Bo Henriksen takes responsibility for Mainz’s ‘timid tiki-taka’ display | OneFootball

Fresh off a savory European triumph, Mainz 05 had to endure the bitter taste of defeat in the Bundesliga on Sunday evening. Bo Henriksen’s Rheinhessen travelled to the Volksparkstadion to take on Hamburger SV in a matchday six encounter. Appearing totally unprepared, two HSV goals inside the opening ten minutes took the Pfälzer guests right out of the match.

“I don’t know if it was because of Thursday’s [Conference League match],” FSV captain Nadiem Amiri noted in his post-match interview with DAZN. “But the Bundesliga is our most important competition and we’re not doing well in it. We weren’t present in the duels. We invited them in. With one short ball forward, we were already outplayed.”

“We weren’t ready and that’s my fault,” Henriksen added in his own DAZN interview. “After ten minutes, the game was almost over. We have to do better in the challenges early and I have to make sure of that. Of course, it’s tough after Europe, but the story of the day is that HSV wanted to win the game. It’s my job to ensure that we don’t come here expecting to win.“

“We’ve only won one game in the Bundesliga,” Henriksen added at the post-match press conference. “We need to do better. We have a good team, but only one that plays well when it knows what it wants. And that’s not playing tiki-taka. We tried that today and it didn’t work. We must play with power and energy.

“We have two burdens with Europe and the Bundesliga,” Henriksen continued. “but that’s no excuse. It’s my responsibility. Everything is my responsibility. We need to do better in the opening 10 to 15 minutes. This is the fifth Bundesliga game in which we’ve fallen behind 0-1. That makes it difficult to play football.”

GGFN | Peter Weis