Both teams swapped goalkeepers ahead of the fixture between the seventh in the Bundesliga (Eintracht) and the fourth (Hannover 96). Oka Nikolov returned as number one for the Eagles, young talent Faehrmann had to bite the bullet being back on the bench. Surprisingly Hannover also brought on a new goalie – Ron-Robert Zieler began instead of Florian Fromlowitz. In defense Kevin Kraus had his Bundesliga and Eintracht debut, Georgios Tzavellas had been doubtful ahead of the game but started in left defense.
Frankfurt seemed ambitious from the start, but it was the away team opening the scoreline after a counter attack in minute 15 (Abdellaoue scored). Eintracht was not able to control the ball in midfield, the goal seemed out of the blue.
Then Koehler came close with a fine shot which went just wide (19’). But their goal seemed to have woken up Hannover – Oka Nikolov had a good save to deny a Pogatetz header. A minute later he was beaten again when Schulz netted after a corner cross, also with a header.
The next chance fell to Frankfurt: Schwegler had a go after a nice build up with Ochs but he missed the target (25’). Then the game calmed down completely with no major happenings on either end. Kevin Kraus headed the ball from an Altintop cross but his try went wide (41’). It was 0-2 at half time and a lot had to be improved by the Eagles in order to turn it around after the break.
Skibbe brought on Martin Fenin for Alex Meier to support Eintracht’s attacking play and changed to a 4-4-2 formation. The game picked up pace and the Eagles showed a better attitude with various attacks and a different body language. Still it was 96 who had a big chance when Pinto hit the post (56’), Abdealloue followed up but sidenetted the ball. Caio came on for Tzavellas (65’) and hos first touch was a free-kick which went far wide.
Hannover stood deep in their half defending solidly and waiting for fast breaks, Eintracht increased their efforts and showed some good passing but there was a lack of ideas on how to create big chances. Amanatidis came on for Altintop (75’) and straight away had a couple of scoring opportunities, one from a header and seconds later with a shot.
The crowd of 39,300 was not too happy with the Eagles’ performance who just did not seem to find the right way to get the goal. Caio came close with a shot in the six yard box but 96 goalkeeper Zieler saved (84’). It was not meant to be and Hannover finished it off with a goal from striker Ya Konan (89’) – goal number 500 in the running Bundesliga season..
The defeat was a missed opportunity to stay in touch with the top five ranks in the Bundesliga standings – Eintracht dropped to spot 8 while Hannover moved up to be second behind Dortmund. Surprisingly the biggest problem was not the weakened defense with various key players missing for Eintracht but rather the lack of spark in the attack. Only four shots were on target – not enough to compete with in form teams. To complete the misery Freiburg's Cisse netted twice this weekend (now 15 goals) to take over the Bundesliga top scorer's ranking from Theofanis Gekas (14). The tough game away to Hamburger SV next Friday at 20.30h CET will not be easy to play.
