Negative series ended
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With the 1-0 win against FC Augsburg, Mainz 05, the penultimate Bundesliga table, ended its negative streak of eleven winless games last Saturday and gained new hope of staying in the league. Christian Heidel compared the debut of the new FSV coach Bo Henriksen with Jürgen Klopp’s early days at the then second division club. The sports director is confident about staying in the league.
“His style is very special. In terms of impact on the first day, it was a similar feeling with Bo now as it was 23 years ago when Kloppo took over as head coach here on Rose Monday,” the Mainz sports director told Sport Bild and continued: “Back then, as now, not only the players, But after the first speech, the employees would also have liked to put on their football boots and run onto the pitch.”
The 49-year-old Dane Henriksen is the third head coach at Rheinhessen this season, who are in acute danger of relegation. “He is omnipresent, there was a real commotion in the dressing room,” confirmed Heidel. During the first discussions about a possible engagement, the Dane Heidel was “really pleased with how much power there was on the phone. And then we actually had an appointment at the hotel for Shrove Monday. But surprisingly he was already there on Sunday evening when I spoke to his advisor. You immediately got the impression that, despite our difficult sporting situation, he was really looking forward to the task. His wife was also there with the youngest of his sons, and the family will live in Mainz. These are good signs of identification.”
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Mainz boss Heidel: “We don’t have to be ashamed of the relegation battle”
Mainz, who are one of the weakest teams in Europe’s top 5 leagues (statistics), are already seven points away from safety after 22 matchdays (Bundesliga table). In fact, the team has only won two in the current season so far Just. “Bo Henriksen told me several times at the beginning: ‘The players are afraid.’ It’s a matter of the head. The fear of conceding a goal, the fear of the table. You end up in a negative vortex after our start to the season. And Bo, of course unencumbered, gives you back the belief that you can win games again with his style. “That wasn’t there before,” said Heidel, who summarized the past few months in Mainz as follows:
“Well, with the exception of a few players, we kept the squad that played for Europe in the last two years together and were praised for our new additions (for an overview). Before, a small squad was always great, then unfortunately this year it is suddenly too small. Because of the many injuries, we needed someone like Anwar El Ghazi, then he takes himself out. Our injury misery is worse than at Bayern, even though we don’t talk about it every week. Before, Bo Svensson was always an anchor in difficult phases, but this unexpected negative series naturally affected and burdened him too. The decision in favor of Jan Siewert was demanded by almost everyone, and Jan deserved it. He tried everything and unfortunately ultimately had no luck with four 0-1 defeats. But of course you have to put up with criticism at 17th place.”
With a view to the remaining games and possible relegation, Heidel was combative: “25 years ago we played every year for existence in the 2nd league. That’s a completely different feeling. Of course we don’t feel comfortable in 17th place. But we definitely don’t have to be ashamed of the relegation battle. The miracle is that in 14 years since the last ascent, this is only the second time we’ve fallen this deep. Others do this every year. Since our last promotion, so many other clubs have been in the second division or still are. There were and are illustrious names there. But never Mainz 05. It’s worth fighting to keep it that way.”
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