Kevin Trapp on a record-breaking season and "magical" nights with the return of fans in Frankfurt
After only narrowly missing out on a place in the UEFA Champions League this season, Eintracht Frankfurt start life under Oliver Glasner hoping the return of fans to the Deutsche Bank Park can inspire them to take that step into the top four this year, while enjoying the Europa League, according to their goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.
bundesliga.com spoke with the experienced custodian on the eve of the 2021/22 season...
Kevin Trapp about the preparations for the new season...
Kevin Trapp: "I wouldn’t sit here today and say we had a bad pre-season, but it has been very intense. We have done almost everything with a ball, so there has been little pure running, but it is still a lot of hard work. We have found a good rhythm, we have built up our strength, and everybody is putting in the effort. You can tell that everyone is enjoying it and it is certainly better when you work with the ball rather than just doing stupid running drills. Everyone is having fun, but you can certainly feel it in your legs the next day."
Kevin Trapp about the new coach Oliver Glasner...
Trapp: "He definitely has clear expectations but it’s always difficult in pre-season, especially when you take part in tournaments, because players come back bit by bit and not everybody is there from the start. The last players returned on Monday, so the team is slowly getting back to full strength, which means we can start working on a few more things. We were very dominant in the first half against Strasbourg and we implemented a lot of things that the coach asked of us. The second half was a bit fractured because we made a lot of changes, but you can see in training and in the analysis of the games that we are already doing a lot of the things that he asks of us."
Kevin Trapp about whether Frankfurt will still play attacking football..
Trapp: "I don’t think too many things will change and the coach himself has said that. We want to continue playing attacking football with pace going forward, and we want to quickly escape from the opposition’s counter-pressing when we win the ball. Although we were often spectacular in attack last year, we also let in too many goals and we want to get this under control. We want to continue to play attacking football but also stay solid at the back."
Kevin Trapp about how much defensive stability he demands as a goalkeeper...
Trapp: "If we win games then everyone is happy but, of course, we have always said that it would be better if we were also solid at the back. Wolfsburg conceded very few goals last season and they were very compact in defence. Improving the defence will be one of the tasks for us this year, as well as continuing to play fast and attacking football up front. We want to create chances and score goals, but also not forget our defensive duties. We always want to have a defensive overload so that we can clear up any dangerous situations at the back.”
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Kevin Trapp about narrowly missing out on the Champions League last season and the return of the passionate fans...
Trapp: "It was very disappointing last year because we had a big opportunity. I can also remember the 2018/19 season when we also occupied fourth place until the 32nd or 33rd matchday and then we almost dropped out of the European places entirely were it not for a helping hand from other teams. We said back then that we probably wouldn’t get that close again, but last year we came very close again. Dortmund picked up almost every point in the last six or seven games which was not to be expected, and we lost in Gladbach and in Leverkusen. We also only picked up one point against an in-form Mainz and so Dortmund jumped above us again. It was not the case that we lost against poor teams, apart from the game against Schalke which we should not have let happen that way, because in the games before that we played against teams who also had big ambitions. However, it was still disappointing for everyone at the end of the season, especially given the whole context of losing our manager and our sporting director. But we are still playing in Europe this year for the third time in four years and that is something that we can be proud of. We have already seen what is possible in the Europa League with the fans here behind us and we want to create something unique on the pitch. If we are able to entertain our fans once they are allowed back in the stadium, then I think the 'disappointment' from last season will be quite quickly forgotten. We still had a record-breaking season and comfortably achieved fifth place with six or seven points ahead of sixth. The club has never won so many points in its history so, despite everything, it was still a very successful season."
Kevin Trapp about the departure of sporting director Fredi Bobic and coach Adi Hütter
Trapp: "It was quite disappointing at the time because we were successful under that leadership team and Adi Hütter. Fredi Bobic enjoyed some very successful years but then encountered a difficult phase. A change like this is nevertheless an opportunity to keep developing and to get new input, which is now the case with Markus Krösche at the top. We now have a coach who is very meticulous in his work and who wants to teach us a lot. He talks a lot with the players and he is very communicative. This is a chance for us to start afresh and to keep developing, so it shouldn’t always be seen so negatively."
Kevin Trapp about the departure of top goalscorer Andre Silva...
Trapp: "Andre was here for two years and he needed a bit of time during the first year to find his way even though he still scored a lot of goals. In his second season, he played a large role in us ending up so high in the table because he scored 29 or 30 goals, which is incredible and would usually enough to finish as the league’s top goalscorer. It is not easy to replace someone like this, but I also remember that everybody panicked when we lost Ante Rebic, Sebastien Haller, and Luka Jovic, but then Andre Silva and Bas Dost came along and everything worked out well. I am confident that the those in positions of responsibility will make sure that we have a high-quality team. The team has otherwise stayed together because Andre Silva has been the only departure, which means that we work well together and we know each other inside out. We know what to expect from each other on the pitch and if we get a couple of more strikers in, then I am sure we will have a very strong team."
