Turbulent days for SGE trainers
Glasner says “Sorry” and is silent on the expulsion
5/11/2023 5:21 p.m
In the Bundesliga, Eintracht Frankfurt threatens to miss the Europa League, the cup final offers an additional chance – but the dominant topic at the SBU is Oliver Glasner. The still trainer regrets the tone of his angry speech, but not the content.
Oliver Glasner seemed visibly upset by the turbulent events of the past few days. However, one could only guess how much the coach of Eintracht Frankfurt was affected by the premature separation at the end of the season, which was decided at the beginning of the week. Because the 48-year-old football teacher did not want to talk about it during his first public appearance after the decision announced on Tuesday. “I have decided not to say anything about my personal situation until after the cup final in Berlin and I ask you to respect that,” said Glasner.
According to his presentation, the cup final on June 3 against RB Leipzig should be the glorious end of the failed dream marriage with Eintracht. “Until then, I want to do everything to ensure that unity comes to Europe,” he promised. On the one hand, this can be achieved with a triumph in the DFB Cup or beforehand in the Bundesliga.
There, however, Eintracht fell behind in the race for international starting places after ten games without a win. With 43 points, the Hessians are only in ninth place three games before the end of the season. In order to at least reach the Conference League in the event of a defeat in the cup final, seventh place is required. VfL Wolfsburg (46) is currently holding it.
FSV Mainz 05 (45) ranks between the two rivals on Saturday (3.30 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker at ntv.de) comes to the Frankfurt city forest for the Rhine-Main duel. “It’s a very important game. If we beat Mainz, it’s up to us to leave them behind and get one place closer to the international ranks,” said Glasner.
“I’m in the tunnel now”
The Hessians will have to do without the injured Kristijan Jakic, Hrvoje Smolcic and Philipp Max as well as the suspended Rafael Borré. And Glasner won’t be there either – at least not on the sidelines. After the red card at 1: 3 in Hoffenheim, the Eintracht coach was banned from the interior of the game by the DFB sports court. “I’m not allowed to have any contact with the team during the game. We’ll stick to that,” he said. His assistant Michael Angerschmid is responsible for the 90 minutes.
Despite his imminent farewell and the ban, Glasner is, as usual, looking forward to the tabular and geographical game of the neighbors and strongly encouraged his protégés. “We know our winless streak is going too long. But seeing how hard the players are working on the turnaround gives me confidence. The team is hungry, ambitious and still a great group,” he said.
In the coming weeks, Glasner wants to hide the fact that the cooperation with the Hessians will end prematurely at the end of the season despite a contract that is valid until summer 2024. “I’m in the tunnel now. Everything that was in front of the tunnel doesn’t interest me at all. I don’t see everything that’s left and right because that’s where the tunnel is. There are now two exits – one goes to Europe, the others don’t. It’s about catching those going to Europe. We want to achieve that together,” he affirmed. In order not to be distracted by anything, he opted out of the media.
No wonder – after his angry speech in Hoffenheim there were mostly negative headlines. Glasner now used the appearance at least for a public apology for his verbal freak out. “I stand by the content, I will always defend my team. But the tone of voice was inappropriate,” admitted the Eintracht coach and stated: “I came as a bore and leave as an emotional type. Eintracht Frankfurt did that to me .”