The new Mainz coach Urs Fischer sees himself as a kind of alternative to his predecessor Bo Henriksen. “I’m not a volcano, I won’t be like Bo. That’s not me, then I would have to play something. And it’s important that you stay authentic as a coach,” said the 59-year-old when he was introduced: “I’m down-to-earth, authentic, a bit pragmatic. If I demand something, I do it consistently. Then I can also be disgusting.”
Sports director Christian Heidel once again emphasized that the Bundesliga bottom team was looking for a completely different coaching style. “Bo is a very special guy, very extroverted,” said the 62-year-old: “If we had brought a similar guy to Mainz, it wouldn’t have been good. We need a contrast and a different approach. Anyone who is as similar to Bo would have had a hard time matching him in that sense.”
Fischer emphasized that he was well aware of the “difficult situation” at Rheinhessen: “It’s a relegation battle if you’re six points behind. You have to catch up first. There are still 21 games and a lot of points to distribute.” The club is familiar with “such situations. But it’s no guarantee that things will go well again just because things went well last time.” He doesn’t want to turn everything upside down at first.
In the current situation, changes can only be made “very carefully”; a system change to a back four is therefore not an issue for the time being. Fischer explained that he doesn’t want to “overload the team with information. It’s about taking small steps and introducing little things first,” explained Fischer: “It’s important that the boys have something to hold on to.” Above all, he wants to get “the simple things”, the so-called “basics”, onto the pitch.
