“It will be an engaging task for us”

Mainz have jetted off for their final European fixture of 2025. Matchday five in the league phase of the UEFA Conference League sees them take on Lech Poznań away in Poland on Thursday (kick-off 21:00 CET). Urs Fischer will assume a position on the side line for the opening time, after being appointed new first team head coach at Mainz 05 this week. He takes over the reins with FSV in fifth spot in the standings and with nine points to their name so far (W3, L1). The Polish hosts currently have six points on the board (W2, L2) and occupy 16th place after recording a 2-0 victory over FC Lausanne-Sport last time out in the competition. Around 1,800 Mainz fans are expected to provide their support in Poland.

Urs Fischer spoke about...

…squad updates: “Nadiem Amiri misses out due to a muscle injury. It’s nothing awful but he just isn’t fit for this game. Fabio Moreno Fell and a third goalkeeper in Louis Babatz are new to the squad in contrast to the most recent Conference League fixture in Craiova are.”

…his opening few days with the team: “After three days, I don’t think I’ve got to know everyone fully just yet. We will look to become accustomed to one another even further and I only want to work on the fine details initially. We have already started doing that and things have gone well over the past few days. Tomorrow, we want to translate those opening areas of focus onto the field of play.”

…his impression of the team: “The lads showed me right away that they are willing and that they have the right attitude. They have implemented what we have asked of them in training so far as well as they can, and I am sure that we will give it everything to deliver a strong showing tomorrow.”

…past meetings with Lech Poznań: “Poznań have a great stadium for football and noisy fans. I can remember the raucous atmosphere they create well. They benefit from a team that possesses quality and is not afraid to take risks. On top of that, they have numerous players who can make the difference and are scoring a lot of goals right now. It will be an engaging task for us.” 

…the upcoming opponent: “Awaiting us is a team that always looks to press and covers a lot of ground. They want to make it stressful for the opposition by putting them under pressure; therefore, our job is to remain calm and try to withstand that. Nevertheless, we also need to focus on ourselves and on implementing our own game so that we leave with a positive result.”

Paul nebel spoke about...

…Nadiem Amiri’s absence: “Nadiem is very important for us and a real leader. As a result, it is obviously tough that he will miss tomorrow’s game. Despite that, we have a number of good players in our ranks who will take on his role and we want to give a good display without him against Poznań.”

…the mood in the changing room: “It is obvious that we haven’t played well so far this season. It has not always been easy over the past months, but the team is in such good spirit and therefore can cope in a situation like this. Our new coach has already had conversations with us over the opening few days in which he made his principles clear. We want to implement those as effectively as possible tomorrow and get back to winning ways as a result.”

…changes under Urs Fischer: “Of course, a new head coach brings new aspects of plays and areas of focus with him to his new team, and that is the case here as well. We need a bit more time to get accustomed to that, for sure, but I got a good impression from the training sessions so far, along with the feeling that we are ready to integrate new elements. We will obviously retain the core values which lie at the heart of Mainz 05, and I am certain that we can deliver a strong performance tomorrow.”

…the look of the Conference League table: “We are looking forward to the task in front of us and are focusing solely on the clash with Poznań. Whether that will secure automatic qualification or a spot in the play-offs is of secondary importance. I am not feeling any pressure – we just want to make ourselves unpleasant to play against, take points home from here, and then we will see tomorrow if that’s enough for a ticket to the next round.