“It’s all about our playing style,” da Costa noted in the mixed zone on Sunday night. “We have to get back to our strengths. During [Last Thursday’s away win at Omonia Nicosia] we threw ourselves into every tackle and did everything we could to keep a clean sheet.

“We need to reflect on our strengths,” the former German youth international continued. “We need to focus on doing the simple things and doing them right, contesting tackles, covering ground, and being alert to second balls. The basics must be in order.“

Interestingly enough, da Costa did have some complaints about the “basics” when it came to discussing Thursday’s Conference League fixture. In this case, however, the Bundesliga professional didn’t care for the professionalism of the hosting Cypriot club. 

Speaking on the Copa TS podcast, da Costa claimed that Omonia didn’t provide the German guests with properly inflated balls during the warm-up. In the apparent “deflate-gate” scandal, da Costa reported that Mainz were given 15 improperly inflated footballs. 

“We came out to warm up highly motivated,” da Costa said on the pod. “And then the first and second balls played were completely flat. We were given 15 balls to warm up with and none of them had any air in them. All of their balls were pumped up to perfection.

“I haven’t experienced that in a long time,” da Costa continued. “Both teams wanted to win and get off to a good start in the Conference League. Of course, you do everything you can to achieve that. Omonia took ‘doing everything’ very seriously.

“I was really upset,” da Costa concluded. “I thought to myself ‘What the shit is this?’. I was annoying and totally unsportsmanlike.“

GGFN | Peter Weis

Die Adler are said to value Uzun at €80m. On top of this, the 19-year-old does not have a release clause in his contract that expires in 2029, meaning Frankfurt can once again demand a high fee.

The reason Frankfurt have set a value is because clubs from the Premier League have begun to show interest in Uzun. The forward’s predecessors Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitiké both swapped the Waldstadion for the Premier League this year. 

Uzun has been a revelation this season, and it is quite clearly his breakout year. In nine games, the 19-year-old has six goals and four assists and has established himself as one of the best players on the banks of the Main. 

Do Frankfurt have a replacement lined up?

What makes SGE so good when it comes to their movement in the transfer market is that they will likely have a replacement already in their sights. Newcastle striker William Osula could be an option. Frankfurt tried to bring the Dane to the Waldstadion in the summer, but a move failed to materialise on deadline day. Sky reports that die Adler will try again. 

SGE have already reached an agreement with the striker, but they must now reach an agreement with Newcastle which demanded €30m for the 22-year-old in the summer.

GGFN | Jack Meenan

Die Schwaben are the second Baden-Württemberg outfit Basel have faced in as many games so far in this competition, with the Swiss side having been beaten 2-1 by Freiburg last time out.

Despite being favourites for this game, Hoeneß’s side got off to a terrible start. Angelo Stiller gave the ball away on the edge of Stuttgart’s own third. He seemed to get away with it, but after recovering the ball, Badredine Bouanani put it on a plate for Albian Ajeti to tuck past Alexander Nübel. 

Ermedin Demirović squandered a golden chance for a leveller. The Bosnia and Herzegovina international found himself unmarked at the edge of the six-yard box but placed his header over the crossbar. 

Demirović would get another chance to level the game with a penalty after Tiago Tomás was fouled in the Basel box. However, thanks to VAR, Demirović was made to wait an age after setting up to take the spot-kick—never ideal for the taker—and Marwin Hitz made saving the Bosnian’s effort look easy. 

Stuttgart huffed and puffed for the majority of the second half with little success. Basel broke away late in the game and Xherdan Shaqiri looped the ball over Alexander Nübel into the net, wrapping up the points for the Swiss side. 

Lack of cohesion

It’s easy to forget that little more than two years ago, Stuttgart found themselves in the relegation play-off against Hamburg. They have achieved so much since: a remarkable second-place finish in the Bundesliga the following season, and a DFB-Pokal win in the last. Yet despite this success, Hoeneß’s team still has a very fresh look. 

With some notable absentees—including Chris Führich, Jeff Chabot, and Atakan Karazor—filling up Stuttgart’s bench in this game, only four players who started against Basel also started the Pokal final in May. 

