New FSV coach on Monday
©IMAGO
Slapstick own goal instead of a one-hit wonder: For 1. FSV Mainz 05, the sporting decline has continued under interim coach Benjamin Hoffmann. The Rheinhessen lost 0-1 (0-0) at the start of the 13th matchday of the Bundesliga against Borussia Mönchengladbach and remain bottom of the table with six points.
In front of 30,500 spectators, Danny da Costa sealed the bitter home defeat for Mainz with an unfortunate Po own goal in the 58th minute, who had parted ways with coach Bo Henriksen last Wednesday and promoted U23 coach Hoffmann to boss just for this one game.
According to sports director Christian Heidel, the new coach will be introduced next Monday. “I’m cautiously optimistic that we can do this,” said Heidel before kick-off on the pay TV channel “Sky” and also described the profile of the football teacher he was looking for: “Bo is a special guy who has turned everything upside down. Now we need a coach who looks at it with calm.”
Mainz’s calculation with Hoffmann didn’t work out. The coach had to do without the injured goalkeeper Robin Zentner and the suspended winger Paul Nebel. But that wasn’t enough, Hoffmann started the big rotation machine and changed the starting eleven to seven positions compared to the recent 0:4 at SC Freiburg.
Biggest surprise: In addition to Nelson Weiper, Fabio Moreno Fell was allowed to play in attack for the first time in the Bundesliga. The 25-year-old Spaniard played in the association league last season and has only played in the Mainz reserves in the regional league this season.
The separation from Henriksen, who had led Rheinhessen into the Conference League, caused consternation among the Mainz professionals. “That made us sad because we know that we are also to blame for it,” said national player Nadiem Amiri on the “Sky” microphone and announced: “We want to get a win for him.”
However, the more active team initially were the guests, who had been eliminated from the DFB Cup three days earlier due to a home defeat against FC St. Pauli. After a good quarter of an hour it almost paid off. When Jens Castrop shot, FSV defender Maxim Leitsch saved just in front of the line for his already beaten goalkeeper Daniel Batz. Following the following corner, Leitsch headed the ball into his own goal to give the visitors the lead, but the VAR conceded the goal. There had been a punishable handball by Gladbach’s Yannik Engelhardt beforehand.
The home team’s uncertainty was clearly noticeable after eight games without a win in the Bundesliga. No flow of the game, lots of bad passes and hardly any ideas – Borussia couldn’t be dealt with like that. The only positive thing in the first 45 minutes was the fact that there was also a zero at the back.
Shortly after the restart, Weiper had the 1-0 on his feet, but his shot was too unplaced and therefore not a problem for Gladbach goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas. The striker later squandered an even bigger chance when he headed the ball past the empty goal from close range.
On the other hand, in only his sixth Bundesliga game, Batz saved with an outstanding reflex against Castrop, but was unable to prevent the deficit just a few seconds later when da Costa unfortunately sent a header from visiting striker Haris Tabakovic into his own net.