FIRST TEAM
09/01/2012

Hoffenheim suffer heavy home defeat

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt in front of their own fans in the WIRSOL Rhein Neckar Arena. The away side won 4-0 with first half goals coming from Meier and Schwegler. TSG had two players sent off inside five second half minutes, with Schröck and substitute Salihovic seeing red, before Frankfurt scored two more goals late on.

TSG coach Markus Babbel made only one change from last week's starting eleven against Mönchengladbach, with Stephan Schröck replacing Andi Beck at right back. The manager was keen to see his side find the balance between defence and attack against Frankfurt, with the away side having shown their attacking abilities in a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen last week. Hoffenheim started the better of the two sides, creating good chances but were unable to find the net. Firstly, a classy flick on by Volland released Roberto Firmino behind the defence. He laid it off to Derdiyok but the striker was unable to guide his effort either side of Trapp in the Eintracht goal. Then, on the 20 minute mark, Volland found himself one-on-one with the keeper, but from a tight angle, he tried to lift it over him only for the ball to drop wide of the far post.

TSG started to lose control of the game slightly on the half hour mark as the away side began to create their own chances. Sebastian Jung found some space on the right-hand side of the penalty area after a throw in, but his pull back was desperately cleared by the Hoffenheim defence. Soon after, a miscommunication at the back allowed Eintracht striker Occean to sneak in and shoot, but Wiese was able to parry and the rebound cleared the bar. Moments later, 1899 thought they had opened the scoring when Compper headed in from a free kick, but a touch from Vukcevic in the box meant the defender was offside when he put it in and the goal was ruled out.

The game's first goal did come soon after though, but it went in favour of the away side. Inui found space on the left to pull back for Alexander Meier on the edge of the box. His shot looked as if it would be dealt with by the diving Tim Wiese, but Compper stuck a foot out and the ball looped over the stranded Hoffenheim captain into the goal. Babbel will have wanted to get his side in at the break just a goal down, but an unstoppable strike from 30 yards by Frankfurt captain Pirmin Schwegler left Wiese watching on as it nestled into the top corner of his goal. Frankfurt went in 2-0 up at half time, and the TSG manager made two changes to his side, hoping to spur them into action in the second period with Usami and Williams replacing Vukcevic and Rudy.

The second half had little action for the opening 20 minutes, as Hoffenheim lacked an attacking presence and Frankfurt were happy to sit on their two-goal cushion. Babbel brought Salihovic into the game in the 66th minute, but just four minutes later, the midfielder was sent off after two quick yellow cards. Hoffenheim's chances to get back into the game were getting slimmer and they were dealt another blow moments later, when right back Stephan Schröck picked up his second yellow and joined Salihovic in the changing rooms. For the final 15 minutes, a nine-man TSG tried to deal with the attacking threat of Frankfurt but were unable to cope as two more goals went in. Seven minutes from time, Compper's day got worse as he bundled over Oczipka in the area. Meier made no mistake from the penalty spot to make it 3-0, before a deep cross from Oczipka found Eintracht substitute Lanig unmarked at the back post to comfortably head in a fourth in the 90th minute.

A disastrous result for Markus Babbel's men, and one that drew a resemblance to their cup exit in Berlin. The disappointed fans voiced their anger towards the players after the final whistle, and the coaching staff will have to sit down with the TSG squad over the coming days and assess what went wrong. The Bundesliga is put on hold next weekend for international fixtures, but the players will return for preparations ahead of the away game against Borussia Mönchengladbach on the 16th of September. There will have to be serious improvements for 1899 if they want to pick up their first points of this Bundesliga campaign.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim: Wiese – Schröck, Delpierre, Compper, Johnson – Vukcevic (46' Usami), Weis (66' Salihovic), Rudy (46' Williams), Firmino – Volland, Derdiyok

Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp - Jung, Zambrano, Anderson, Oczipka – Aigner (81' Celozzi), Schwegler, Rode (88' Lanig), Inui (85' Hoffer), Meier, Occean

Goals: 0-1 Meier (39'), 0-2 Schwegler (43'), 0-3 Meier (84'), 0-4 Lanig (90')

Yellow cards: Schröck, Weis, Salihovic – Oczipka, Inui

Yellow/Red cards: Salihovic (70'), Schröck (74')

Attendance: 29,000

Referee: Michael Weiner

Match facts and statistics »

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