The 05ers lose in Augsburg

The wait for Mainz 05’s first win of the season in the Bundesliga continues after a 2-1 loss to FC Augsburg, with all three goals coming in the first half. FSV made a very strong start to the game, going 1-0 up within six minutes thanks to a goal from Ludovic Ajorque. The 05ers even thought that they had made it 2-0 after ten minutes, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR check. FCA managed to turn the game around before half time, pouncing on two moments of poor defending from FSV. Although Augsburg were forced to play with ten men for the last half hour of the match, Mainz failed to capitalise and went home empty-handed. 

Head coach Bo Svensson made three changes from the side that lost at home to VfB Stuttgart. Tom Krauß, Danny da Costa and Ajorque were brought into the starting XI for Phillipp Mwene, Marco Richter and Sepp van den Berg. There was a reunion with a Mainz academy product, as Finn Dahmen was the man between the sticks for FCA. 

FCA turn the game on its head before the break

The 05ers started the game really well. Da Costa’s cross from the right flank was met by a powerful header from Ajorque into the top-right corner of the goal. Although Dahmen managed to get a finger to it, he had no chance of preventing the ball from nestling in the back of the net (5’). Shortly after, the good start turned into an almost dream-like start. Again, it was Da Costa with the cross, this time from a set-piece, which Bell got on the end of, his header bouncing off the post. Ajorque was the first to react on the rebound and poked the ball back across the goal line for Bell to stick into the back of the net. However, the VAR check revealed that Bell was standing in an offside position from the initial cross and the goal was disallowed. Rather than being 2-0 up, the 05ers very quickly found themselves back to level pegging. Ermedin Demirovic was alert in the box and pounced on a loose ball to convert FCA’s first chance of the game (15’). 

The equaliser had a significant impact on the match; Augsburg started to grow into the game and the 05ers looked far less dangerous than they had been in the first ten minutes. However, the game started to lack flow and there was now more midfield battling than chances. Despite being on top in the half, FSV didn’t counter effectively after winning the ball. Mainz were forced to make their first change shortly before the break, with Aymen Barkok replacing the injured Da Costa on the right-wing. The next blow for FSV followed very quickly. Patric Pfeiffer won two consecutive areal duels from a long throw-in and found Demirovic at the edge of the six-yard box, who jumped to nod in his second goal of the game. Once more, it was a goal that could have been avoided from Mainz’s perspective had they been more alert at the back. After a really strong start, Bo Svensson’s side trailed 2-1 at half time, as they were initially unlucky with the VAR and then conceded goals all too easily.

Failure to capitalise on the one-man advantage  

Neither of the coaches decided to make a change at the break and Augsburg were the superior side at the beginning of the second half. The 05ers needed a bit of time to get going again after the break, although Ajorque had a chance after 52 minutes – his shot was blocked in the penalty area. VAR was then on the side of FSV ten minutes later. While Engels initially only received a yellow for his reckless challenge on Barkok, referee Marco Fritz decided that the tackle was worthy of a red card after going to the monitor. The following free-kick from Fernandes was crossed into Ajorque, but the Frenchman failed to get any power behind his header. 

With the one-man advantage, FSV took control of the game and tried to quickly find an equaliser. Leandro Barreiro almost capitalised on an error from Dahmen, but his header was cleared off the line. Svensson changed up the team after the FCA sending-off, switching to a back-four and bringing on van den Berg and Brajan Gruda for Bell and Krauß. Augsburg played with five men at the back in a low block, making it hard for FSV to find any gaps. The boss then made substitutions in attack, giving Anwar El Ghazi his debut and bringing on Marco Richter for Karim Onisiwo and Barreiro with ten minutes left to play. El Ghazi was immediately involved, and his shot from around 15 yards out flew just over the bar (83’). Almost all of the Mainz players were then involved in the build-up play in and around the FCA penalty area and Augsburg were trapped into their own half. Gruda went close twice, but his shots were not quite accurate enough. FSV failed to find an equaliser in the seven minutes of additional time, not least because Fernandes’ shot from the edge of the area was unintentionally blocked by his own teammate Ajorque.