Desperate football

Basel did very well to limit VfB to very little going forward besides the penalty. Stuttgart grew frustrated throughout the game, resorting to shots from distance and route one balls up to Demirović. 

Stuttgart racked up an astounding 29 attempts, but Hitz stood firm, and their growing desperation was plain to see. 

Hoeneß made a double change on 70 minutes, bringing on Führich and Bilal El Khannouss for a thwarted and tiring Jamie Leweling and Chema Andrés. Neither player would have the desired effect on the game before Shaqiri sealed the win for Basel. 

Post Woltemade Stuttgart

It has been intriguing to watch how Stuttgart have adapted following the sale of Nick Woltemade to Newcastle. The injury to Deniz Undav has undoubtedly not helped either. Demirović has made a decent start to the season, with three goals and an assist in the first five Bundesliga matches. 

However, on nights like this—when the Bosnian wasn’t firing on all cylinders—Stuttgart needed another source of attacking impetus. Despite dominating possession, Leweling was also kept quiet by the resolute Basel backline. Führich fared no better when he was introduced with the score still at 1-0. 

Thankfully for Hoeneß, Undav’s return is in sight. 

GGFN | Harry Good

Demirovic was among eight Stuttgart professionals who successfully converted penalties in a wild shootout win over Eintracht Braunschweig in the opening round of the Pokal this year, but that doesn’t quite erase the fact that Demirovic missed both of his Bundesliga takes last season. Angelo Stiller has also missed from the spot this year, leaving one wondering who will step forward next time Stuttgart are awarded a penalty. 

The 27-year-old did make reference to the fact that a late VAR of the 33rd-minute awarded penalty broke his concentration. When Demirovic finally did square off against FC Basel keeper Marwin Hitz in the 36th, the former Wolfsburg, Augsburg, and Borussia Dortmund professional came out the winner. 

“Of course it’s in total shit now,” Demirovic told RTL. “The [penalty taking] rate is just not good. I don’t want to make excuses, but it was a lousy situation. I thought the [VAR] check was done. That’s why I stood there and took a run-up. I was ready. Then came another check. Today was just a day during which everything went against us.“

For his part, VfB head coach Sebastian Hoeneß did praise his team for not giving up in both his post-match interview and the post-match press conference. Hoeneß made cure to credit Hitz with a fine performance. Swiss legend Xherdan Shaqiri also did a fantastic job for the underdogs on the evening and ultimately punished the profligate guests with the 2-0 “nail-in-the-coffin” in the 84th minute.

“[My team] pushed through to the very end,” Hoeneß noted at the press conference. “It was an  power play in the second half. At some point, you still have to score. Of course, there’s always the danger of a counterattack on the other side. Shaqiri briefly showed why he was world class striker for a good part of his career.“

GGFN | Peter Weis

The match proved a very tense and close-knit affair. In the end, a successful penalty-take from Mainz midfield talisman Nadiem Amiri proved the difference-maker. Fans of the hometown team didn’t quite care for the celebration of the guests after Amiri’s 75th-minute conversion. Beer cups rained down from the stands. Mainz striker Ben Bobzien took a receptacle to the neck and play had to be briefly interrupted. 

Amiri spoke on the incident in his post-match interview with Germany’s RTL+. The 28-year-old – who has by far more European experience than the rest of his German club teammates – dealt with the matter maturely. The former Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen professional also made sure to thank 1,500 Mainz supporters for making the trip. So too did defender Stefan Bell, the only Mainz player left from the 2016 European adventure.

“You know how football is,” Amiri said of the beer shower. “It’s okay, that’s football. The main thing is that nothing [serious] happened. Of course, it’s not right, but I understand the emotions, I understand the fans. In a way, we all love it. Everyone is healthy, we won, so it’s all good.“

“I’m just proud and grateful for the support,” Amiri said of the large traveling Mainzer contingent that accompanied the team. “The most important thing for us was to give something back to them, because it’s not a given that so many fans would come so far from home on a Thursday evening.”

