Lacking speed up front, Adi Hütter finds solutions hard to come by
Eintracht Frankfurt's Adi Hütter enters the Tuesday fixture against Borussia Mönchengladbach on an eight-match winless run. Even though he has striker André Silva back, the 50-year-old trainer admitted that his Adler need radical changes if they are to once again be a competitive team.
The pressure builds up in Germany's commercial capital. The most obvious deficiency of the underperforming SGE remains players with pace. The team's head-coach knows he doesn't retain enough of it in his lineup, and had zero qualms about conceding it.
"I can't ask Boas Dost or André Silva to sprint up and away from defenders," Hütter noted in a Monday interview, "They don't have that speed. Somehow we have to look for another solution and that's what we're trying to do."
At present, there are few solutions to be found in the current squad. Striker Ragnar Ache, preemptively acquired in the last January transfer window specifically to inject some pace into the lineup, still hasn't played for his new club because of injury. It may be months before the 22-year-old can return to training and get himself back up to match fitness.
Hütter spoke of his frustration in the latter stages of last Friday's loss to Wolfsburg. With the score level deep into the match, he simply didn't have a game-changing attacker to bring onto the pitch. Moreover, his bench found itself devoid of a linchpin defender capable of stabilizing the constellation to prevent the VfL from reclaiming the lead.
Dost and Silva have already scored a combined total of 11 goals this season, and have the demonstrated capacity to produce when paired together. Hütter nevertheless lamented the fact that he lacked players capable of servicing them properly.
"They have their significant strengths inside the 18, but they can only really take advantage of these if they are sufficiently 'fed'," he noted.
Answers remain hard to come by. A 3-4-2-1 featuring an attacking triangle of Silva, Daichi Kamada, and Amin Younes has produced some good results. Younes' struggle first with corona then a knee injury have kept him largely out of the squad for the last weeks.
Hütter appeared hesitant to commit to the reintroduction of Younes at the Monday presser. "The time will come in which he can play longer," Hütter said, "I remain positive about the fact that he will be able to help us soon."