Mainz 05: Too Little of Everything

FSV Mainz 05 does not give a good picture in the 1:3 defeat in Dortmund on several levels

Great start to the season, poor continuation, mediocre tentative results: Mainz 05 in first temporary drop since Bo Svensson took over ten and a half months ago. After inconsistent performances against Freiburg (0:0), in Leverkusen (0:1) and against Union Berlin (1:2), what was presented was not enough for the 1:3 game in Dortmund. Not up front, with only two goals scored in the last four games, and not at the back, as the former defensive leader is no longer as stable as he was a month ago.

“Very passive, very scared,” said goalkeeper Ruben Zentner, summing up a very poor first half in front of 64,000 spectators, speculating that the fans might have impressed those in front. Defense coach Stefan Bell saw it similarly, looking a bit good in Dortmund’s 1-0 start through Marco Reus as Anton Stach in the Mainz match.

After the change, Zero Five performed much better, but not good enough. “We didn’t put on the field for more than 90 minutes what we needed to play successfully in the Bundesliga. It runs like a red thread,” Svensson was upset afterward.

The head coach was even more excited shortly after the change when referee Daniel Schlager was convinced in front of the screen after visiting the review area that Sylvain Widmer’s handball in a duel with double scorer Erling Haaland deserved the penalty. There was a penalty followed by a clearly deserved 2-0 for the better hosts. Svensson applauded contemptuously and cautioned against it. It was good that the Dane didn’t question the yellow card afterwards (“the applause wasn’t right from me”), and it was bad that he allowed himself to go too far at all. Mainz 05 did not provide a good overall picture that afternoon, even if Jonathan Burkhardt scored the next goal shortly before the end, to which the great Haaland responded with a 3-1 score.

Augsburg as opponents of development

A team like Mainz 05 can of course lose matches in Dortmund, but the overall performance in the past few weeks is not enough to meet the high demands. In the BVB, the five-a-side was rarely on the ball, played inaccurately, was often too far from the opponents and lost a lot of tackles. The last stat in particular is not what Mainz 05 wants to present as the typical Mainz-05 football. Already on Friday evening against Augsburg there is a realistic opportunity to crawl out of the small hole.