“It brought back a few memories from back then,” Bell added when reflecting on his time working with Mainz in the Europa League under former head coaches Martin Schmidt and Kasper Hjulmand. “It was an extremely enjoyable game. The atmosphere was great, both from our fans and the home fans. The opponents were really good and played good football.“

GGFN | Peter Weis

The only debutant in the squad is Eintracht Frankfurt left-back Nathanial Brown.  

The most notable returnee is Nico Schlotterbeck. The Borussia Dortmund defender was called up after he made his return following a meniscus injury. Other players who have earned recalls to the squad are Schlotterbeck’s teammates Maximilian Beier and Felix Nmecha. Jonathan Burkardt also makes a return. While Ridle Baku makes his first appearance in a German squad since November 2021. 

During the break, Germany will face Luxembourg in Sinsheim on October 10th, and three days later, they will face Northern Ireland in Belfast in the return fixture of their September game. The game against Northern Ireland will be an important one for Germany as they are currently level on points with the hosts, who made things difficult for them in Köln earlier this season. 

Germany’s Full Squad:

Goalkeepers: Oliver Baumann, Alexander Nübel, Finn Dahmen 

Defenders: Waldemar Anton, Ridle Baku, Nathanial Brown, Robin Koch, David Raum, Nico Schlotterbeck, Jonathan Tah

Midfields: Karim Adeyemi, Nadiem Amiri, Robert Andrich, Serge Gnabry, Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich, Jamie Leweling, Felix Nmecha, Angelo Stiller, Florian Wirtz

Forwards: Maximilian Beier, Jonathan Burkardt, Nick Woltemade

GGFN | Jack Meenan

Daniel Svensson opened the scoring before Carney Chukwuemaka doubled BVB’s lead in the 50th minute, but a prolonged spell of pressure from the Basque club resulted in Gorka Guruzeta bringing the visitors to within one of Dortmund before Robert Navarro had a goal ruled out for offside, and then fired a shot narrowly over the crossbar.

Speaking to DAZN after the game, Kovač discussed Dortmund’s performance and the importance of making changes with games every three days, and the upcoming international break.

“We controlled the game in the first half. In the second half, we were a bit too passive, gave the ball away too quickly, and wobbled a bit. Then you need goals like that, which normally never go in,” said Kovač. “Serhou (Guirassy) is credited with the goal, and that’s fine. You need luck in the Champions League too.”

On the squad depth and changes, the Croat added: “We have really good depth in the squad, and you need that if you have to play every three days. That is why it is a good thing that we made some changes today. Incidentally: Bilbao made six changes. That is part of football today. Now we still have Leipzig, then it’s all about the national teams.

“You have to make changes. Schlotti (Nico Schlotterbeck) is coming back after five and a half months. The danger of him running into a muscular injury was just too great after two 90-minute games.”

GGFN | Daniel Pinder

These Swabians were able to rebound with a win against Borussia Mönchengladbach on match-day two, yet were still forced to contend with a lousy news “Doppelpack” entering the final weekend of the transfer window. Newcastle’s poaching of Nick Woltemade and word of Deniz Undav’s injury all occurred within a hectic 24-hour-span. Thankfully, board-member-for-sport Fabian Wohlgemuth, sporting director Christian Gentner, and the rest of the VfB administrative team rose to the occasion in the final days before the deadline.

Though the planned blockbuster “transfer triple pack” didn’t quite materialize, it’s already quite apparent that theCannstatter scored a pair of high-utility North Africans in the form of über-enthusiastic Moroccan Bilal El Khannouss and pacy Algerian winger Badredine Bouanani. Both are already contributing on the score-sheet and off. It appears as if the VfB front office – for the third straight year no less – have rendered the summer departures moot, at least until AFCON 2025 rolls around in January. 

We last checked in with Stuttgart on a detailed level right after that madness that was the DFB Pokal victory over Eintracht Braunschweig. Prior to that, it’s worth noting that the general assessment of this club’s camp was positive. After the Gladbach win, there was another dip against Freiburg. Then came the three straight wins against St. Pauli, Celta Vigo, and 1. FC Köln. As per usual, we’ll cover everything in full detail in the tactics section below. There’s a special bonus look-in on a friendly against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach during the September international break as well. 

Essentially, things look to be largely in order with this club…..

