FSV Mainz 05 vs. FC Bayern Munich, Digi Mart USA News: Nobody expected FSV Mainz 05 to become a defensive liability this season, yet after eight matchdays the newly promoted side has already conceded 17 goals. The team that looked stable in the second half of last season has been playing with the same personnel, but has slipped into a collective slump in recent weeks.
Mainz lost to Werder Bremen 3-2, lost 2-0 at VfL Bochum in the cup, and was beaten 4-1 at Elversberg last weekend. Little went right for most players, and the back line in particular looked overwhelmed even against a modest second-division side.
Coach Urs Fischer’s changes after the 4-3 win at Mönchengladbach, including bringing in Danny da Costa for new signing Fabio Gruber and moving Stefan Posch back into central defense, worked for 90 minutes at Schalke, where Mainz won 1-0.
That 1-0 win, however, was not a reliable measure of progress. Mainz has lacked attacking punch since the start of the season, and the problems resurfaced a week later.
Kaishū Sano was left isolated in central midfield at Elversberg, while Nadiem Amiri, out of form for weeks, focused almost entirely on attack without effect. Amiri is also absent from Jürgen Klopp’s squad for the upcoming German national team matches.
Mainz conceded four goals twice under Fischer in the spring: a 4-0 defeat at Dortmund and a 4-3 loss to Bayern, when they let a 3-0 halftime lead slip away. Bayern visit the Arena am Europakreisel on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
local time (live on the F.A.Z. Bundesliga live ticker and Sky).
If recent performances are any guide, the home side faces a possible rout.
“It’s actually irrelevant who we play now,” captain Silvan Widmer was quoted as saying on the club’s website. He added that his team could “perhaps play a little freer against the German champions, but we know we need a 10/10 performance to beat Bayern.” Given the current form and the club’s home struggles, where Mainz has not won in more than seven months, that appears unrealistic.
Widmer insisted, however: “That is in us, we know it, and we have shown it already. So we will be ready and give everything.”
Fischer said the team had discussed the problem among themselves during the week. “It is important to admit the trend.
That is what we have to break.” He said the solution was simple: “We have to do better in the next game.” Put another way, he wants the Mainz virtues back on the pitch, namely running, committing consistently to duels, and reducing individual errors to a minimum. “There will always be mistakes, but then we as a team must be ready to correct them.”
After the defeat at Bochum, Fischer kept the starting lineup unchanged to give the players a chance to make amends, but he must now make at least two changes. Phillipp Mwene misses the match after accumulating five yellow cards, and Posch was sent off with a second yellow card deep into stoppage time at Elversberg.
In central defense, Fabio Gruber could return, or veteran Stefan Bell, who has 302 Bundesliga appearances but has not yet played this season and has sat on the bench five times, could move into the starting XI. On the flank, Widmer is the most likely replacement for Mwene.
