Fredrik Von Erichsen/European Pressphoto Agency

With no fewer than 24 transfers over the course of the summer off-season, it would have been easy to make the simple assumption that Eintracht Frankfurt Coach Armen Veh thought his squad was not ready for the step up to the Bundesliga. So much so that of the starting 11 that had finished second in the 2.Bundesliga only months before, only 4 remained for the opening game against Bayer Leverkusen. The squad lacked experience, organization and cohesion.

It was going to be ugly.

Yet that never happened. In its place was a comprehensive Frankfurt team that played Leverkusen off the field to duly obtain its first Bundesliga win since March 2011. As unexpected-yet-welcoming as any giant-killing is in the world of sports, Leverkusen lost to Frankfurt, 2-1, as German news outlets tripped over themselves to welcome the old club back in to the league it had helped found. Frankfurt regained its Bundesliga status that day, and it has not looked back.

From there, the club would go on to dispose of Hoffenheim, Hamburg and Nurnberg with an unprecedented four-game winning streak that saw it score 11 goals with only 4 in reply. As their defeated opponents — with 15 national titles among them — sat at the foot of the league, Frankfurt was on top of the Bundesliga alongside Bayern Munich. Next up; Borussia Dortmund.

In a midweek showdown between the league’s two most intoxicating teams, Frankfurt’s honeymoon looked all but lost when Lukasz Piszczek and Marco Reus put the visiting champions’ two goals ahead. Then, in a series of events that are sure to repeat themselves over the course of the season, Takashi Inui and Stefan Aigner each pulled a goal back to level the scoring. With the game set for a late winner, Mario Götze then haggled a loose ball from the feet of Anderson and comfortably poked it past Kevin Trapp to put Dortmund once again in front. Then, in what seemed like just reward, Frankfurt scored a third to keep its record intact.

The well-versed expression fight with fire comes to mind when considering the manner in which Frankfurt was able to maintain its undefeated run at the expense of Jürgen Klopp’s side. Where many would have backed off in the hope of damage control against the renowned attacking might of Götze and Company, Veh’s team pushed for a response and was rewarded with a 73rd minute goal from the head of Anderson. The game finished, 3-3, with Frankfurt having successfully attempted five more shots on goal than its “superior” visitors.

Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

If Frankfurt are indeed a team intent on overcoming clubs with the age-old system of simply scoring more than the opponent, then the concept of a goal scorer and, more importantly, a playmaker are not only important to their system, but vital.

In that regard, Takashi Inui, 24, has been a revelation in not only the Eagles’ midfield, but the Bundesliga as a whole. Inui, who is usually preferred on the left side of midfield in Frankfurt’s 4-2-3-1 formation, has offered a new dimension to the teams’ attacking line with skill, technique and an eye for goal that has had fans already comparing him to his compatriot Shinji Kagawa. Although not strictly the same type of player, it is obvious why people are reminded of the former Dortmund midfield maestro.

Since arriving from VfL Bochum in July, the Japanese midfielder has epitomized Frankfurt’s seamless adaptation to Bundesliga life with three goals and two assists in his first five top-flight games. With an average of 4.4 shots per game, the $1.5 million Bundesliga debutant is currently creating more goal-scoring chances than Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski or Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic week after week.

Of course there is more to Frankfurt’s attack than just Inui; in addition to the Japanese playmaker there is Aigner, the opposing wing who sits alongside Inui on the goal-scoring charts with three goals in five appearances — his last being a particularly spectacular volley against Dortmund during the week — as well as Alexander Meier whose ability to anchor himself in the opposition defense has allowed a platform for Veh’s side to perform plenty of expressive and profitable build up play.

With little initial expectation or pressure to succeed, the club’s success has been built upon the ability of its players to freely express themselves on the field, as well as committing themselves to a system that demands each player give their all against theoretically better teams. Whether that philosophy will be able to last the test of a season in which fans and players alike will begin to believe the hype may effectively become Veh’s hardest test.

Having already overcome a small host of established Bundesliga teams and gone toe-to-toe with the league champions, an educated guess would suggest that Frankfurt have shown enough of themselves to prove to the league, and their own fans, that the squad and club are fully intent on staying in the Bundesliga for the time being. (Take a look back at Frankfurt’s glory days, a game that was called the Match of the Century.)

With desire, strength, an arsenal of attacking players and a bag full of goals, a more fitting question should perhaps not be whether the team can stay in the Bundesliga, but just how high it can climb before May.

Stefan Bienkowski is a Bundesliga correspondent for a number of publications, including his own, Bundesliga Football. Follow him on Twitter.