit and watch. I want to come back to Eintracht Frankfurt and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luis Romo has just signed for Borussia Dortmund, and for once the answer mattered.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Borussia Dortmund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Borussia Dortmund know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 142 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jean-Mattéo Bahoya is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Jean-Mattéo Bahoya was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The phone has started ringing about Michy Batshuayi again, and this time the name on the line is Rio Ave. Eintracht Frankfurt are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Mario Götze falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Julian Brandt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emre Can is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The fee is $9.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. FC Augsburg drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The report came back at 40 per cent conviction, which for a scouting department is close to shouting. Borussia Dortmund listened, moved, and got Sebastian Gutierrez before anybody else had finished reading.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mahmoud Dahoud has just signed for Borussia Dortmund, and for once the answer mattered.
Serhou Guirassy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The words a physio says slowly. 127 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Arthur Theate was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Can Uzun is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Christoph Zimmermann has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Eintracht Frankfurt have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
160 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Eintracht Frankfurt lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Arthur Theate was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Eintracht Frankfurt hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Michael Zetterer and Eintracht Frankfurt agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Eintracht Frankfurt this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ritsu Doan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Ansgar Knauff’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Ansgar Knauff was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.47. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marko Ilić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Merwan Zeghdane has just signed for KV Kortrijk, and for once the answer mattered.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at KV Kortrijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reece Johnson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every KV Kortrijk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Westerlo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Sinclair de Falco is 20, and KV Kortrijk have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Jean-Mattéo Bahoya was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arthur Theate is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arthur Theate is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Can Uzun has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
16 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Eintracht Frankfurt this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Eintracht Frankfurt heard it as anything else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Gilles Dewaele was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Eintracht Frankfurt has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Can Uzun, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arthur Theate is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Eintracht Frankfurt this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jean-Mattéo Bahoya has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and KV Kortrijk know it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Marko Ilić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between KV Kortrijk and KV Mechelen, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
13 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.