…..except for the wholly unnecessary ditching of the “furchtlos und treu” motto.

Why? Someone needs to explain to the author why this was necessary.

VfB Stuttgart UEL Squad

Much like last year, those omitted from the European roster make big news. One might as well point out for the “nth” time that Nick Woltemade wasn’t included in Hoeneß’ Champions League roster in the autumn of 2024. The author assumes that everyone knows that fact by now. Let it nevertheless never be forgotten! Eight players from the 32-man league roster have been dropped this time. Silas, Justin Diehl, Ameen Al-Dakhil, Leonidas Stergiou, Pascal Stenzel, and Noah Darvich are all missing.

Goalkeepers:

Bredlow, Nübel

Defenders:

Hendriks, Vagnoman, Mittelstädt, Jaquez, Assignon, Zagadou, Chabot, Groiß, Nothnagel

Midfielders:

Stiller, Führich, El Khannouss, Karazor, Jeltsch, Andrés, Jovanović

Forwards:

Tomás, Leweling, Undav, Bouanani, Kastanaras, Demirović

The Silas news hits Bundesliga enthusiasts head. Most of us happened to rather like how the club stood by the Congo DR international. Diehl and Darvich unfortunately don’t adhere to UEFA’s “homegrown player” regulations. Hence, Thomas Kastanaras (yes, he still exists) is back despite not really featuring for VfB II anymore. Alexander Groiß (27) and Dominik Nothnagel (30) are interesting additions in that – as one can infer from the bracketed ages – the pair aren’t exactly “spring chickens”. 

Nice to see a pair of lower league journeymen get a shot. 

VfB Stuttgart Remaining UEL Schedule

The manner in which the schedule was finalized does leave Stuttgart with some ill-timed tough away fixtures in November, not to mention a serious challenge down south at the end of a packed January that will see them without some of their AFCON stars. It could prove the case that the Württemberger find themselves left out of the knockouts in this new format for the second straight year. Given that they faced a Champions League field last season, however, one still wants to lend them the benefit of the doubt.

Thursday, October 2nd

FC Basel (A) 21:00

Thursday, October 23rd

Fenerbahçe (A) 18:45

Thursday, November 6th

Feyenoord Rotterdam (H) 21:00

Thursday, November 27th

Go Ahead Eagles Deventer (A) 21:00

Thursday, December 12th

Maccabi Tel Aviv (H) 18:45

Thursday, January 22nd

AS Roma (H) 21:00

Thursday, January 29th

Young Boys Bern (A) 21:00

Racking enough early points before the calendar year turns shall prove essential. At least three victories and two draws are needed. Obviously, the fabulous news that they could be two thirds of the way toward meeting that first metric come sunrise on Friday morning is sure to perk up more than a few Cannstatt citizens. It should work. “Sei furchtlos und treu”…… if indeed that’s still permitted. 

Tactics Check, VfB Stuttgart

Picking up from where we left off, Hoeneß’ Württemberger went straight from the insane DFB Pokal match into a sleepy Saturday encounter with Gerardo Seoane’s slumping Borussia Mönchengladbach. Only four days after the draining extended penalty shootout, Hoeneß made only two personnel rotations. Josha Vagnoman and Jamie Leweling replaced Lorenz Assignon and Chris Führich as straight swaps in the 4-2-3-1.

With the club celebrating “100 years of the Red Stripe” with fantastic in-stadium, one held onto hopes that the players would draw some energy from the crowd. Initially, there was plenty of pace to the game of both teams. Unfortunately, when Deniz Undav succumbed to injury inside of ten minutes, a still leggy Führich had to come on in relief to play an unrehearsed position.

Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (15th minute)

Hoeneß option to dispense with the idea of having a ten, instead pocketing Führich deep into midfield. A sensible enough conservative play from the VfB trainer. Führich used to play central at Paderborn all the time, but clearly wasn’t ready for this assignment. Gladbach actually steadily took the momentum of the match away from the hosts as BMG sixes Rocco Reitz and Philipp Sander titled the scales ever so steadily in the midfield battles.

