FSV miss out on second consecutive home win

1. FSV Mainz 05 were forced to settle for a point on Saturday afternoon after two contrasting halves. The hosts went into the break with a thoroughly deserved lead, but they were unable to hold on, unlike two weeks ago against Augsburg. Jonny Burkardt put Mainz ahead after 12 minutes, but Bo Henriksen’s side missed numerous opportunities in the following stages and failed to extend their lead. Following Gladbach’s equaliser from Nathan Ngoumou ten minutes after the interval, it was the visitors who pressed for all three points, especially when the 05ers were forced to play out the last few minutes a man down following Dominik Kohr’s second yellow card.

Henriksen made two changes from last weekend’s game in Leverkusen, with Burkardt and Josuha Guilavogui coming into the side in place of the suspended Anthony Caci and Karim Onisiwo (bench).

FSV dominate at will, Burkardt strikes early

Not a lot happened in the first few minutes at the MEWA ARENA, with both sets of fans cheering their sides on vociferously. Nadiem Amiri had the first shot of the game after six minutes when he was set up by Leo Barreiro just outside the visitors’ penalty area, but his effort went well over the bar. It was the start of a phase in which FSV took control of the game and had numerous set-piece situations, but nothing came of these initially. However, the 05ers then made their early pressure count in the 12th minute. Jae-sung Lee turned in central midfield and played the ball to Burkardt lurking on the edge of the box. After a perfect first touch, Burkardt unleashed a left-footed shot from around 17 yards and left Moritz Nicolas with no chance with his effort into the top-left corner, making it 1-0 to FSV. Maximilian Wöber tried his luck from long range five minutes later, but his effort went narrowly wide (17’). The 05ers remained the more threatening side, with Sepp van den Berg going close to finding a second goal with his head, but his attempt from Amiri’s corner went over the bar (18’). FSV looked to entertain those in the stands with their approach, with Mainz’s fans unmistakably acknowledging the performance amongst a crowd of 33,305. FSV registered four shots to the visitors’ one and four corners to Gladbach’s zero in the first 22 minutes, highlighting the hosts’ superiority in the opening stages of the game. 

The 05ers continued as they had started, with the visitors’ narrow deficit looking more than flattering after half an hour. FSV won the majority of the second balls, threw themselves into every individual duel and continued to produce the best chances.   This was the case in the 24th minute when a ball from van den Berg reached Widmer. However, Nicolas made a brilliant fingertip save from Widmer’s well-placed effort from the right-hand side to turn the ball behind for a corner. Manu Koné got his head to the ball at the front post from the subsequent corner, but his header went goalwards and forced Nicolas into a sharp, reflex save, with Gladbach’s goalkeeper managing to tip the ball onto the bar (24’). Brajan Gruda, who was involved in almost every single attacking move, found himself in a shooting position 18 yards out, but his shot spun wide of the right post (28’). FSV created further half chances and didn’t play like a team languishing at the bottom of the table in the first half. Instead, they played with confidence and showed variety in their game, just as their head coach had demanded prior to the game. FSV then went close to finding a second goal twice in the closing stages of the first half: First, Kohr played Lee in behind with a clever ball from the halfway line, with the South Korean managing to get on the end of his pass in the penalty area, but Nico Elvedi was able to get a crucial block on his effort from 14 yards (45’). After a Gladbach counterattack from the subsequent corner was snuffed out, Barreiro put a header from the edge of the box narrowly wide of the left post. Gladbach were fortunate to go into the break only one goal down. 

Gladbach equalise out of nowhere

Whilst Mainz returned to the pitch unchanged, Luca Netz came on in place of Stefan Lainer for the visitors, but this didn’t make much difference initially. The hosts were once again the better team in the first few minutes after the break and had their next chance through Barreiro in the 54th minute. Widmer sent an Amiri free kick back into the centre of the box, and whilst Gladbach were initially able to clear the ball, they were fortunate that Ko Itakura managed to block Barreiro’s effort. However, the visitors then benefitted from the Luxembourg international losing possession a minute later as they made the most of the space created to create their first chance and find an equaliser. Florian Neuhaus found himself in acres of space of the right-hand side and picked out the onrushing Ngoumou with a pinpoint cross, with the Frenchman leaving Robin Zentner with no chance from six yards out (55’). Borussia had far more of the play in the following stages, whilst FSV were placed under pressure for the first time. Gerardo Seoane’s side even went close to turning the game on its head after an hour. The Foals’ goalscorer set up Koné, with FSV’s number one making a fantastic save to turn his header behind for a corner (63’).

It ushered in a frantic phase of play for both sides, with Mainz lacking precision and composure on the ball. Just two minutes later, Borussia were able to counter again after a misplaced pass from Lee. Franck Honorat picked out an unmarked Neuhaus at the far post, but the midfielder was unable to put the ball past Zentner (65’). Henriksen reacted with his first changes of the afternoon, bringing in Onisiwo and Tom Krauß for Gruda and Lee (67’). 

While Mainz had been the dominant side in the opening half, there was little to be seen of this in the final half an hour, as Gladbach began to exert their control over the match. It wasn’t until the final 20 minutes that the 05ers managed to regain their defensive stability and begin to mount attacks of their own again. The hosts were then handed another setback in the 84th minute, as Kohr had to leave the pitch after being shown a second yellow for dissent. FSV now faced an uphill battle in their attempt to regain the lead, as time slowly ran out. As the match ticked over into injury time, Onisiwo was able to drive the ball forward once more, but Nicolas interfered by clawing the Austrian’s shot away from the bottom corner (90’+2). The resulting corner was cleared by the Foals, but only fell as far as Amiri, who was able to get off a shot from the right side. It was also parried by Nicolas, with the whistle signalling the end of the match coming just moments later.

The result puts FSV on 16 points after 24 games. Next weekend, Mainz will travel to face defending champions FC Bayern München on Saturday afternoon (15:30 CET). A week later, they will host VfL Bochum at the MEWA ARENA.  

MAINZ 05 1-1 MÖNCHENGLADBACH

FSV: Zentner - Widmer (75’ Richter), Kohr, Guilavogui, van den Berg, Mwene - Barreiro, Amiri - Lee (67’ Onisiwo), Burkardt (88' da Costa), Gruda (67’ Krauß)
Gladbach: Nicolas - Lainer (46’ Netz), Elvedi, Itakura, Wöber - Weigl, Koné (90’ Ranos), Neuhaus (78’ Reitz) - Honorat, Jordan, Ngoumou (78’ Hack)

Goals: 1-0 Burkardt (12’), 1-1 Ngoumou (55’)
Attendance: 33,305 (sold out)
Officials: Robert Schröder (Norbert Grudzinski, Jan Seidel, Patrick Alt, Felix Brych)

Notable incidents: Red card for Kohr (84’, second yellow)