A lightning start with new records was enough for 1. FSV Mainz 05 to win 3-0 against a VfL Wolfsburg that was indisposed at times and set its sights on the international places. The Wolves, on the other hand, are in the midst of a serious crisis after their fourth match without a win.
Before Wolfsburg’s visit to Mainz, a negative trend had set in for both teams – both clubs had failed to win three competitive games in a row, ergo both were fighting for a turnaround. FSV coach Bo Svensson was able to revert to Bell, who had been yellow-carded in the 1:2 loss in Stuttgart, and also gave Stach a chance in midfield. Nemeth and Boetius were rotated from the starting eleven to the bench.
Meanwhile, coach Florian Kohfeldt relied on almost the same eleven as in the 1-3 defeat to Borussia Dortmund – with one exception: Paulo Otavio was preferred to Roussillon (bench) at left-back and immediately saw his team get off to a disastrous start to the game.
Mainz lightning start
First, the visitors were too easily outplayed when Barreiro passed Lee’s through ball straight into the lane for Burkardt. Burkardt did not let himself down and did not give VfL goalkeeper Pervan the slightest chance (2nd half).
True to the motto “misfortune seldom comes alone”, the Lower Saxons were dealt the next blow shortly afterwards: Stach was allowed to shoot relatively unchallenged from a corner and celebrated his first ever Bundesliga goal (4th).
FSV thus set two records at the same time: It was the quickest 2:0 this season and also the quickest 2:0 lead for Mainz in their Bundesliga history.
FSV leave nothing to chance
The Wolves took a while to digest the double blow, but after a quarter of an hour began to set their own accents forward. However, without any compelling ideas and thus without any resounding success.
Mainz, on the other hand, acted with a broad chest, were present in the duels, stood well defensively and were usually able to create their own superiority near the ball. The Rheinhessen team lurked forward on the counterattack, but increasingly lacked the necessary consistency.
All in all, the level of the match had dropped as the game progressed, so that it went into the dressing rooms unsurprisingly without any further highlights. Kohfeld reacted with a triple change at the break: Bornauw, Mbabu and Gerhardt came on for Brooks, Baku and Arnold.
Mbabu prevents early preliminary decision
Mbabu was the one who came close to connecting after a corner – twice. But both his first attempt and his follow-up shot were blocked. Moreover, it was not to be the start of a storm and stress phase for the visitors: The VfL was certainly present in the opponent’s half, but it was also completely harmless. At the latest 20 metres from Zentner’s goal, the Lower Saxons had to stop in this rather tense duel.
Mainz, on the other hand, were too deep for a while, which they changed again from the 70th minute onwards by shifting the game more towards the centre circle. Shortly afterwards, Mbabu prevented an early decision when he blocked a Burkardt shot (75th minute).
Lacroix hits his own net to make matters worse
In the end, it was also spilt milk as Wolfsburg remained uninspired until the final whistle, dropping their shoulders time and again and also conceding 0:3 – and in a bitter way: Lacroix tried to clear a Boetius free-kick from the left in front of Bell but headed the ball into his own net (90th minute).
“All-or-nothing” game ahead for Wolves
For the Wolves, the focus must now quickly return to the Champions League after the defeat, as the “All-or-Nothing “ match against Lille is coming up on Wednesday (9pm). In the event of a defeat or a draw, VfL will be out of the international business, but in the event of a win, the last 16 of the top flight beckons.
The Bundesliga continues on Saturday evening (18.30) against VfB Stuttgart. Three hours earlier, Mainz face a tough away game at FC Bayern.
