"Adi who?" was the question on many people's lips in Germany when Hütter was handed the reins in Frankfurt at the start of July. The Austrian was largely unheard of outside of his homeland, despite his outstanding track record at SV Grödig, Red Bull Salzburg und BSC Young Boys, where he led the team to the Swiss league title for the first time in 32 years. A fan of attractive football, Hütter is a calm coach who loves pressing, counter-pressing and putting on a spectacle. Indeed, those were all factors that persuaded Fredi Bobic and Bruno Hübner that the 48-year-old was the right man to succeed Niko Kovac at the club.
It was certainly not easy for the new man in the hot seat initially, given that there was another large turnover of personnel at Eintracht. Twelve members of the first-team squad left by the end of August, including key players Kevin-Prince Boateng, Lukas Hradecky, Omar Mascarell and Marius Wolf. Eleven new signings were brought in to replace them, with Filip Kostic, Evan Ndicka, Lucas Torro and Kevin Trapp, who arrived for the season on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, all hitting the ground running in Frankfurt.
A long process
Hütter's task was made all the more difficult by the absence of several players following the 2018 FIFA World Cup. They were all given three weeks holiday following their respective nations’ elimination, which meant that the first competitive game of the new season – the Supercup at the start of August at the Commerzbank Arena – arrived too soon for the Eagles, who lost 5-0 to Bayern Munich. That was followed by a shock 2-1 defeat away to SSV Ulm in the first round of the DFB Cup and a disappointing start to the 2018/19 Bundesliga campaign that left Eintracht in 15th place after Matchday 5.
Turnaround
As such, the outlook was rather bleak ahead of the Eagles' first UEFA Europa League outing in a tough Group H alongside Olympique Marseille, Apollon Limassol and SS Lazio. Eintracht's campaign began in the south of France in a match played behind closed doors as a punishment for poor behaviour by Marseille's fans the previous season. Hütter's men came away with all three points thanks to goals from Torro and Luka Jovic. "This gives us confidence and self-belief," said the coach afterwards.
Nevertheless, subsequent results in the Bundesliga did not immediately reflect that. A deserved 1-1 draw against RB Leipzig was followed by a 3-1 defeat away to Borussia Mönchengladbach, leading to Hütter demanding his charges play "90 minutes at full throttle" at home to Hannover 96 at the end of September. His words had the desired effect. Eintracht won 4-1 as goals from Ndicka, Ante Rebic, Jonathan de Guzman and Jovic gave Hütter a first home win of the season in a match he described as "liberating", unaware at the time of the wonderful run his side were about to go on.
