4:0 against Hertha, 68 percent possession – in the last home game before Christmas, Mainz 05 soars to new bests.
“Last Christmas”, the catchy tune from Wham!, was sung with fervour by the 10,000 spectators who witnessed Mainz 05’s 4-0 win over Hertha BSC in corona style. For 90 minutes they had seen a demonstration of power the likes of which had not been seen before under Bo Svensson, despite no small number of victories. It was the highest win and possession ratio so far in 36 games under the new coach, who has been in charge since January.
“Compliments to my team, they controlled the whole game and deserved to win. We brought to the pitch what makes us stand out and didn’t let up at any point. To stay hungry so close to the break says something about the group,” Svensson insisted. The 42-year-old Dane, who has found a fly in the ointment after every game so far, did not want to criticise anything publicly for the first time.
Heidel: “That wasn’t just fight and will “
From his point of view, the full-backs were an important key to dismantling the Big City club from the capital. Silvan Widmer on the right and Aaron on the left fired cross after cross towards the Hertha penalty area. Widmer set up the 1:0 and the 2:0, headed in Aaron’s cross to make it 3:0. “The people around me were completely out of their minds. It wasn’t just fight and will, it was football,” Christian Heidel rejoiced after the final whistle.
And it was a stark contrast to the last home game in 2020, when Mainz had been embarrassingly eliminated from the DFB Cup against the then second-division team VfL Bochum because Jean-Philippe Mateta and Co. had not converted a single penalty. Heidel was a spectator at the stadium at the time, a few days later he took up his new job as sports director, brought in Martin Schmidt as sports director and Svensson as coach.
“Last Christmas” pretty much defines the moment in Mainz when the 180-degree turnaround was heralded after the match strike and the dismissal of Achim Beierlorzer in the first half of the season.
