It is not wrong to spontaneously provide collective enlightenment on dreary days. In the final phase of the home game against VfL Wolfsburg, the fans of FSV Mainz 05 came up with the idea of creating a play of lights with their smartphones. The self-proclaimed carnival club celebrated a surprisingly clear 3-0 (2-0) success, for which a lightning start by Jonathan Burkardt (2nd minute) and Anton Stach (4th) had laid the foundation. before an own goal by Maxence Lacroix (90th) triggered the final cheers among the maximum 10,000 spectators allowed in Mainz.
“I can’t think of a game in which we took the lead that early. There are worse things in football,” said Mainz board member Christian Heidel. In fact, the 58-year-old had experienced the fastest double strike in the club’s history in the Bundesliga – and the fastest 2-0 lead this season. “That was a very, very strong performance and a well-deserved victory,” added Heidel, who also patted himself a little on the shoulder: “We have put together a good team with the right guys. It all fits.”
Start of the fastest 2-0 lead this season: Jonathan Burkardt.
(Photo: Peter Hartenfelser / Imago)
In Wolfsburg, however, after the third competitive game defeat under Florian Kohfeldt, some fundamental questions arise. The upturn in mood after the new coach’s three successes in the start has fizzled out. From the setting and the room layout to the duel behavior, little or nothing was right at the factory club from start to finish. “I have to say that it cannot be our aim to deliver an away game like this in the long term,” admitted Kohfeldt. In this condition, it seems almost impossible to reach the last 16 in the Champions League group game against OSC Lille (9 p.m.) on Wednesday.
The sleepy Wolfsburg were taken by surprise with the first Mainz attack when Leandro Barreiro fit in with Burkardt, who scored his seventh goal of the season without being disturbed. “I was surprised myself that I was suddenly free,” said the 21-year-old. The goal anthem had just fallen silent when Stach, who had moved into the starting eleven, met the next U21 European champion. The strong playing Jae-sung Lee had put back a rehearsed corner kick variant, which had ensured in the final training of the zero fives “that we are still looking for some balls”, as Mainz coach Bo Svensson joked.
Wolfsburg lacks passion and unity
VfL coach Kohfeldt already turned away at this early stage, shaking his head and soon threw his jacket angrily towards the bench: During the entire week of training, he had pointed out to his players what to expect in the Mainz arena: “Obviously we were surprised after all – that in turn surprises me. ” At the press conference the coach didn’t talk too much: “That was a completely used day. We didn’t do much right and deservedly lost.”
The defense around the disoriented defender Lacroix and the half-time substituted John Anthony Brooks found no access, there were huge holes in midfield and neither Wout Weghorst nor national player Lukas Nmecha developed any scoring danger in attack. One has to talk about it by the winter break at the latest, “that the wave troughs are not so dramatic,” complained Kohfeldt: “We have to bring constancy in.” The 39-year-old also wants to quickly find out why the team unity with which his team triumphed on his debut at Bayer Leverkusen (2: 0) or against RB Salzburg (2: 1) was missing, but was no longer visible in nuances .
“If we miss passion and spirit, it has nothing to do with tactics or positions,” scolded Joshua Guilavogui, who initially as the central link in the chain of three and later tried in vain in defensive midfield to fight the disintegration phenomena. “We destroy ourselves, it can’t go on like this,” said the Frenchman, who chose drastic words on the Sky microphone: “That sucks what we do.” The Lille game becomes a litmus test for everyone in the Autostadt. Kohfeldt already spoke of “one of the most important games in the club’s history”. He will be “absolutely on fire for this game – that’s what I expect from my players”.
The football teacher definitely makes a connection between dazzling tasks in the premier class and the often not so glamorous everyday league life, because the Lower Saxony also made early negligence in a similar constellation with Arminia Bielefeld (2: 2), which was back then on the Alm still to be repaired. But this time neither tactical changes from back three to back four nor the removal of the indisposed captain Maximilian Arnold or the national player Ridle Baku at the break helped. The downright bad-tempered Arnold made it correspondingly brief afterwards with his analysis: “We slept twice at the beginning. Then you don’t have to plan too much.”