Fortress PreZero Arena: TSG secure another win against Frankfurt
Personnel and tactics
Head coach Sebastian Hoeness made two changes to his starting eleven from the 6-3 win at SpVgg Greuther Fürth. Oliver Baumann, who had missed the game in Fürth due to illness, was back between the sticks for Hoffenheim in place of Philipp Pentke. Florian Grillitsch missed the game with a cold, so Chris Richards stepped into the defence in his place, with Kevin Vogt moving from the left to the centre of the back three. In front of them were the same players who had pulled off a spectacular victory against Fürth, including hat-trick hero Ihlas Bebou and Georginio Rutter, who came into the game fresh off scoring a brace in his last outing.
Hoeness first turned to his bench after 55 minutes, bringing on Angelo Stiller for Dennis Geiger. Despite scoring the equaliser, Geiger had been booked early in the game, so Stiller took his place in the middle of the park. After Frankfurt pulled one back to make it 2-3 on 72 minutes, Hoeness responded by changing his forward line, bringing on fresh legs up front in the form of Kramarić and Adamyan, who came on for Rutter and Dabbur just one minute after the Frankfurt goal. Shortly before the end of regulation time, the TSG coach made two more changes, with Christoph Baumgartner and Harvard Nordtveit replacing Bebou and Samassékou after 88 minutes.
Moment of the match:
The equaliser to make it 1-1 in the 24th minute: after TSG had largely struggled to get going, Dennis Geiger turned the game on its head in spectacular fashion: Ihlas Bebou played the ball out to Munas Dabbur, who teed up Geiger perfectly. The midfielder applied a beautiful first-time finish, sliding the ball into the corner from around 23 metres out to bring Hoffenheim back into the game. It was a wondergoal from the 23-year-old.
Number of game: 5
The 3-2 victory against Eintracht was the fifth consecutive home win for TSG Hoffenheim – if you add the victory in the DFB Cup against Holstein Kiel, TSG have even won their last six games in Sinsheim.
Line-ups:
TSG Hoffenheim: Baumann – Posch, Vogt, Richards – Akpoguma, Samassékou (Nordtveit, 88), Geiger (Angelo Stiller, 55), Raum – Bebou (Baumgartner, 88), Rutter (Adamyan, 73) – Dabbur (Kramarić, 73)
Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp – Tuta, Hasebe, Ndicka – Chandler (Ache, 83), Sow, Jakic (Jakic, 68), Kostic – Lindström (Paciencia, 58), Kamada (Hauge, 68) – Borré
Goals 0-1 Borré (15), 1-1 Geiger (24), 2-1 Rutter (30), 3-1 Samassékou (59), 3-2 Paciencia (72)