Frankfurt beat Köln, but Hütter’s bigger test remains

Eintracht Frankfurt’s 1-0 win over 1. FC Köln ended their winless home run this season and offered a reply to the 6-0 defeat at RB Leipzig. Younes Ebnoutalib scored in the 77th minute, with Noel Aséko credited with the assist. It was a welcome result for head coach Adi Hütter, but a single narrow win cannot establish that Frankfurt have recovered the balance associated with his earlier spell at the club.

The match figures show a deserved, if not overwhelming, advantage. Frankfurt had 56 per cent possession, 15 shots to Köln’s nine and seven efforts on target to their opponents’ three. Their expected goals were 1.34 against Köln’s 0.65, while corners were 7-3. Yet both sides recorded two big chances. Frankfurt’s control and greater volume of attempts did not translate into a procession of clear openings; the margin remained one goal until the final whistle.

That distinction matters after Leipzig. The clean sheet and the result were a response, while the underlying attacking return was modest by Frankfurt’s own recent standard: their 1.34 xG was below an average of 1.87 across their earlier matches in all competitions this season. Their seven corners, by contrast, exceeded an earlier average of five. These are comparisons with different match samples, not proof of a lasting change in performance.

The league records in the supplied figures underline why the temptation to make a larger claim should be resisted. Under Hütter in 2020/21, Frankfurt recorded 16 wins, 12 draws and six defeats across 34 Bundesliga games, at 1.76 points per game. So far in 2026/27, the record is one win, two draws and two defeats, or 1.0 point per game over five matches. That is a poorer start, but five games are too small a sample to define the season, let alone explain the reasons for the difference.

Nor does the comparison settle what has changed between the two periods. Hütter is back in charge, and the Köln match report says he made three changes to the starting side after the Leipzig defeat. But those facts do not establish how the present squad compares with the one from 2020/21, or how any personnel changes have affected the team’s balance. The record alone cannot supply that explanation.

Frankfurt’s results before Köln show the unevenness of the opening run: draws against Union Berlin and Freiburg, wins over Mainz and Köln, and defeats to Augsburg and Leipzig. The Köln victory therefore matters most as a first step away from the shock of the previous weekend and as an end to the home winless run, rather than as confirmation that the problems have been solved.

The next matches will tell more. Frankfurt need to show that the defensive resolve seen against Köln can be repeated, and that their attacking threat can rise again without relying on one late goal. For now, the result answers one immediate question: they could respond to Leipzig with a win at home. Whether that response marks a return to the earlier Hütter-era level remains open.