bundesliga

Dino Toppmöller eyes Eintracht Frankfurt revival led by on-song strikers Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitiké

15.12.2024

Dino Toppmöller has got Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitiké firing at Eintracht Frankfurt in the first half of the 2024/25 Bundesliga season - bundesliga.com takes a close look at the man who has helped the Eagles' strikeforce take flight.

He was named after a goalkeeper - Italy's 1982 FIFA World Cup winner Dino Zoff - but Toppmöller was a forward in his playing days, just like his father. He even had a loan spell at Manchester City in the 2001 season - he did not make a first-team appearance - before playing for Frankfurt (2002/03) and then across a range of clubs in Bundesliga 2 and Luxembourg. "There were always different reasons," he said to explain his collection of 12 clubs in 17 years in the professional ranks. "But I would have preferred to have played for one or two fewer clubs in the end."

What he gained was experience of a number of coaches, including his own father, Klaus. Best known for taking Bayer Leverkusen so close to a Bundesliga-DFB Cup-UEFA Champions League treble in 2001/02, Toppmöller Sr. coached his own son early in the latter's career at Saarbrücken. "Dino is quite different to me," said Klaus Toppmöller, who even continues to coach his son now. In a way. "Sometimes I scold him and ask him, 'Why did you replace player XY? He could have scored a goal in the last minute.'”

Watch: The best of Hugo Ekitiké

While some fatherly advice may come in handy at times, Dino is doing just fine on his own.

Having started his coaching career in the German lower levels where he had played, he then stepped back across the border into Luxembourg, taking F91 Dudelange into the Europa League group stage in 2018/19. After a short spell at Royal Excelsior Virton - the Belgian club N'Golo Kanté incidentally now owns - Toppmöller joined Julian Nagelsmann's staff at RB Leipzig in 2020.

With fluent English and French and an affable nature allied to his acute tactical mind, Toppmöller was the ideal conduit for Nagelsmann to the now Germany coach's squads. Meanwhile, Toppmöller was able to fine-tune his own ideas, notably working alongside the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller with the record German champions.

Toppmöller has been getting a thumbs up from Frankfurt fans this term. - IMAGO/Dennis Ewert/RHR-FOTO

But come March 2023 and Bayern Munich's dismissal of Nagelsmann - and his staff, including Toppmöller - from their roles, it was time for a decision.

"From Leipzig, I went with him to Munich. For me it was clear I was loyal and would stand by him, but also that I did not want to remain an assistant coach in the long term," he explained. "I then held discussions with several clubs and developed the feeling that I would not continue on the path with Julian - with a clear conscience."

While Toppmöller was seeking an opportunity, Frankfurt saw one. "From the outside, it may look like a risk to bring Dino in," said Frankfurt's CEO Markus Krösche, who worked at Leipzig at the same time as Topmöller.

"We see it as 0.0% risk; we see it as a 100% great chance. It was only a question of time before Dino Toppmöller worked in the Bundesliga as a head coach. We're happy that with all his expertise, his deep football understanding and his high-level interpersonal qualities that he has come to us."

Watch: See why Marmoush was named November's Bundesliga Player of the Month

While Toppmöller admitted "Eintracht being my father's first Bundesliga job had a huge impact on me," it is his football expertise and man-management skills that have fuelled the football chemistry between his front two.

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 his side just two points behind defending champions Bayer Leverkusen and six off Bayern Munich in first place with a game to go in the calendar year.

Watch: Marmoush the man at Frankfurt

"The big difference in comparison to last season is that we have two centre forwards who can score goals out of nothing, and can create chances out of nothing," said Toppmöller, whose communication with his main goal threats is carried out in their native language.

After half a season together last term, the pair have now had time to get to know their new surroundings, each other, and their new boss - and it shows.

Marmoush compared Frankfurt to New York - perhaps appropriately given the city is nicknamed "Mainhatten" due to its significant financial centre and high-rise buildings - when he arrived from Wolfsburg in 2023. He's not overwhelmed anymore.

“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,” Toppmöller said of Marmoush earlier this season. Speaking about Ekitiké, meanwhile, he explained, “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.”

The goals of their front two have carried Frankfurt this season. - IMAGO/Florian Ulrich

While home comforts have helped Marmoush, self-confidence has certainly been the key to unlocking the talent that saw Ekitiké tipped as "the next big thing" in French football when he left Stade de Reims to join Paris Saint-Germain in summer 2022.

Given Ekitiké signed a permanent deal at Franfurt just two years later - having initially arrived on loan in January 2024 - it is clear his experience in the French capital was a disappointing and perhaps even damaging one. "When I left Reims, I went up at such a speed, but I also came back down at the same speed," Ekitiké, 22, said after watching Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé play ahead of him in the French capital. "Not everyone has experienced that and I don't wish it on anyone, it's not easy."

That the pair now feel at ease is clear as they have clicked like a pair of crickets in summer. Earlier this season, Ekitiké stated, "We do play very well together, we understand each other and it’s only getting better, as our opponents will find out." It certainly has improved, but it does not mean there are not still things to work on.

"I haven't had time to talk to Heki [Ekitiké] about it yet," said Toppmöller after his young French forward overdid the tricks and flicks in the nail-biting 2-1 Europa League win over Midtjylland. "But it's clear that what he did with his heel passes didn't exactly please us. It's absolutely fine to do that sometimes, but we don't want to see it when the game is at risk."

There is also a dip in form to address heading into the festive break. Defeats in quick succession to RB Leipzig in the DFB Cup and the Bundesliga have stripped away some of the silver lining of a superb first half of the season. A win over Mainz at home on Matchday 14 would, however, send Frankfurt and their free-scoring strikers into 2025 with real hope of a top-four finish for the first time since the 1992/93 season.

And it could get even better if Toppmöller can recreate the magic of the incredible attacking trios that saw Frankfurt tear opponents apart in recent seasons. After the "Büffelherde" (Luka Jovic, Anté Rebic, and Sebastien Haller) and the "Krokodil" (Bas Dost, Gonçalo Paciencia, and André Silva), could Igor Matanović team up to devastating effect with Ekitiké and Marmoush in the second half of the season? The Frankfurt boss believes so.

“Basically, I would like to have the three of them on the pitch together, because they can complement each other quite well with their qualities," Toppmöller said. "That's the crux of the matter that we have to solve. We will continue to work on it and try to get it right."