Eintracht Frankfurt’s 5-1 defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday has not gone down well with the German club’s hierarchy. Chief among them, director of football Markus Krösche.
That’s according to Frankfurter Allgemeine, who say ‘enough is enough’ for Frankfurt’s football leadership. The loss to Liverpool took Frankfurt to 23 goals conceded in their last six games.
That’s the ‘pain threshold’ for Krösche, who had not held back on his criticism of the squad as a result.
“We have to become more serious and be willing to hurt our opponents sometimes,” he demanded after the game.
That has raised eyebrows in Germany as Krösche is not one for ‘rash public remarks’. He prefers to keep his criticisms internal if he can. But the ‘crushing’ defeat to Liverpool, their second in the Champions League, has changed his tone.
Now a ‘storm is brewing’ in Hesse and the mood at the club is different than it once was. Krösche is ‘disgruntled’ to say the least and now turned into a ‘chief critic’ thanks to the loss to Liverpool.
He ‘launched a verbal lash out’ after the game and ‘didn’t mince his words’, electing to make his stance clear to anyone who would listen.
“Ultimately, it’s about us simply having to demonstrate a completely different level of aggressiveness in duels,” he added.
“The basic virtues in football are tackling. We have to accept duels. We have to try to win them. And we do so with a completely different level of determination.”
He insisted that while Liverpool are a “good team,” his side hadn’t helped themselves. “We also make it too easy. We let the goals in too easily. That’s our biggest shortcoming right now.”
“We’ve also shown that we can play football. But generally speaking, defending starts with one-on-ones and aggressiveness. Those must be our core values. Also drawing the occasional foul, even committing a tactical foul.”
The sporting director demands of Frankfurt’s players “to simply grow up in these areas, individually and as a team.”
The Liverpool defeat has it seems, completely sent him off the rails. Whether his team now responds, remains to be seen.
