THEY’VE made a film about Eintracht Frankfurt’s DFB Pokal win (3-1) over Bayern Munich, their first, hysterically celebrated trophy in thirty years. Centre-forward Sebastien Haller is in it, too, of course, but perhaps his appearance is best described as a cameo: the Frenchman only came on one minute before the end of regular time to wind down the clock.
It seems hard to fathom now, as the Frenchman (ten goals, eight assists in 18 games) is tearing up the Bundesliga alongside his two Eintracht striking partners Luka Jovic and Ante Rebic. But back then, in May, the 24-year-old was not considered a key player in the Eagles’ attacking set-up. A severe loss of form after the winter break had seen him fall out of favour with Niko Kovac. Local newspapers bemoaned his poor touch and inability to hit the target. Over the summer months, the club did little to quell newspaper reports that Paris-born Haller, a tall, bullish no.9 in the classic mould, might be eyeing up a move to the Premier League.
Things are very different this season. Haller is on course to more than double last year’s tally of nine goals, and an A90 (assists per game) rate of 0.5 marks him out as a member of Europe’s elite in that respect. In terms of forward deployment and sheer physicality, he’s the leader of a devastating trio of attackers German media have dubbed “the buffalo herd”. If he’s not scoring himself, Haller creates space for his teammates to run into channels from deeper positions or provides excellent lay-offs in central positions. His shot map (see below), too, is a graphic representation of footballing intelligence: he rarely makes an attempt on goal from low-probability sections of the pitch.
Sebastien Haller, Eintracht Frankfurt 18-19.
Great in the air. Excellent at setting up teammates. Only takes high value shots. There is SO MUCH TO LOVE. pic.twitter.com/PcMr7vpYJ3
— StatsBomb (@StatsBomb) January 24, 2019
So why the sudden improvement? “I had to get used to the pace and the rough and tumble of the Bundesliga,” Haller told Frankfurter Rundschau. The step-up from Utrecht following his €7m move in the summer of 2017 proved a little harder than anticipated, especially after his confidence took a knock after Christmas in his debut season. Many centre-forwards only come truly into their own in their mid-twenties, and Haller was no different: his timing and decision-making wasn’t yet finely honed enough to establish himself as the one out-and-out attacking player for a team built on efficiency.
The main change, however, hasn’t come within but as a result of Adi Hütter’s new tactical priorities. The Austrian has transformed Kovac’s muscular but at times rather dour side into one of the league’s most attractive attacking propositions. “He likes taking risks,” Haller said, “he likes attack and loves goals.” The Frenchman has benefitted greatly from having two fast and equally dangerous players in close proximity. All of his performance metrics are up, perhaps most impressively his one-vs-one win-rate: it’s shot up to well over 50 per-cent, an extraordinary great number for a centre-forward. If he continues in the same vain, Frankfurt can make plans for the next feature film, about their first-ever Champions League qualification. And he’ll play a leading role, too.
