It would not be unfair to say that Eintracht Frankfurt have endured a disappointing pre-season up to now, as they have managed to win just one of their four friendlies, recording one draw and two losses along the way.
Granted, the Eagles crushed non-league outfit FSV Braunfels 15-1 in their first pre-season friendly, but they swiftly suffered back-to-back defeats against lower-league sides Steinbach Haiger and Fulda-Lehnerz.
However, Frankfurt avoided a third successive defeat last time out as they recorded a 1-1 draw against Vitesse, while new manager Dino Toppmoller made nine substitutions to give game time to as many players as possible.
Toppmoller replaced Oliver Glasner at the end of last season, despite the fact that Eintracht finished seventh in the Bundesliga – securing European football once again – while reaching the final of the DFB-Pokal.
This is Toppmoller’s first managerial job since leaving Belgian club Royal Excelsior Virton back in 2019, although the 42-year-old has spent time as an assistant at both Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig since then.
Nottingham Forest’s pre-season preparations went from bad to worse as they suffered a 5-0 thrashing against Rennes on Wednesday, meaning that Steve Cooper’s side have lost each of their last three friendlies without scoring.
Worryingly for Cooper, Wednesday’s starting lineup featured many players who would expect to start the first game of the Premier League season against Arsenal next week, including Morgan Gibbs-White, Serge Aurier, Anthony Elanga, Remo Freuler and Joe Worrall.
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When you look at the bigger picture, the Tricky Trees have lost four of their six warm-up matches so far, with defeats to Valencia, Leeds United and PSV Eindhoven preceding the midweek thrashing against Rennes.
Forest kicked off their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 victory over local rivals Notts County before losing to Valencia, with a subsequent 2-1 win against Levante pointing towards a promising pre-season for the Reds.
However, it has been all downhill since then, so Cooper will be desperate for his players to produce an improved performance against Eintracht Frankfurt ahead of what promises to be another gruelling Premier League campaign.