When Gladbach continued to ride the wave after the break, Hoeneß staggered with a pair of double substitutions until he had a more attack-minded 4-3-3 back on the pitch. Assignon, Lazar Jovanovic, Chema Andres and Nikolas Nartey relieved Vagnoman, Führich, Atakan Karazor, and Maximilian Mittelstädt. The late constellation produced just enough to lend the team some confidence from open play.

Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (75th minute)

The late 79th-minute 1-0 that took out Gladbach actually came off a short corner. Chema Andres signaled his Bundesliga arrival with a fine finish of a delicate Jamie Leweling cross. Granted, BMG defender Jens Castrop didn’t have much to offer on what should have been an easy marking assignment. In any event, Hoeneß’ Swabians dug out a much-needed win despite only managing 0.84 xG over the course of the entire match. After the international break, it was time for Hoeneß to test drive some of his new deadline day arrivals against Freiburg.

Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (Match Three)

A simple enough 4-2-3-1 as Hoeneß appears to envision it with his new actors in place. After the match, the VfB trainer gave a candid assessment of El Khannoss and Bouanani. The former passed his opening exam with flying colors whilst the latter did little beyond cement his status behind Tiago Tomas on the depth chart. The manner in which Hoeneß reformatted to protect his slender lead ended up not working well at all unfortunately. The late Freiburg goal flurry (covered already in a separate piece) came with this in place:

Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (78th minute)

Whether or not it was supposed to look like this or indeed what earthly purpose a late 3-4-3 of any sort served remains unclear. The Breisgauer hosts were almost invited to slice up the wings. One would have thought that Hoeneß learned something from his opening day loss away at Freiburg last season. Before pummeling the VfB trainer too much, however, one should credit him for learning three vitally important personnel lessons ahead of the next league fixture against FC St. Pauli.

Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (Match Four)

Tomas and Assignon over newbie Bouanani and slumping Vagnoman were obvious enough. Anyone following this team has to admit that Chema Andrés over captain Atakan Karazor really shocked. A bold, yet entirely correct, move. The 20-year-old’s maturity and poise is quite striking. One immediately understands why Real Madrid attached all those buyback and resale clauses. Though Andrés happens to be one of the shier of the new arrivals, he’s increasingly assertive on the pitch.

Another fine performance from the youngster helped Stuttgart get back on track with a 2-0 victory over St. Pauli in the match-day four Friday night curtain raiser. The Cannstatter did well not to let an early penalty miss from Angelo Stiller throw them off course. Demirovic and El Khannouss would eventually score to seal the result. In all honesty, Stuttgart-St. Pauli proved one of the – if not the – least competitive Bundesliga matches of the young season. The outcome was never really in doubt.

Alexander Blessin’s Kiezkicker – predicted to fade – did just that. Chema impressed with several lovely “unlock” through balls. Defensive captain Jeff Chabot, sufficiently recovered from an early season knock, held the back ranks together well. As evidenced by that wild Pokal fixture, Stuttgart just don’t seem right without Chabot running the bow-arcs and audibly directing his teammates. Nübel made the saves he needed to. Tomas, Leweling, and Demirovic all dazzled up front.

All was well heading into the opening Europa League fixture against Celta Vigo. It came as no surprise to see Chema retain his place in the starting XI against Celta Vigo, a team VfB actually beat in the pre-season. Hoeneß’ two personnel changes  ahead of the opening UEL fixture did surprise. Chabot and Tomas made way for Ramon Hendriks and Bouanani in the same 4-2-3-1. For some reason, Chabot never entered the match.

When Finn Jeltsch injured himself, Chabot remained on the bench while Luca Jacquez made his long-awaited return to meaningful action. The Swabian hosts were nearly made to pay after Nübel made a couple of early mistakes. Thankfully, Los Celestes couldn’t capitalize. At the other end, Andrés, Assignon, and Leweling came close to opening the scoring.

Stuttgart finally got the opener when Nübel redeemed himself shortly after the restart. A pre-planned blitz counter saw Nübel register the assist on Bouanani’s 51st-minute 1-0. Bouanani’s fellow new North African arrival El Khannous added the second off a corner in the 68th following a nice one-two with Stiller that also clearly came off the training ground.

