Firstly, I know this is late... But I missed the game live, and struggled to find the time to watch it. Although then the second half failed to work. Splendid. But, I did eventually see the first half and I was impressed with what I saw. Just keep in mind that I can, unfortunately, only comment on the first half.
We played the same formation as in the game against Ingolstadt, with the only change being Ebbers in for Bruns. Ebbers went up front as the lone striker and Takyi dropped into the midfield. It was an effective change and I thought we looked better holding up the ball and maintaining possession.
The defence stayed the same and in the first half they showed they deserved it. Again Sobiech was immense and probably our best in the opening half; He made vital blocks in the 2nd, 29th and 30th minutes as well as various other strong tackles and headers to win possession. He'll prove an extremely important player for us this season as he has already showed he won't be beaten easily.
Schachten had a better half than in the match last weekend I thought. With, again, a majority of our play being down the left, Bartels played relatively narrow. He often cut in behind Ebbers and even deeper to try give us a midfield advantage - Frankfurt lined up in the same formation - and so Schachten played very high up the field to overlap and provide some width on the right.
His 10th minute crross to Naki deserved to see an assist chalked up next to his name, but Deniz glanced it wide of the left post. 10 minutes later and another Schachten ball was headed by Bartels over the crossbar from just six yards out. His accuracy was promising as he hit both of those balls right onto the head of the attackers.
But it looked as though shooting accuracy would be an issue again when Takyi also hit over after 26 minutes. But all doubts were soon put to rest when Bartels saw his goal stand despite the furious protests of the Frankfurt players.
A neat bit of skill from Naki, who was standing still, saw his chipped pass go straight to Ebbers on the edge of the area. The striker showed his value as he jumped highest to header across to Boll. The bouncing ball was athelticly chipped across the area to Bartels - over the head of a defender and past a helpless Kessler - and Fin made no errors in finishing off into an open goal.
Tschauner also showed more of his abilities on the half hour mark when he managed to quickly get off the ground to palm away a shot that looked like it could be curling into the corner. Was a great save.
In the second half I missed it seems we almost stole it at the death when Kalla hit the post. But the 78th minute equaliser from Frankfurt was the final goal of the match which ended 1-1.
The bad news is in the 77th minute, Naki picked up an injury. He tore a tendon in his right thigh muscle.
v Eintracht Trier
We have our German Cup match today at 3:30pm (11:30pm AEST) against minnows Eintracht Trier.
Because of Naki's injury, he wont travel to the game against Eintracht Trier, instead Hennings will go in his place. Morena also has a hamstring injury and wont travel. The full team travelling is:
Benedict Pliquett
Philip Tschauner
Lasse Sobiech
Ralph Gunesch
Markus Thorandt
Sebastian Schachten
Jan-Philipp Kalla
Carsten Rothenbach
Patrick Funk
Fabian Boll
Florian Bruns
Fin Bartels
Max Kruse
Dennis Daube
Charles Takyi
Rouwen Hennings
Marius Ebbers
Mahir Saglik
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