Kevin Trapp about new signing Rafael Borre...
Trapp: "He has been playing very well so there’s a reason why we signed him. He is a great guy and he has integrated himself into the team very quickly. It’s difficult to say much after just two sessions because he had a couple of days off and everybody needs a bit of time to get settled in. You can see that he has quality and even Andre [Silva] didn’t score 30 goals in his first season and only hit his stride in the second season. Luka Jovic also needed a bit of time to get going, so you need to give players time and not be too impatient. The atmosphere in the team helps players to settle in quickly and hopefully allows them to find their form as quickly as possible. He's technically a very good player and a tricky player who often wins one-on-ones. He offers us a lot of pace, which will certainly help in attack with the way we want to play as a team. We want to play with tempo going forward, so it is important to have bolstered our attack with a bit of extra speed."
Kevin Trapp about new signing Jesper Lindstrøm and how long it takes new players to settle in...
Trapp: "It’s a very similar situation. You can see that Jesper Lindstrøm has a lot of quality, he is technically good, and he has a strong shot. You have to give these players a bit of time, but the climate we have in the team has always been a big advantage and players quickly feel at home. This means they can soon put in the performances that they expect of themselves and that we hope of them. All of the new players have integrated well and you can see that we have a lot of talent and quality."
Kevin Trapp about how much he has missed the fans
Trapp: "It’s a big selling point for players to come here because we have the stadium and the fans behind us. It’s a unique atmosphere and we have been missing it for the 18 months that we have played without fans. It is not what we wanted and we all hope that things will work themselves out as quickly as possible. I just read that more than 50 percent of Germans have been fully vaccinated, so hopefully a solution is found soon where everyone can still stay safe and where there are no risks. Hopefully we will soon be able to have concerts again and have fans back in the stadiums. You saw at the European Championships how much the fans have been missed in the stadiums. You feel the atmosphere when you go out onto the pitch and Frankfurt has a special atmosphere which always pushes the team forward. The fans help us in tight games when we need a second wind and I hope they are all looking forward to coming back. Hopefully we can have these magical nights in the Europa League here in Frankfurt again."
Kevin Trapp about what Eintracht Frankfurt means to him...
Trapp: "I think it’s my seventh or eighth season here in Frankfurt if you discount the three and a half years in Paris. It is a club where I really feel at home and I have always said that you have everything you need here – a great city, an amazing stadium, and the fans are fantastic. Even in the one season when we played in the relegation play-off, the fans were always behind us and it always takes a long time before the atmosphere drops. You always feel comfortable here because there are good characters in the team and new players are integrated quickly. Frankfurt is also a very international city which offers a lot. The quality of life here is very good and it’s just the complete package for me, which you don’t find very often. I have always said that it is very important for me to be somewhere where I feel at home."
Kevin Trapp about his expectations and emotions ahead of the start of the season
Trapp: "I'm excited that the season is starting up again. I didn’t have such a long holiday, but I noticed last week that I was looking forward to playing football again, just like the rest of the team. We’ve had the Olympic Games and we saw the interesting first game in the second division last Friday night. We are now all looking forward to the start of the season and we are starting with a great game in Dortmund. We have good memories of our last game there when we won 2-1. We would love to start off with a win in Dortmund and then with a home win in front of fans against Augsburg. But before all that, we have a very important cup game which we can’t forget about. We all remember last time in Mannheim when we won a crazy game 5-3. It was a tight game, so we want to get off to a good start in the cup this time and lay the foundations on which we can then build up our confidence."
Kevin Trapp about coming up against Erling Haaland and Dortmund on the first day of the season...
Trapp: "It’s not a big deal. He has this quality that everybody talks about and we all saw last year how dangerous he can be. He is unbelievably quick and when the ball is played in to him, it is extremely difficult to catch him. He has a good shot and he has great body strength. It is so difficult to play against him and he is a complete player despite still being so young. We need to pay attention to him in particular, but Dortmund also have ambitions of being champions so it is a team full of quality. We need to have a great day like we did a few months ago in order to beat a team like this. You can see in training that we are developing and I am sure that we can look forward to a great first game."
Kevin Trapp about his personal ambitions
Trapp: "It’s not like I get up every day and say everything is great because I have my own aims and ambitions. I can remember when Frankfurt won the cup in 2018 and I felt just as emotionally involved even though I wasn’t playing than I felt in my own situation back then. I don’t need to go over those things again, but I was just so happy that the club achieved something like this, especially when you see the images and you see the emotion and how much it means to everyone. It’s a great feeling to win a title or to qualify for the Champions League and this is definitely an aim. We have proven in the last few seasons that we can achieve this and that it’s not just a pipe dream. We have the quality, but a lot of things have to go right and we have to work hard for it. These things don’t happen by themselves, but we still need to set ambitious targets. Setting “easy” targets is too comfortable and you don’t achieve the same kind of development, which is why we set our targets so high. We know that the Bundesliga is a dangerous league, so we need to have a good start and then we will see what happens."
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