analysis
1. FSV Mainz 05 is playing in three competitions this season: championship, cup and European Cup. After the sixth matchday, the 05ers are in third-to-last place in the table. Are the Rheinhessen already in crisis so shortly after the start of the season?
Claim and reality for the 05ers
Four points in the championship do not correspond to the expectations of FSV Mainz 05 before the game against Bayer Leverkusen (Saturday from 3:30 p.m., live in the SWR1 Stadium). 0:4 defeat at Hamburger SV However, the defeats were narrow. Against Cologne and Leipzig 0:1 each. 0:2 against Dortmund. But there they played 25 minutes outnumbered after goalkeeper Robin Zentner was sent off and didn’t concede a goal.
The system only appears to work
Mainz, apart from against Hamburger SV, still seem to be on a level playing field with their opponents. Only the goal tally is more than meager. So far, the Rheinhessen have not been able to score a single Bundesliga home goal. There have been three zero defeats at home so far. The draw in Wolfsburg (1:1) is thanks to Nadiem Amiri’s late hand penalty. The 1-0 away win in the Conference League in Nicosia (Cyprus) also came from a penalty. Except for that 4-1 win at FC Augsburg 1. FSV Mainz 05 reveals a finishing problem.
Mainz 05 no longer hits the goal
Compared to last season, the 05ers are scoring significantly less often this year. In the 24/25 season, Mainz scored an average of one goal every 55 minutes. This average is more than 90 minutes in the current season. And that despite the fact that, according to statistics, the Rheinhessen even shoot at the opponent’s goal more often than last season.
Has FSV Mainz 05 been in the Transfer period gambled away?
Mainz 05 no longer has a clipper. With Jonathan Burkardt, the 05ers have lost their goal guarantor. The international scored 18 times in the Bundesliga last season, making him the top German goalscorer in the league. After his departure, Mainz have not found a real replacement. With 05 record transfer Benedict Hollerbach (10 million transfer fee and nine goals in the past season for Union Berlin), Mainz signed a type of player who cannot replace Burkardt because he has completely different playing skills. He is not a classic center forward. A real nine was not signed.
Hope dies last
Young jewel Nelson Weiper was persuaded to extend his contract with a lot of effort. He is a classic center forward. The hope was that the top scorer for the German U21 national team would now slowly grow into the Burkardt gap and become the new target player. But since the contract extension in August he has only been in the starting line-up twice and has since been on the bench.
With a dual leadership out of the crisis
Mainz 05 tries to generate chances with their short passing game via Paul Nebel, Kaishu Sano and Amiri. The plan: penetrate the final third with a lot of energy and thus generate dangerous offensive moments. But that no longer works like it did in the previous season. That’s why more crosses are now being hit into the penalty area. So far this season, he has left the game 98 times – the highest in the Bundesliga.
Nobody crosses as often as Mainz 05. But there is no longer a classic center forward who can secure these balls. Or takes them with him with his presence, puts them aside and thus puts others, if not himself, in dangerous positions. Without playing time, Weiper cannot feel his way into the Burkardt role. A possible variant would be for Mainz 05 to play with Hollerbach and Weiper up front. With his speed, Hollerbach could provide the necessary depth in the attacking game, Weiper could provide the danger in the box and on high balls.
Broadcast on Wed, October 15, 2025, 4:00 p.m., The Day in Rhineland-Palatinate, SWR1 Rhineland-Palatinate
