For the Mainz strikers Jonny Burkardt and Karim Onisiwo there was no way through at VfB The only 05 goal came from a standard
The worst blunder in the 1-2 loss in Stuttgart was made in defence when the Mainz collective defended badly from a throw-in shortly after the second-half kick-off and VfB took advantage of the brief inattention to score the winning goal. After that, there was still about 40 minutes to correct the result. This was not possible because neither Jonny Burkardt and Karim Onisiwo nor, from the 75th minute onwards, the substitutes Marcus Ingvartsen and Adam Szalai proved to be effective.
Zentner dissatisfied
“It was a static game in which neither team really knew how to get through. We had far too few big chances,” Robin Zentner summed up. “It was definitely an unnecessary defeat. We were quite well in the game for long periods, dominated the opponent and allowed little,” said the keeper. The fact that FSV’s only goal on the day came from a corner kick fitted into the overall picture.
The 05ers had not had so few good scoring opportunities for a long time. In the four Bundesliga games since the last defeat in Dortmund in mid-October, the 05 offence has created a total of 30 scoring chances. The best figures in the 4:1 against FC Augsburg and the 1:1 against Borussia Mönchengladbach were 11 and 10 chances in 90 minutes respectively.
Weakness in the last third
VfB succeeded with their strategy of defending the 2:1 with man and mouse. “In the second half we had clear dominance, but only got as far as the sixteenth and far too rarely into the box. The long-range shots were too uncontrolled. The good crosses were missing,” lamented Mainz sports director Martin Schmidt. The 05 attackers were too rarely put in the limelight. Michael Ebert
