Sinking Cinderellas
October 24, 2011
Last season, Mainz were like a miniature version of Dortmund, an attractive offensive unit that ended up in the top five. But on Saturday, while Dortmund were doing to Cologne what high-school biology students do to fetal pigs, Mainz were slogging their way through an assaultively dull goalless draw with Hertha Berlin.
Trying to put a positive spin on the match, Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel engaged in some creative mathematics.
"We had at least two one-thousand percent chances," Tuchel growled to reporters. "A performance like that is actually good enough to win in Berlin."
In fact, over ninety minutes, Mainz generated two decent opportunities, both of which were foiled by alert Hertha keeper Thomas Kraft. In the end Mainz were lucky not to concede a late goal against a Berlin squad that looked as if it would rather be combing the city's famous flea markets for bargains than wasting a lovely fall afternoon playing soccer.
Still, one point was more than Freiburg could manage in Kaiserslautern. A 1-0 loss sent the team that ended up in ninth in 2010-11 down to the very bottom of the table.
Freiburg coach Marcus Sorg also took refuge in numbers.
"We played really well in eight of our ten matches thus far," Sorg told journalists. "At the moment, whenever we make a mistake, we get punished mercilessly."
There is some truth to that statement, but "playing well" is, of course, a relative concept, and Sorg neglected to mention that of those ten matches, four were against the four other worst clubs in the league. Freiburg's yield in those games: a point.
So what has happened to send these two onetime overacheivers back to the remedial class? And what can their coaches do about it?
Unwelcome change
From the beginning of this campaign, it was obvious that Mainz couldn't keep on where they left off last spring. Tuchel lost his top forward (Andre Schürrle), his key playmaker (Lewis Holtby) and his best defender (Christian Fuchs) in the off-season.
On paper, Mainz did a good job reloading. But they've yet to get the most of their new acquisitions, especially midfielder Zoltan Stieber, who led the second division in assists last season.
That's perhaps the reason that Mainz were unable to exploit Berlin's listlessness. There was little of last season's incisive passing or combination play on display in the German capital.
And Fuchs' departure is part of a weakened defense as well. Mainz have thus far conceded 19 goals to 12 scored. Those numbers are almost of mirror image of Mainz's stats from the same point last year, when they had scored 19 and let in 10.
With football games often being decided by razor-thin advantages, that difference has been enough to send Mainz slipping down the table.
Unwelcome continuities
When former coach Robin Dutt left for Leverkusen this summer, Freiburg promoted Sorg from their own amateur side. While the move made for a stable transition, some of Freiburg's main problems have also been carried over as well.
First and foremost is their overdependence on striker Papiss Demba Cisse. The Senegalese scoring machine has been involved in ten of Freiburg's 14 goals thus far, a far higher percentage than any one player on any other team.
That makes Freiburg very predictable. Against Kaiserslautern, they did create some promising-looking situations, especially in the first half. But as the game wore on, Cisse found himself chaperoned by multiple defenders and had no clear looks at goal.
As a result, one could argue, Freiburg's no longer can call up lucky punches and are now losing the close games they were winning last season.
As with Mainz, the difference in the quality of the squad is not huge from this year to the previous one, but again little things can mean big gaps in terms of points earned.
Unwelcome challenges
After getting promoted in 2009, both Mainz and Freiburg defied with surprising ease pundits' predictions that they would be heading straight back down. Now they're confronted with the sort of relegation battles the would-be fortune-tellers foretold two seasons past.
That could represent their biggest challenge. Psychologically, it's not easy to go within the space of a few months from trying (and failing) to qualify for the Europa League, as Mainz did this fall, to fighting the drop.
And it's hard for top players to maintain their motivation. if they feel their teams are letting them down. This could become a problem with Cisse in particular.
The striker's attitude has been professional, but he's indicated that he'd like a transfer to a bigger, title contending team. If Freiburg spend the winter in the drop zone, the conflict of interest could turn critical.
With their fun-loving fans and fresh approach, Freiburg and Mainz are considered two of the league's leading nice guys. But as both clubs are finding out this season, being liked doesn't get you the points you need.
Author: Jefferson Chase
Editor: Matt Hermann