Balance & clever decisions

The 05ers’ second day in Austria once again began in the sun after it had rained a little the previous evening. The second training session in Brixental came after a team meeting and activation exercises. Mainz worked on some tactics in the final third in Kirchbichl on Thursday, whilst also focusing on play without possession. Bo Henriksen explained afterwards what he wants to see from his players against Kiel on Friday.

“For me it’s important that we have an idea of the first and second phases of our game. We also need to be able to press high up the pitch and know what we need to do as a team to win the ball back. That’s naturally one of the most important things for our game,” said Henriksen. The Mainz head coach was satisfied with what he saw in the 75-minute session, but of course believed there were things to improve on. “It’s okay that we don’t always play ‘Tiki Taka’, but sometimes we have to be more direct. Today was a normal tactical session because we’ve got a game tomorrow.” Henriksen admitted that the session may have been a bit boring for the travelling fans, but stated “we had to do it.” There was more action during the 11v11 game on a small pitch, won by ‘team red’. 

“Even Manchester City play it long sometimes”

When asked about his team’s general approach when building up the play, Henriksen stressed that the key thing is to be clever. He believes that adapting to the opponents is more important than just trying to keep the ball on the ground. “If we can keep the ball on the floor then we’ll do it. We have to play it long if we can’t though. Lots of teams in the Bundesliga play with a high, man orientated press. That then makes it difficult to keep the ball on the ground. We have to be clever and make the right decisions. We’ve got clever players. It’s important to find this balance. Even Manchester City play long balls to Haaland sometimes, it’s normal in football.”

After training in the morning, the Mainz players had a quiet second half to the day. Their focus has already turned to tomorrow’s friendly against Holstein Kiel at 15:00 CEST. The 05ers will play three 45-minute intervals at the Silberstadt Arena in Schwaz. “That’s why things were a bit more relaxed today. We want to see all the things we worked on today in tomorrow’s game,” demanded Henriksen.