The perplexing mystery of the last 10 minutes

For outright bafflement, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes (coming to a movie theatre near you soon!) has absolutely nothing on Eintracht Frankfurt. In particular, Frankfurt’s complete and utter inability to hold on to hard earned leads away from home, especially going into the final ten minutes.

Since the turn of the year, Eintracht have played away from home 5 times. In four of those games, they have led until well into the second half, and yet contrived to throw away the lion’s share of the points on every single occasion. Up 1-0 and then 2-1 against VFL Wolfsburg, they drew 2-2. Up 2-1 against Bayer Leverkusen, they conceded in the 91st minute. It was 1-1 against HSV until the 77th minute (they lost 1-3). 2-0 up against Nürnberg until the 81st (!) minute. 2-2. And, on Saturday, leading 1-0 against last place Mönchengladbach, they contrived to concede yet another equalizer in the 89th minute, prompting trainer Freidhelm Funkel (literally translated as Freedom Helmut Spark – I love the German language!) to go nuts and get himself sent off.

We all know that if my Auntie had balls she’d be my Uncle, but even my basic mathematics tell me that Frankfurt have thrown away nine points in their last five away games. If they had held on then not only would they be safely away from the relegation zone, they’d be challenging for a UEFA Cup spot! Instead, all Eintracht fans are in the middle of a ‘Zitterpartie’ (trembling party), and wondering whether they’ll beat the drop. Now just two points off the drop after Bochum beat Hannover and Bielefeld beat Dortmund, the next game against Cottbus on Saturday, just one point and one place ahead of Frankfurt, takes on all sorts of significance. Especially in a league where every team from 7th place is basically scrapping it out against relegation, 5th and 6th going head to head for the last UEFA Cup spot, and 1st to 4th the CL places.

Of which, Bayern were never in trouble against Schalke (2-0), Stuttgart kept up their challenge against Aachen (3-1) and Bremen could only draw 0-0 away against Cottbus. Elsewhere, Leverkusen beat Mainz (3-1) to stay ahead of Nürnberg in the race for fifth, who beat Berlin (2-1).

A lot of fans will be praying this coming weekend. All Adler (Frankfurt’s nickname) will be pointing their eyes and clasped hands heavenwards, and hoping that, somehow, Frankfurt can overcome their away day blues and get those vital three points at home this weekend.