Frankfurt's Fall: An examination of the possible causes of Frankfurt's recent losses

November has not been kind to FFC Frankfurt. Bayern Munchen may have started it all in October:

As Nadine Angerer turned around to look at the first ball that had crossed her goal line during the 2011-2012 Frauen Bundesliga season on October 16, Germany’s number one goal keeper probably had dismissed the goal as trivial. Austrian international Laura Feierisinger’s goal made the 7-1 defeat less painful for Bayern Munchen. For Frankfurt, perhaps the goal opened their Pandora’s box.

Summarizing Frankfurt’s matches since Spieltag 7:

DFB POKAL OCT 30^th defeated Wolfsburg 1-0 via own goal by Faisst

UEFA CHAMPION’S LEAGUE November 2 defeated PSG 3-0; Lost to PSG 2-1 on November 9 but still advanced on aggregate (4-2)

FRAUEN BUNDESLIGA:

• Spieltag 8: Frankfurt suffered a 1-0 loss to Freiburg. Spectators and viewers across the globe noticed that Freiburg was playing with confidence and poise against the super power Frankfurt.
• Spieltag 9: Frankfurt could not defend against Potsdam’s offensive power and could not overcome a first half two goal deficite. Lost to Potsdam 2-0.
• Spieltag 10: Wolfsburg avenges own goal DFB Pokal loss with a 1-0 victory. 

Possible Causes of Frankfurt’s Lack of Production:

• Coaching—Sven Kahlert has failed to produce a consistent tactical approach in guiding Frankfurt. With several star players, Kahlert has numerous options with starters and formations. However, Kahlert’s carousel of starters may have caused a lack of rhythm with the team. Players are often seen “out of sync” with one another. Team work is poor. Weak effectiveness of linking up between lines exists. The Defensive line is inconsistent and often falters against counter attacks. Technically, Frankfurt is a superior team. Tactically, they are often the weaker team.
•    Absence of Connie Pohlers—Sandra Smisek, Bajramaj, and Garefrekes have all contributed significantly to Frankfurt offensively. However, Frankfurt seems to be lacking the consistent “go to” pure striker.  Although Bajramaj is without a doubt one of the most dangerous players on the ball, she seems to enjoy the role of “play maker” more than “scorer”. Bajramaj is craving a consistent natural striker to slot the ball to for easy finishes. Garefrekes still remains dangerous, but at the midfield role, Frankfurt cannot expect her to be the main scoring threat. The majority of Sandra Smisek's goals have been from penalty kicks as well as three goals against Bayern Munchen in Spieltag 7--at 34 years of age, her productivity may be dwindling. 
• Where is the leadership? Often when watching Frankfurt play—we witness numerous individual attempts to change the game—but team dynamics seems lacking and few rally around the individual stepping up in the leadership position. Who is going to bring this team together?
• Burned-out/mental fatigue--with the number of internationals on their roster, many Frankfurt players may be feeling both mental and physical fatigue from national team duties, the DFB Pokal, UEFA Champion's League, and post World Cup blahs.
• Angerer needs a better defense to make up for her technical errors. Loose marking and out of shape defensive play has exposed Angerer’s errors.

   Above is an image from DFBTV's Potsdam/Frankfurt highlights. Notice Angerer's position and notice Garefrekes in bottom left corner

Now notice the positioning when ball is slotted back towards middle. Angerer is slow to move and remains out of position. Garefrekes is not within this view--clearly showing that Potsdam's Cramer had positioned herself for the finish without proper pressure from Garefrekes

Notice Angerer's positioning here--on the video you can see how slow she reacts to the ball movement. This frame illustrates how Garefrekes allowed Cramer to have an open shot

Finally, Angerer's slow reaction and poor positioning combined with Garefreke's poor defending results in Turbine Potsdam's first goal.

DFBtv FFC Frankfurt/Turbine Potsdam Highlights from Spieltag 9

Watch the link above (DFBtv) and pay attention to Frankfurt's central defenders and how they fail to transition back effectively against Turbine Potsdam's counter attacks--and again against Freiburg Freiburg/Frankfurt

With two significant matches against Duisburg and Essen-Schonebeck, Frankfurt cannot wait until winter break to correct their tactical weaknesses.