“An exciting challenge that will demand everything from us”

Mainz 05 travel to the far north on Sunday looking to show a completely different side to last year

Last season, FSV suffered a heavy defeat at the Volkspark.

A long training week at Bruchweg is slowly but surely coming to an end. After last Saturday’s opening draw against SC Paderborn, FSV face their next challenge away to Hamburger SV on Sunday afternoon (15:30, live on DAZN and 05ER.fm). Mainz will be looking to do better than in the first half of the 2025/26 season, when they suffered a clear 0-4 defeat against the then newly promoted side. “You can take a lot from that game,” head coach Urs Fischer emphasised on Friday afternoon during the press conference ahead of the match. Above all, lessons on how not to approach things again this weekend. The Swiss coach had taken over the side from Rheinhessen just over two months after that heavy defeat under Bo Henriksen.

Profis 03.09.2026

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Fischer also spoke at the press conference about...

...the personnel situation: “Eric Martel, Paul Nebel, Dominik Kohr and Silas will not be involved this weekend. In addition, there are still one or two question marks. With Eric, I expect partial reintegration next week. He is actually the furthest along, and that looks good. Benedict Hollerbach is a candidate for the squad again after his appearance for the U23s.”

...the loss of Kohr following his injury against Paderborn: “Every absence hurts me, because I have one important player fewer available. We’ll see on Sunday who replaces Dome. With Poschi, it is difficult to judge exactly where he is because he hasn’t had a friendly. But he now has another week of training under his belt, and of course that helps him. From my point of view, he is on a very good path, and he confirms that impression in our personal conversations too.”

...the now closed summer transfer window: “There is no more speculation now. We can work and look ahead. Personally, though, I had actually always assumed that nobody would leave us. But I also think you shouldn’t stop someone who wants to leave. However, no player gave us that kind of message.”

...the challenge away to HSV: “We have nothing to make up for. It’s a new season. But you can take a lot from that 4-0 defeat back then. Hamburg are a team with a lot of intensity, but also individual quality. They have a clear idea of how they want to play, and they move the ball forward quickly towards the defensive line. They have pace and repeatedly try to draw the opposition in. It is an exciting challenge that will demand everything from us. We have to do a lot of things well and get them right.”

...the lessons learned around the Bundesliga opener: “One good half is not enough to win in the Bundesliga. Last week, the first half was not enough, which is why we had to live with a point. The lads know what they can do better. Set pieces decide games these days. In our case, we score from every 34th set piece. I think that rate is clearly not good enough.”

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