Dino Toppmöller eyes Eintracht Frankfurt revival led by on-song strikers Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitiké
With his Eintracht Frankfurt team currently enduring a mini dip in form, coach Dino Toppmöller is confident the Eagles can see out the year on an upward trend, particularly with the tactician able to count on one of the most prolific strike partnerships in Europe.
With Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitiké among their ranks this season, Eintracht have been soaring among the Bundesliga’s top three while they remain on course to qualify for the UEFA Europa League knockouts as one of the league phase’s top eight sides.
However, a couple of unwelcome, recent losses to RB Leipzig have seen Toppmöller’s team exit the DFB Cup and falter slightly amid a run of four games without a win in all competitions, meaning the tactician faces a busy week ahead as he looks to halt a slide of three defeats heading into the mid-season pause.
Watch: Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitiké flying high at Eintracht
“We know we can do a lot of things well, but we also know where we need to improve,” the 44-year-old expained after last weekend’s league reverse against Leipzig.
A former forward himself, Toppmöller has woven his tactical and motivational magic to get Marmoush and Ekitiké motoring together this term and it is that duo who will look to fire Eintracht to victory against an in-form Mainz side at Deutsche Bank Park this weekend.
The pair have managed an eye-watering 30 goal involvements between them in the Bundesliga in 2024/25, with Marmoush’s 13 goals just one shy of leading marksman Harry Kane. The Egyptian also leads the way in the assists standings with seven. Ekitiké, meanwhile, has weighed in with seven goals and three assists as Die Adler put together eight wins and three draws across their first 14 top-flight games, a total that has the side from Mainhatten just two points behind defending champions Bayer Leverkusen and six off Bayern Munich in first place.
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Something of a regular goalscorer during a playing career that took place away from the limelight of the game’s top tiers, Toppmöller took a keen interest in those who lined out in his famous coaching father Klaus’s teams at the turn of the century. Klaus Toppmöller – who also took charge of Eintracht - was coach of the Leverkusen side that went so close to a dream treble of Bundesliga, DFB Cup and UEFA Champions League titles in 2002. Dino’s dad was also a top scorer himself for Kaiserslautern and a Germany international.
The current Eintracht coach also learned from his time as Julian Nagelsmann’s assistant at Bayern, who fielded Bundesliga great and division record-breaking striker Robert Lewandowski.
“He assured me that he feels completely at home here, feels well valued in the dressing room, really enjoys working with the coaching team and feels the love of the fans,” the tactician said of Marmoush earlier this season. Speaking about Ekitiké, meanwhile, Toppmöller expalined, “I tried to give him self-confidence and said that we wanted to rely fully on him and that he could fire us to victories.”
Watch: Marmoush the man at Frankfurt
And it is just those type of wins that Eintracht need once more as they seek to end 2024 on a high. With their shrewd coach and his star stikers on board, Frankfurt know Mainz will do well to be wary of a team eager to fight back to form at Deutsche Bank Park on Saturday.
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