“Less classical, more heavy metal” | OneFootball

Board member for sport Markus Krösche on the winter transfer window, Eintracht’s squad, handling criticism and what he wants to see more of on the pitch.

Markus Krösche on ...

…the transfer window: “It was a very eventful transfer window. We’ve taken a step forward in terms of speed, flexibility in attack and stability in defence. We were busy over the summer and the winter too. We now want to add continuity and avoid having too many departures, so we can keep the squad together long-term. In order to achieve our sporting goals, there has to be continuity in the squad.”

…the current squad: “There’s a good atmosphere in the dressing room. Our experienced players play an important role in teaching our youngsters about Eintracht Frankfurt. The lads who have been with us for a long time need to show them what Eintracht is all about. The contrasting characters at our disposal are a very good fit, despite their differences.”

…the atmosphere in and around the club: “We need to be honest with ourselves – we’re not playing the football we want to at the moment. I’d like to see less classical music and more heavy metal. That’s something we need to work on quickly. We realise that; we’re not happy and we expect more from ourselves. It’s good that we’re sixth, but we need to be more consistent – then we’ll have more control and be more dominant in games. Going forward, we need to be braver, more resolute and more ambitious – then we’ll score more goals, win more games and be easier on the eye.”

…head coach Dino Toppmöller: “He’s a very ambitious coach and wants to achieve perfection in many ways. That takes time, though. He has high expectations of himself and the squad. When we’re criticised for the way we’re playing at the moment, he doesn’t take it personally. We all have to live with criticism. If we can’t show what we’re capable of on the pitch, we have to accept criticism. He handles it very professionally and tries to come up with solutions.”

…upcoming opponents Royale Union Saint-Gilloise: “These games are extremely important. We want to get as far as possible in the Europa Conference League. It’s crunch time now, with games every three days. Saint-Gilloise are a good side, and we’ll need to play to our best. Finding solutions in our build-up play against a team who press high is never easy, as we saw against Bochum. We’ll need to find the right balance – we need to be controlled in our build-up but play with determination in attack and exploit the spaces to play around their press.”