Eagles fall to Wolves at home
In a closely contested encounter, goals from Wout Weghorst and Joao Victor handed the Eagles their first home defeat of the season.
Personnel: Four changes
Head coach Adi Hütter made four modifications to the team that lost 1-0 to SC Freiburg prior to the international break. Makoto Hasebe came into defence in place of the suspended David Abraham, while Felix Wiedwald was brought in to cover for Frederik Rönnow, who missed out through illness. In midfield, Djibril Sow and Mijat Gacinovic – making just his second Bundesliga start of the season – replaced Gelson Fernandes and Daichi Kamada.
First half: Weghorst opener
After a tentative opening ten minutes, the first real chance of the day fell to Goncalo Paciencia, but his diving header was well saved by Koen Casteels. Almost immediately, Wolfsburg showed how dangerous they could be on the break when William forced Wiedwald, who was making his first competitive appearance since playing in a UEFA Europa League qualifier at the beginning of August, to come off his line and make a solid stop. Unfortunately for the Eagles, that was a sign of things to come; in the 19th minute, Maximilian Arnold’s long-range effort was slightly deflected by the head of Wout Weghorst, and suddenly the Wolves were a goal up.
With Filip Kostic probing dangerously down the right, Eintracht responded by creating viable chances for Paciencia and Martin Hinteregger, but despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession and forcing a series of corners, they could not find a way through the visitors’ defence. Then, in first-half injury time, the complexion of the game appeared to change significantly, when VfL’s Marcel Tisserand was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Second half: Sucker punch
Wolfsburg did not appear undaunted by the notion of playing the entire second half with ten men, fashioning clear-cut opportunities for Jeffrey Bruma and Josuha Guilavogui in the opening quarter of an hour of the second period. Just when Eintracht’s numerical advantage began to tell and they set about laying siege to their opponents’ goal, they fell further behind: Wiedwald struggled to deal with a backpass, and Joao Victor pounced to double the Wolves’ lead.
Subsequently, substitute Danny da Costa had a shot deflected wide and Erik Durm brought out a reaction save from Casteels, but Wolfsburg’s defence held firm.
Summary: One to forget
More than the loss of Eintracht’s unbeaten home record, Hütter will likely be most disappointed with the fact that his charges were unable to make the most of their man advantage in the second half. With the matches coming thick and fast – starting with a trip to London on Thursday – he and his players will need to regroup quickly to face the challenges ahead.
SGE line-up
Wiedwald– Ndicka (Da Costa 61’), Hasebe, Hinteregger – Sow, Rode (Kamada 46’), Durm, Kostic, Gacinovic (Silva 68’) – Paciencia, Dost
Goals
0-1 Weghorst (19’)
0-2 Victor (65’)