AWhen FSV Mainz 05 played its first test match after the summer break in mid-August, Jean-Philippe Mateta was absent: The striker was not allowed to participate for disciplinary reasons: because he was three times late for training, because he could not come by car, because he had to temporarily surrender his driver’s license because he drove the mirror off while parking another car, but had not notified the owner or the police about what counts as a hit and run.
In the previous weeks, the striker had publicly announced that he would leave Mainz after the season and move to a bigger club – which ultimately failed due to a lack of interested parties – and there was also trouble with the neighborhood because of his attack dog. All in all, the joker threatened when the Mateta had been valid in his first two Bundesliga years to Enfant terrible to become.
In the meantime there can be no more talk of that. Mateta has a seriousness and an ambition in her daily work that seems to contradict his casual image. “You can also see him on the pitch on days off to work on his deficits,” reports sports director Rouven Schröder. Mateta works extra shifts. Voluntary.
“We have to slow it down”
In the summer, when it became clear that no one would buy the striker out of his contract, he did not fall into a hole, but went through the training program normally, says coach Jan-Moritz Lichte. “We didn’t have the feeling that we had to push him extra.” However, the attacker only completed additional units from a point in time that is almost uncomfortable, as the strange and strange wording suggests. He doesn’t want to associate it with myself, but since this change in this story in the coaching field, I don’t know whether something has clicked with him.
Since then, those responsible have had to make sure that Mateta doesn’t do too much. The French prefer to go onto the pitch two or three times a day “and shoot and shoot and shoot,” says Lichte: “We have to slow him down.” So the head coach, in consultation with the athletic trainers and the player, decided to create his own To work out a weekly plan for the 23-year-old that includes more elements than just shooting training. Ball claims to be able to calculate balls better, extensions with the head: “These are topics in which he has already made great progress”, praises Lichte: “We see how we can accommodate all of this during the week without him at the weekend the freshness is missing. ”The last word is up to the physiotherapists – they can exercise their right of veto if they fear that the player will be overloaded.
“He has grown up”
The trainer praises Mateta’s behavior as an “excellent response”. Looking for responsibility in oneself is something that makes one an adult. That is the case with “Schi-Pi”, as they call the French on Bruchweg: “He has grown up.”
This is accompanied by seven goals this season, with the hat trick in the latest 3-1 in Freiburg, Mateta not only gave his team their first win of this round, but also made the jump from last to 15th place in the table before this match day. And he has come a lot closer to his personal goal of surpassing the 14 goals from his first season in Mainz.
In principle, says Jan-Moritz Lichte, Mateta didn’t play any differently in Freiburg than it did in the 2-2 draw against FC Schalke. “The way he walked and his dynamics were to be assessed similarly.” The small but subtle difference was “that this time he took advantage of the opportunities”. This is exactly what the 05er hope for this Sunday evening (6 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and Sky) against TSG Hoffenheim.
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