Hoffenheim ruthless on the counter as Mainz lack efficiency

It was a day to forget for 1. FSV Mainz 05 in Sinsheim as they failed to profit from a plethora of chances on Saturday afternoon, away to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The hosts hit the 05ers twice on the break during the first half, with both goals in a 2-0 win netted by Andrej Kramaric. Mainz lacked the requisite efficiency in front of goal to penetrate a compact home defence and they and 10,000 travelling fans headed home empty-handed.

Bo Henriksen made three changes from the team that drew against Kiel with two of them enforced. Nikolas Veratschnig and Nelson Weiper started in Sinsheim in place of the suspended Nadiem Amiri and Jonny Burkardt, who missed out from the squad through injury. Dominik Kohr returned to the line-up after serving a suspension, meaning Andreas Hanche-Olsen took up a place on the bench. The personnel changes resulted in Jae-sung Lee initially being expected to play in a more defensive role, while Veratschnig would provide an attacking impetus and pose a threat due to his speed.

Mainz suffer early setback as Hoffenheim counter-attack bears fruit

The pre-match game plan had to be altered as early as the fourth minute, however. A long and well-directed ball from Oliver Baumann was latched onto by Bazoumana Touré as he outpaced Kohr. He then slotted Andrej Kramaric in on goal, who simply had to finish from close range for the opener. TSG had simply got the better of their visitors with one direct pass forward before keeping their cool in the final third. Nevertheless, Mainz did not let their heads drop after the early setback and soon assumed control of possession.

Weiper had the first chance to get back on levels terms after falling behind but he placed his headed effort from ten yards out over following a cross from Anthony Caci (12’). The visitors marked their dominance of the ball with that warning shot, although they never managed to muster a really threatening phase during the first half. Hoffenheim sat deep in their defensive block as they looked to benefit on the counter in front of their own home fans. The 05ers were nevertheless the side nearer to the opposition goal despite the lack of space available to them and Veratschnig tried his luck first-time from range on 25 minutes after a lay-off from Paul Nebel, with his strike only missing the target by a metre or so. Just three minutes later, Weiper had another great chance, profiting from a turnover of possession in the TSG half. The home-grown talent swivelled to strike on the volley but directed his attempt too centrally and Baumann was able to comfortably prevent the leveller (28’). Four minutes after that, Mainz suffered the second blow. Touré was once again sent on his way, in a foot race with Phillipp Mwene. The Hoffenheim attacker found himself in plenty of space, with the Mainz back line pushing high, and he utilised this to his advantage, slipping in Kramaric. The Croatian repeated the feat to leave Zentner with no chance and make it 2-0 (32’).

To make matters worse, Mwene then had to be brought off due to injury, replaced by Arnaud Nordin. The January signing took up Veratschnig’s position, with the Austrian switching to the left flank. Little of note followed before the break, meaning Mainz trailed as they entered the locker room.

Multiple Mainz chances but none lead to a goal back

The hosts came out the blocks the more active of the sides at the start of the second period and more active than they had been in the opening half. As a result, TSG had the first opportunities after the restart, with Kohr needing to divert an attempt from ex-Mainzer Anton Stach out for a corner (51’). Four minutes after that, Hoffenheim could have put the game to bed when Arthur Chaves headed a Tom Bischoff dead ball towards goal but saw Zentner produce impressive reactions to turn over (55’). Those efforts served the spark Mainz into life as Weiper subsequently went close twice as he sought a goal to halve the deficit. Firstly, the striker’s shot was blocked following a cut back from Caci before he directed a header inches wide (56’).

Henriksen looked to change things up on the hour, bringing on Armindo Sieb in the place of Veratschnig. The nearly 10,000 Mainz fans in attendance then came so close to being able to celebrate a goal back as Kaishu Sano headed a corner ball just over the crossbar (66’). The 05ers could at no point during proceedings have their work rate or desire questioned – simply their shots at goal lacked the requisite accuracy. Another Weiper header went wide in the 70th minute before Hoffenheim were able to get a strike on target three minutes later but found the Mainz shot stopper in the way (73’).

Chances continued to arrive for the visiting side but the ball simply did not want to go in. The case was the same for Lee in the 76th minute after being brilliantly set up by Sano. However, the South Korea international could not find the net after getting himself into a promising shooting position, much like his teammates before him. Substitute Sieb then fired a shot into the side-netting (86’) before failing to score with a volley in stoppage time to confirm that it was not to be the 05ers’ day. A tough day at the office was compounded when Nebel received a very questionable second yellow card.

Mainz welcome VfL Wolfsburg to the MEWA ARENA next Saturday with 46 points to their name (kick-off 15:30 CEST).