Attacker Phillip Tietz is supposed to revive the struggling offensive of 1. FSV Mainz 05. It won’t just be about the 28-year-old’s goals.
Attacker Phillip Tietz is supposed to revive the struggling offensive of 1. FSV Mainz 05. It won’t just be about the 28-year-old’s goals.
Normally, center forwards in football are measured by the number of goals they score. This is of course also the case with Phillip Tietz. The Braunschweig native has scored 16 goals in 78 games in the FC Augsburg jersey over the past two and a half years – a decent, but not outstanding rate.
But sometimes other factors count for attackers. Anyone who has ever seen Phillip Tietz on the football field knows what to expect: emotion, commitment, pure will. With exactly these virtues, the angular striker should become an important factor in the Rheinhessen game.
Bungert: “Exactly the reinforcement we were looking for”
This may also have played a role in the considerations of those responsible in Mainz. “Phillip Tietz is exactly the reinforcement for the offensive that we were looking for. Phillip is an experienced, strong tackler who can create a goal threat with his height of 1.90 meters, power and physical presence and has reliably proven this in recent years,” said Mainz sports director Niko Bungert to SWR Sport.
This means: Tietz should ensure that Mainz scores significantly more goals in the remaining 19 games than the meager 13 goals so far. Shooting them himself won’t be his only job. Because the attacker brings a component to Mainz’s game that has been missing so far this season: winning offensive duels, securing balls, putting them down and thereby creating space for his teammates.
If the plan with Tietz works as hoped, fast players like Paul Nebel and Benedict Hollerbach, who have posed no or almost no goal threat so far this season despite their undisputed quality, should particularly benefit. “It gives us a few more options, a few more variations,” said coach Urs Fischer about the Tietz change.
Fischer: Tietz shows “solidarity” in defensive work
The Swiss is relying on the offensive qualities of his new player – but not only that. “He is a striker who feels comfortable in the penalty area. But also someone who shows solidarity when it comes to defensive work,” said Fischer. Because one of Tietz’s qualities is disrupting the opponent’s build-up game. The 28-year-old doesn’t avoid a duel, knows how to use his body and can therefore be an annoying factor for the other team.
Tietz also brings an emotional component into play. With his gallantry, the attacker sets an example on the field at a communicative level. That will also be good for the team, which stabilized under Fischer in the last games before the winter break, but was sad, among other things Zero number against FC St. Pauli the last punch was still missing.
Ultimately, it was the overall package that convinced those responsible that Phillip Tietz was exactly the right man for the attack. The 28-year-old brings a “physical force” and plays “emotional and honest football,” said Bungert. “Hopefully he will be good for us. We haven’t had anything like this in the squad before. After the change of coach and a small change in the system, we also had two strikers on the pitch on a regular basis. So it made quantitative sense.”
It will be interesting to see what Tietz brings to Mainz’s game in addition to accuracy. According to FCK coach Torsten Lieberknecht, who was able to work with the striker in Braunschweig and Darmstadt, then the Rheinhessen team did everything right. Even if Lieberknecht believes that the striker should first fulfill his original task.
“I assume that he was brought in to score goals. That’s how he helps them the most as an attacker,” said the coach in an interview with SWR Sport. “I wish him good luck and keep my fingers crossed for him. With him, Mainz have got a player who ensures that there is a good atmosphere in the team.” If Tietz also scores, the atmosphere will probably be a sure-fire success anyway.
