This Tuesday, the professionals from FSV Mainz 05 are flying to Andalusia, where they will prepare for the remaining 18 Bundesliga matchdays until Sunday at the familiar Marbella Football Center facility. Jan Siewert will be there for the first time, whom the club promoted from interim to head coach two days before Christmas and gave him a contract until mid-2026 – which was a logical decision.
Because: In the seven games under his leadership so far, the team has become stable. In addition to the 24 goals conceded from the nine previous matches, only four were added, which makes a strong average of 0.57 and three points became ten. That’s not enough to stay in the class, but at least to spend the winter break in the relegation place. And that is no coincidence. The former U-23 coach gave the professionals a signature within a short space of time, reacting tactically variably to the opponents and the seemingly endless personnel problems – be it injuries or poor form.
In his first game, when he only had one training session to get the team in the mood for RB Leipzig, a lot of things were still in his head and the following appearance in Darmstadt was all too reminiscent of the appearances under his predecessor: Since then, the approach and performance have been right with small drawbacks. Even if this was only partially reflected in the results.
What’s still missing are goals
Being confronted with new failures every week was something Siewert accepted without complaint. Rather, they inspired him to come up with new ideas such as letting Dominik Kohr or Tom Krauß play on the six or in the center of the defensive line as needed during the 90 minutes, thus turning a four-man formation into a five-man formation. He handled the switch from a back three to a back four pragmatically, depending on resources and needs.
One may criticize the decision to rely on the experienced newcomer Daniel Batz instead of homegrown Lasse Rieß as a replacement for the injured Robin Zentner. This contradicted the club’s statement in the summer that they did not want to put a number two in front of the young keeper. But Siewert did nothing wrong with his choice. Batz played solidly to well in the first few games, and in the 1-1 draw in Dortmund at the end of the year he ensured that Mainz did not fall behind and saved the draw in stoppage time.
Published/Updated: Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1 Peter H. Eisenhuth, Mainz Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1
What is still missing from the Mainz game under Jan Siewert are goals. In any case, more than 0.57 on average, and the number of scoring chances in the past few weeks was large enough for a significantly higher yield. There are explanations for this shortcoming that cannot be blamed on the coach.
Almost all of the offensive forces have been at a low point so far this season for various reasons, if they have been able to play at all. Replacing Siewert during the winter break wouldn’t have changed anything. A new coach should also have worked on it and ensured that the attackers could reach their potential again from mid-January.
