Disappointing evening in Hamburg

It was a dark day for those in red and white, as FSV were beaten 4-0 away to newly promoted side Hamburger SV. Mainz deserved to lose the game, as they seemed to sleep through the first stages of both halves, gave the opponents too many chances and failed to take their own opportunities when they came about.

“It’s difficult to keep going after conceding twice so early on. We struggled to get into the game from the start and just kept letting in goals. It’s been a disappointing day for us,” said FSV sporting director Niko Bungert straight after the final whistle.

Boss Bo Henriksen made five changes from the midweek win in Nicosia. Robin Zentner’s red card against BVB meant he was suspended and therefore replaced by Lasse Rieß, while Dominik Kohr and Andreas Hanche-Olsen came in for Stefan Bell and Kacper Potulski. At the other end of the pitch, Jae-sung Lee and Benedict Hollerbach started in place of Nikolas Veratschnig and Armindo Sieb.

A nightmare start

The 05ers made a disastrous start to the game and it only took six minutes for the newly promoted hosts to open the scoring. Daniel Elfadli found acres of space in the midfield and drove out from defence, before shrugging off Paul Nebel and finding Rayan Philippe. The winger laid the ball off to Giorgi Gocholeishvili, whose shot at goal was saved well by Rieß, however the rebound off the post landed at the feet of Albert Sambi Lokonga, who slotted it home to give his side the lead (6’). It was a disappointing start for a Mainz side who never really found their feet in the game. The hosts got through the Mainz midfield time and time again, and it didn’t take them long to score their second goal. Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer was given too much room on the right-hand side and played a seemingly inaccurate cross into the middle, but Philippe was able to get on the end of it before finishing through the legs of Kohr from eight yards out (10’). The 05ers had been stunned by two pretty simple goals, and the onus was on them to get back into the game. The hosts, whose plan seemed to be working perfectly, kept creating chances. Rieß, filling in for Zentner, was tested twice in 60 seconds and had to make two good saves against Philippe (15’) and Königsdörffer (16’).

It took until the 19th minute before Mainz had their first attempt at goal, albeit a fairly harmless one. Nebel was fouled around 25 yards out and Nadiem Amiri stepped up to take the free kick, however his attempt went straight at Daniel Heuer Fernandes. Mainz found themselves with more and more control over proceedings and had to find a way to reduce the deficit, so that the game wasn’t completely out of reach so early on. Despite their 70% possession, the visitors looked like they were struggling for ideas. Heuer Fernandes was called into action again from Kaishu Sano’s curler around the half hour mark, before being forced to make another save six minutes later from a Nordin header following a Danny da Costa cross.  HSV played more cautiously than they did in the first ten minutes, but it would be wrong to say that their lead was undeserved. Mainz had far more of the ball, but didn’t manage to use this possession to create real chances in front of the Hamburg goal – nor did they find a way to involve Benedict Hollerbach, whose only involvements came from being asked to win headers from long balls played from the 05ers’ own half. The hosts’ half time lead was fully deserved.

Things go from bad to worse

Bo Henriksen made a change at half time, bringing Nelson Weiper on in place of Phillipp Mwene, which pushed Nebel out to the right wing and swapped Nordin onto the left. Despite this attacking change, it was the hosts who created the first chances of the second half. Philippe had another strike saved by Rieß (48’), before Dompé fired one over two minutes later. Again and again, the ball found its way straight through the Mainz midfield and it was inevitable that a third goal would be added. Dompé was given too much room on the right-hand side, so cut inside and smashed his shot underneath the crossbar to make it 3-0 (52’). The 05ers’ game plan had been thrown out the window; however, they did still have their chances. Straight after conceding the third, Nebel played the ball right across the face of goal, but Lee was unable to turn the ball home (53’). It was a really tough evening for everyone in red and white, and it only got worse on the hour mark. Hamburg countered through Philippe, who found himself one-on-one with Rieß and lobbed the Mainz goalkeeper to make it four. Bell and Sieb came on in the immediate aftermath after for Kohr and Hollerbach. No one really believed in a Mainz comeback, and this was not to be. The final 30 minutes played out with both sides only managing to create a couple of meaningless half chances.

The 05ers head into the second international break of the season having picked up four points from their opening six games. Their next Bundesliga game is set for 18th October at the MEWA ARENA against Bayer 04 Leverkusen (15:30 CEST).