Karazor – who relieved the once-again excellent Andrés shortly after the second goal – ended up gifting former Bayer Leverkusen striker Borja Iglesias the 2-1 in the 86th. Hoeneß opted to forgive his captain and hand him a start against overzealous Lukas Kwasniok’s 1. FC Köln at the RheinEnergieStadion on Sunday.

Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (Match Five)

Jaquez re-claimed his old starting role courtesy of the fact that Jeltsch remained out injured. Hendriks – who earned man-of-the-match honors in the Europa League fixture – got a go at the left-back slot he’s occasionally worked in. Fair enough as Maxi Mittelstädt hasn’t been able to take off this season. Overall, there were six changes from the UEL match. Karazor, Chabot, Jaquez, Vagnoman, Tomas, and Führich over Chema, Mittelstädt, Jeltsch, Assignon, Bouanani, and Leweling.

The cathedral city hots exploited all the new actors initially. Tom Krauß, pressing high in midfield, won a crucial ball. Jakub Kaminski eventually netted the 4th-minute 1-0 after the ball found its way to him via Jan Thielmann and Ragnar Ache. There were several nervy moments in the immediate aftermath of the first goal. Nübel had to be on hand to save more shots. When Nübel found himself beaten, Jaquez had to clear an Ache effort off the line.

Stuttgart did settle down a bit, but were only able to equalize thanks to a highly controversial penalty involving Marvin Schwäbe in the 28th. This very soft call enabled Hoeneß’ crew to remain in a match Kwasniok’s Domstädter could have easily run away with. Things got downright choppy for a very long time until Köln substitute (certified German phenomby now) shook both teams out of their torpor with about 25 minutes left.

Not long after Mittelstädt (on as a 61st-minute sub) cleared another Köln effort off the line, Vagnoman slotted home the winner for the guests in the 81st. Admittedly a nice set up from Stiller, but either team could have honestly taken all three points here. A draw would have constituted more than a fair result. So it came to pass that Stuttgart won three straight.

Anything left to mention?

Yes.

Lineup—VfB Stuttgart (September Friendly)

Hoeneß tried out a straight 4-3-3 over the September break in a test fixture at VfB II’s proving ground in Großaspach. Führich got a chance to blow off a little steam with a second half Lupenreiner, mostly thanks to the assistance of Tomas. Not too many midfield lessons to be gleaned as the Bundesliga team mostly switched over overmatched SG Sonnenhof with ease. One still wonders if something like this might work with Chema Andrés, Stiller, and Karazor, Interesting. One can’t really see it as no member of that trio usually plays that high up….yet.

Thursday tip

Stuttgart 3, Basel 1

Well. With the godawful Eintracht Frankfurt tip from earlier this week firmly in mind, one can prognosticate an easy Stuttgart win a little easier when it comes to the southern Swiss neighbors. As noted above, the first away win puts them right where they need to be. After what happened in Belgrade last season, it’s best to act on the assumption that November away fixtures against Fenerbahçe and Go Ahead Eagles might turn out unexpectedly bad. One trusts Hoeneß and crew to take care of business.

GGFN | Peter Weis

Bilbao were without star man Nico Williams for the meeting in the Ruhrgebiet — news
that was surely welcomed by Niko Kovač.

Daniel Svensson opened the scoring after a low cross from Karim Adeyemi, almost
exactly mirroring the Swede’s goal at the Mewa Arena on Saturday.

Carney Chukwuemeka doubled the lead five minutes after the interval with an astute
finish past Unai Simón. However, the breathing space did not last long, as a mix-up at
the back between Waldemar Anton and Niklas Süle gifted Gorka Guruzeta an easy
opportunity to pull one back for the Spaniards.

BVB restored their cushion with eight minutes left through a massive stroke of luck.
Marcel Sabitzer tried his luck from 20 yards, and the ball deflected off Serhou Guirassy,
wrong-footing Simón in the Bilbao goal. A fourth and final Dortmund strike came in
stoppage time courtesy of Julian Brandt.

Wingbacks growing influence

The influence of Dortmund’s wingbacks so far this season has been clear for all to see,
whether it’s Daniel Svensson on the left or the combination of Julian Ryerson and Yan
Couto on the right.

