“Control what we can control”

For the third time already this season, Mainz 05 will face VfB Stuttgart in a competitive fixture on Saturday afternoon (15:30 CET). After two narrow defeats in the reverse league meeting and in the DFB-Pokal, the 05ers are looking to upset the side currently sitting fourth and give themselves a bit more breathing space in the battle to stay up. The sold-out MEWA ARENA is set for an absorbing 90 minutes on a freshly laid pitch. That is good news in Urs Fischer’s view too: “I’m pleased. Stuttgart are a very good footballing side, but I think we’ve shown that we can play with the ball as well. A good playing surface is simply part and parcel of being a Bundesliga club these days,” said the FSV head coach at his press conference, where he also stressed that he is expecting a confident display from his team.

Urs Fischer ON...

...the mood in training this week: “The team trained well. In Leverkusen, they got a lot right – not absolutely everything, but a lot. Even so, with a bit of time to have processed everything, I still see the late draw as a point gained. The mood is absolutely positive.”

...Nadiem Amiri’s absence: “Of course, we’d all like to have Nadiem available. But our motto is: control what we can control. That means the performance at 3:30pm on Saturday. We saw last week that the team are ready to make up for his absence.”

...Paul Nebel, who came into the starting XI for Amiri: “Paul hasn’t had the easiest spell. What I liked was his response against Leverkusen. He didn’t do the talking – he simply delivered. He covered a lot of ground and did some good things on the ball. Now he has to build on that. As a young player, you have to learn what it’s like to go through a difficult patch at times.”

...the possibility of Silas facing his former club and offering inside information: “The best eleven will start – and we’ve got plenty of footage to help us make our decisions. We’re happy to have him in our squad. When a player has been at one club for that long, of course you check whether there’s any extra input he can give you that you might not otherwise have picked up on.”

...the recent record against VfB: “The games against Stuttgart have always been tight. More relevant for us, though, are the performances of the past few weeks. That means we can go into this one with the right level of confidence and we want to pick up the next three points at home.”

...William Böving, who has had very little game time recently: “I can’t fault him – he always gives his best. But I don’t see any reason to change things, simply because the others are doing well. Willi does his job as well as he can every week and shows what he can do, but with a big squad, I can’t do justice to everyone. It doesn’t always have to be something negative – it’s competition for places, and at the end of the day, the lads have to deal with that too.”

...the personnel situation: “Kawasaki could return to the squad. It will be tight for Bello tomorrow, but he has also trained with the squad this week. It could happen next week for him. With everyone else, we’ll wait and see.”