Feeling confident ahead of Hoffenheim clash

On Tuesday, the 05ers began their week of training ahead of the game against Hoffenheim on Saturday (15:30 CEST), and did so with a spring in their step after the vital win over Darmstadt last time out. The sessions though will remain equally intensive and focused. The home match against TSG is the next challenge for Mainz in their battle for survival. “It’ll be a completely different game though,” said Bo Henriksen to the media after their first public session at the Bruchweg (the next public session will be at 11:00 CEST on Wednesday), and before the game against the league’s eighth-placed side, who are still in contention for a European place. “It’ll be important that we feel comfortable and show this as a team,” said the Mainz head coach, who was particularly referring to the side’s impressive attacking performance in the 4-0 win over Darmstadt, their highest margin of victory so far this season.

As a result, Henriksen and his staff will discuss “what we’re doing well and where we can improve” together with the players this week. This relates to both ends of the pitch – defensively and offensively. Progress was not only visible in defending their own goal, but especially in his side’s play in possession against Darmstadt. “We’ve had problems all season. We’re now getting into the final third far quicker and we can take confidence from that. However, another final against a top opponent awaits on Saturday. We’re looking forward to it,” explained the Dane, who once again explicitly praised the performance of the attacking trio Jae-sung Lee, Jonny Burkardt and Brajan Gruda.

Squad update ahead of Hoffenheim 

With the exception of Gruda, who sat out of Tuesday’s session with a cold, the 05ers started the new week of training ahead of matchday 29 with a fully fit squad. Leo Barreiro, Phillipp Mwene and Edimilson Fernandes were all managing their workload and only completed part of team training. Henriksen will have some difficult decisions to make regarding his squad for the upcoming meeting with Hoffenheim, but he views the competition within the squad as a positive: “We have players in our ranks who we believe in. There are decisions to be made, but we need each and every one of the boys.”