Fischer remains undefeated
©IMAGO
No winner in the basement duel: FSV Mainz 05 missed the urgently needed relief in the Bundesliga relegation battle with a poor zero against FC St. Pauli. Three days after their celebrated entry into the round of 16 of the Conference League, the Rheinhessen delivered a disappointing offensive performance in front of 33,000 spectators and are going into the short winter break as bottom of the table, four points behind Hamburg.
After the draw, Mainz remain unbeaten under new coach Urs Fischer, but are still waiting for their first Bundesliga home win this season. The 05ers only recorded eight points in a total of 15 games and have to improve significantly in the new year in order to avoid their first relegation since 2007. St. Pauli also has to worry about staying in the league with twelve points. The draw in Mainz was after all the first point win in Hamburg’s Bundesliga history against FSV in five duels (to St. Pauli’s Bundesliga record by opponent).
The situation before kick-off was clear. With a four-point gap to their rivals from Hamburg, Mainz urgently needed a win in order to be able to go into their Christmas vacation with new hope in the relegation battle. Fischer therefore tried to take some of the pressure off his team. “It’s no use talking about this topic every day. The boys know what it’s about,” said the Swiss.
The Kiezkickers, who had gained a lot of self-confidence the previous week with their first home win of the season in a 2-1 win against 1. FC Heidenheim, did not want to give out gifts and appeared brave at the beginning. After a good eight minutes, the guests had already recorded four corners, but no real danger resulted from them. Mainz seemed a bit surprised by Hamburg’s initial offensive spirit and initially didn’t get around to playing their own game. The Rheinhessen team acted far too sedately and without ideas to be able to put the opponent’s compact defense in trouble.
In the middle of the first half the action shifted more to Hamburg’s half, but the Mainz fans didn’t see a real chance for their team until the break. There was that on the other side when Jackson Irvine failed with a shot from around 14 meters past 05 goalkeeper Daniel Batz. It was the only shot on goal in a first half that was poor in highlights and was characterized by a lot of fighting and idleness.
After the change, the home team increased the pressure and had their first opportunities through Dominik Kohr and Silvan Widmer. However, both of them lacked the necessary precision in the end, so guest goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj did not have to intervene. However, it was only a short offensive flash in the pan, as both teams subsequently neutralized each other again. A direct shot from Widmer that went over the goal remained the only scene worth mentioning for a long time. It wasn’t until stoppage time that Vasilj had to stretch when Armindo Sieb shot. So it remained goalless until the end.