Svensson grabbed his second goal in as many games, while Ryerson continued to
provide a constant threat on the opposite flank.

Kovač’s wingbacks are adding an extra dimension in attack — especially valuable on a
night like this, when Adeyemi and Guirassy weren’t at their best.

Defensive solidity

Allowing the wingbacks to the freedom to go forward as much as they do has been down
to Dortmund’s solidity at the back.

Despite not securing the sixth clean sheet of the season that Gregor Kobel would have
wanted, BVB once again limited their opponents to very few chances.

Bilbao rallied after halving the deficit — capitalising on a rare mistake from Dortmund’s
backline — but the hosts held firm thereafter. A textbook oƯside trap also denied Bilbao
an equaliser.

Strength in depth

Despite making five changes from the starting 11 in their Bundesliga victory over Mainz,
Dortmund showcased their depth and experience on the big stage.

Carney Chukwuemeka underlined his quality by scoring BVB’s second goal of the game,
staking his claim for more regular minutes.

Niklas Süle, Julian Ryerson, and Jobe Bellingham all returned to the lineup, while
Guirassy’s return from injury added further firepower.

GGFN | Harry Good

It was obvious from the start that it was UCL veterans against a team of majority debutants. Frankfurt conceded early on when Giacomo Raspadori tapped the ball in to give the hosts an early lead. Die Adler were unable to gain any sort of hold on the game with Atleti well on top.

The Spaniards then doubled their lead when Robin Le Normand headed home. Just before half-time, Atleti made it 3-0. 

In the second half, Frankfurt came out brightly and gave themselves a lifeline with a Jonathan Burkardt goal. However, it would not last long as the Spaniards made it 4-1 from a Giuliano Simeone header. A Julian Alvarez penalty would make it 5-1 in the 82nd minute.  

So here are the three things we learnt: 

Frankfurt receives a Champions League reality check:  

Atleti are Champions League regulars. They have made the competition 13 seasons in a row and are always involved in the knockout rounds. After a strong performance against Galatasaray in the opening round, today has shown how Frankfurt actually matches up to the ‘bigger’ teams in the competition. 

Against the Spaniards, the young Bundesliga squad were schooled in how to manage and play in a big European tie. 

On top of this, the occasion probably got to Frankfurt, and they were never able to implement their style of play. Can Uzun, who has been electric in the opening games of the season, was non-existent, while the other attackers were also feeding off scraps. 

The takeaway from this is that Frankfurt are not expected to win these types of games. However, they still have to face Liverpool, Barcelona and Napoli, so this young team needs to learn how to play in these games – fast. 

Defending is a problem:

In Frankfurt’s past three games, they have conceded 13 goals. In the first, they lost 4-3 to Union Berlin, at the weekend, they beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 6-4, and today they have lost 5-1. 

As great as they are going forward, defending is a real issue for this team, in this game alone (via FotMob), Frankfurt have allowed Atleti to have 12 shots on target, and most importantly, eight big chances. 

This has become a worrying theme over the past couple of games. Now the team is young, but they need to learn how to defend better. Several times in this game, their high line was too high, and it would be easily exposed by Atleti. 

With a game against Bayern Munich on Saturday, with the way both teams are playing, it looks as if the Bundesliga leaders will comfortably beat Frankfurt. 

Which leads me on to the final thing.

Frankfurt need more experience:

This is one of the youngest teams in the league, and as fun as it is to see a young team be successful, you need experience, and when it comes to experience at the highest level, Frankfurt are significantly lacking.

In the squad, there is Robin Koch, Michael Zetterer, Mario Götze, Michy Batshuayi, Ellyes Skhiri and Ritsu Doan when it comes to players over 25. In the Bundesliga, Frankfurt can get away with this, but when it comes to the top echelons of European football, only Götze has the experience at this level. 

The departure of Kevin Trapp in the summer to Paris has been an understated one, and his European experience would have significantly helped this team.  

Now it is clear that they are lacking, and if they want to achieve anything, they may need to adopt a similar approach to Leverkusen and continue with the signing of young players, but also need more experience to take them to the next level. 

GGFN | Jack Meenan