Staying hungry no matter the opponent

It’s almost exactly a year since FSV’s last three points on the road. The 05ers laid down a significant marker during their emphatic win in Leipzig, and put in one of their best away performances of the past few years. They now face the same opponent on Easter Saturday, but the omens ahead of the coming encounter are starkly different to at this point last season. Mainz will have to harness the spirit of the aforementioned encounter in order to get something away against the league’s current fifth-placed side, which the head coach knows well. He emphasised in the press conference on Thursday afternoon that he wants his side “to show a desire to win every game.” Bo Henriksen’s team will be supported by around 1,000 travelling 05ers in the away end.

According to Henriksen two days before the game, the team got through the international break without any further setbacks, of which there has been plenty so far this season. They were instead able to use the break to rest, as well as to bring one or two players closer to a return to action. Nelson Weiper has returned to team training in the last few days for the first time since August, and impressed. “He’s not back at 100 percent yet. We’ll have to wait and see if he’ll be available for Saturday. I’ll discuss that with the physios. He’s looked promising and is a great talent. However, we have to be careful after he’s been out for a long time. It might make sense to wait another week,” said the 05 head coach, who stressed that the academy product’s return has to be handled carefully. This is especially true as Ludovic Ajorque, who scored the stunning second goal in Leipzig last season, and Karim Onisiwo are two attackers whose form is clearly on the up. The head coach said that there are again difficult decisions to be made, not just in terms of finding the right starting eleven but also deciding before the team travel on Friday which players will be left out of the squad. “I’ve got very good options in every position. That’s good for us. This kind of competition is incredibly important,” said Henriksen, raving about his embarrassment of riches and “team with a lot of spirit.” Only Stefan Bell and Maxim Leitsch, as well as the suspended Dominik Kohr, will definitely miss out.

Ready for the final push

Everyone at Mainz is ready for the eight-week run-in following the last international break of the season. “We’re all looking forward to it and we know that an incredibly important game awaits us every week. We can rely on the fact that we’ve rediscovered our winning mentality in the last few weeks.” The utmost ambition is on display in every training game, whilst the head coach smiled as he explained that the winning team’s photos are hung up on the wall in a visible position in the changing room. First and foremost, it’s now all about this “hunger, quality and momentum”.

Whilst the heavy defeat at FC Bayern served as a prime example of how you can’t play away at a top side, Henriksen wants his players to look at the hard-fought game away at Bayer Leverkusen, when his team was unfortunate to come away with nothing to show. His team could play “more intelligently” in Leipzig than they did away at the league leaders. “If we perform to our best, we have a chance. We always want to be successful, regardless of who we are playing against. This is the kind of spirit we need. If we’re not on it mentally and physically, and don’t stick together as a team, we will lose,” Henriksen explained ahead of the clash with former 05er Marco Rose’s Leipzig, against whom FSV secured their first win of the season in November. “We know that they’re a fantastic team with quick strikers. We’ve done some good analysis on them, and we need to do our job and stick to our plan. We want to challenge them and hopefully pick up points.” A first away win in 365 days would certainly make it a great Easter weekend for all those associated with Mainz.