Eintracht Frankfurt vs Mainz preview - Schaaf shelves referee resentment

Posted Tuesday, September 23, 2014 by PA

Eintracht Frankfurt coach Thomas Schaaf has archived his club's refereeing misfortune and called on his players to do the same ahead of the local derby with joint Bundesliga leaders Mainz.

Frankfurt felt they were deprived of important points in their two recent fixtures, first at Augsburg when a fault in the communication device between the referee and his fourth official denied them a penalty and again at the weekend when a cheap penalty was given to Schalke and a clearer one not given to his side.

To add insult to injury, Slobodan Medejovic was booked for the handball which led to Schalke pulling a goal back from the penalty spot, and a later yellow card meant he was sent off and misses Tuesday night's Rhine-Main derby.

"I don't think the issue of the referees is something that we need to concern ourselves with," Schaaf said at a press conference on Monday.

"We don't have to concentrate on the referee but rather on the game and the challenges we face.

"I don't know enough yet to feel whether this game is accepted as a derby or not, but the proximity of the two clubs makes it a special game.

"I know the emotion from northern Germany derbies, games which were always full of emotion. I'm hoping this one will be a great game too with plenty of excitement and emotion."

And preferably it will end with the three points Frankfurt probably should have had from their last two games, and which would have seen them level with Mainz at the top of the table going into the midweek matches.

Mainz should really have no complaints about their league form so far this season, even if their coach Kasper Hjulmand sees the glass as half empty.

"I'm never fully satisfied," he said on Monday. "We have really, really big margin for improvement in our game, and we want to look for these improvements with every game we play."

That also applies to the Bundesliga's current top goalscorer Shinji Okazaki, who has four goals to his name already.

"We can improve our entire attacking game, and that means also Shinji's," Hjulmand added.

"But he is playing extremely well and is very effective."

Hjulmand is bound to start with the Japanese forward, but South Korean midfielder Koo Ja-cheol is unavailable due to injury, as are Philipp Wollscheid and Nikolce Noveski.

Alexander Meier should keep his place in the Frankfurt starting XI after marking his first start of the season with a goal at the weekend.