SV Darmstadt 98 are looking back at turbulent years over the last decade.
Under former German international Dirk Schuster, Darmstadt was promoted twice in a row, marching from 3. Liga into the Bundesliga within just two years.
While everyone thought their stay in the top flight would only last a year, Darmstadt managed to secure their spot in the Bundesliga for a second season.
However, after their successful season, they lost their manager and most of their players.
After their relegation in 2017, Darmstadt struggled a bit in the 2. Bundesliga but eventually established themselves as a team that constantly made appearances in the top three in the closing table of the season.
After another good year, Werder Bremen poached away then-Darmstadt coach Markus Anfang, which opened the door for Thorsten Lieberknecht to become the new manager at the Bölle.
Lieberknecht finished fourth in his first season and managed to get the team promoted to the Bundesliga again in his second season.
Still, after their first-season back-up, Darmstadt was relegated due to a lack of individual class and a couple of rough injuries.
Forming a team was a difficult task after an eventful summer with many departures and new signings.
Lieberknecht struggled, scoring only two goals in four games and losing three out of four league games.
The club decided to relieve the otherwise successful coach from his duties.
His replacement? Florian Kohfeldt.
The 42-year-old coach from Delmenhorst has become a bit of a meme in the German football community.
After many years as an assistant and academy coach at his hometown club, Werder Bremen, Kohfeldt became the head coach of Werder in 2017.
After two very good seasons for Werder, the club ultimately was completely overblown by bad decisions made by Kohfeldt, resulting in survival in the relegation play-off in 2020 and, finally, relegation in 2021, the two worst seasons in the club’s rich and long history.
Kohfeldt was relieved of his position just one game before Werder was relegated, but he did not take a long break.
Instead, he took on a job at VfL Wolfsburg, where he was fired within the same season.
Last season, Kohfeldt managed KAS Eupen, but with no success, the coach decided to step down to avoid another relegation.
With no success since 2019 and not acknowledging any fault in any situation, Kohfeldt became the poster boy for the new generation of unsuccessful coaches, like Michael Frontzeck was in the years before.
However, Kohfeldt managed to turn around Darmstadt instantly.
In the nine games under his reign, Darmstadt scored 15 points in eight league games and has only lost one game.
In this tactical analysis and team report, we will analyze Florian Kohfeldts tactics for turning around SV Darmstadt 98s season, which had spiralled out of control after just four matchdays.
Darmstadt Attacking Power
Looking at the bad start to Darmstadt’s season, one thing stands out: their attack.
Scoring just two goals in the opening four games of the season, Darmstadt never were set up for success.
Florian Kohfeldts coaching style managed to change the picture here quickly.
In nine games with him on the sideline, Darmstadt scored an impressive 27 goals, three per game, five goals on three different occasions, and never was held scoreless.
The last thing is interesting because when Kohfeldt was at Werder Bremen, his team held the record for the most consecutive games without being held scoreless to start a Bundesliga season.
Another interesting tidbit: Back at Werder, Kohfeldt found a lot of success after his predecessor played with a back-three, and the team struggled to score goals and win games.
At Darmstadt, Lieberknecht also played in a 3-5-2 formation, just like at Bremen in 2017, and Kohfeldt decided to switch to a back-four for the second time in his career.
Looking at their attacking power, Darmstadts 4-4-2 or even 4-2-2-2 formation allows them to generate a lot of attacking power by sheer numbers alone.
While Kohfeldt was a very possession-focused coach at the start of his career, his approach changed after his stints at Werder Bremen.
He coached a more direct and vertical approach at Wolfsburg and Eupen.
Darmstadt, on the other hand, also never won through great passing play; under Lieberknecht, they were always a very powerful and pragmatic team.
Therefore, it is absolutely understandable that Kohfeldt is once again using a very straightforward approach in attack for Darmstadt so far, and it is working out for them.
Here, we can see Darmstadt in the build-up near their own goal.
Köln is actively pressing the defensive line of Darmstadt.
Obviously, the score has some influence
