Mainz’s Urs Fischer after error-filled Bundesliga performance: “Without mistakes, you guys would have nothing to write about!” | OneFootball

Mainz 05 head coach Urs Fischer refused to single out young defenders Fabio Gruber and Kacper Potulski after individual mistakes contributed heavily to Saturday’s 3-1 Bundesliga defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt. Only six days after Mainz’s reshuffled defensive unit earned considerable praise following a 5-0 win at Hamburger SV, the same group endured a much more difficult afternoon at the Mewa Arena.

Potulski’s error helped Frankfurt take the lead through Can Uzun after nine minutes. Gruber then lost his duel with former Mainz striker Jonathan Burkardt shortly before halftime, allowing the Germany international to double Frankfurt’s advantage.

Asked after the match how players who had performed so impressively one week earlier could suddenly make such costly mistakes, Fischer offered a characteristically straightforward answer.

“Humanity!” Fischer replied, in the process eliciting a round of chuckles in the press room. “They’re humans! It would be nice if we humans could function like robots. But if that were the case, you guys wouldn’t have anything left to write about. You [journalists] would all be unemployed. These are humans who make mistakes. That happens. One must accept that.”

“Of course, we would have preferred it to be different,” Fischer continued. “The lads obviously don’t make mistakes on purpose. Today we made too many mistakes. One must accept that. As I said, we’ll look ahead and seek to do it better next weekend.”

Amiri misses chance to change match

Mainz did possess an opportunity to ensure the defensive errors remained recoverable. Despite struggling during much of the opening half-hour, Fischer’s team gradually worked its way into the match and began threatening Frankfurt on the counter. Sheraldo Becker eventually earned a penalty after drawing a foul from Raphael Onyedika with Frankfurt still leading only 1-0.

Nadiem Amiri, who had converted 10 straight penalties up to that point, stepped up with the opportunity to equalize shortly before halftime.

Noah Atubolu saved.

“I have to take responsibility for it,” Amiri told Sky Germany afterward. “If I had converted the penalty, it would have been a different story. At some point, there comes a time when one doesn’t shoot it in. Unfortunately, that day was today. That’s part of life in football. Eventually one fails and it hurts a lot today.”

The timing made the miss especially costly.

Three minutes later, Burkardt punished Mainz at the opposite end to make it 2-0.

Fischer refuses to abandon Mainz principles

Saturday therefore provided an uncomfortable counterpoint to the themes Fischer discussed in Hamburg. Last weekend demonstrated what happens when changed personnel execute Mainz’s principles cleanly. This weekend demonstrated what happens when individual execution breaks down.

Fischer appeared unwilling to confuse the latter with evidence that the underlying approach had suddenly ceased to work. Gruber remains only 23. Potulski (18) remains an exceptionally young Bundesliga defender. Both had played important roles in Mainz’s excellent defensive start before Saturday.

One poor afternoon, in Fischer’s assessment, did not suddenly make them different players.

It merely made them human.

GGFN | Peter Weis