In the first leg, Schalke fans were also responsible for Mainz’s defeat. Now Svensson talks about the opponent before Friday’s match in Mainz.
In the desperate fight against relegation, Schalke coach Thomas Reis is now willing to use (almost) any means. Gradual reintegration of players returning from injury? No more. “We can’t bring the players in slowly, we’re up to our necks in water,” announced the Schalke 04 coach ahead of the tricky “final game” at FSV Mainz 05.
Necessary risk is the order of the day in order to preserve the chances of staying in the league this Friday (20.30/DAZN). Reis did not even bother to play down the danger behind his new straw strategy. “We have to see that we put the best players on the pitch,” he said: “Therefore, I also have to risk that one or the other player drops out.”
“We definitely want to get three points. We need to improve our away record,” Reis said. Bo Svensson, coach of FSV Mainz, also knows that. “Schalke have four games left in which everything is at stake for them. They will play accordingly.”
Mainz had lost the first leg 0:1, it was one of Schalke’s few successes in the first half of the season. “They deserved to win then,” says Svensson, who is glad not to have to play Schalke again. “60,000 spectators whipped them forward in the Schalke Arena. That already plays a role.”
Schalke loanee Tauer comes from FSV
Nevertheless, the coach sees a change since 9 November. “We have become much more stable since the first leg at Schalke. We had more up and downs in the first leg. Nevertheless, it will be a tough task tomorrow. We need a top performance against highly emotional Schalke players. I’m curious to see how we will handle it.”
Most recently, Mainz had conceded a 3-0 defeat at VfL Wolfsburg. Svensson: “We didn’t bring what we had in mind onto the pitch.” That should change now. Svensson is also keeping an eye on Schalke’s Niklas Tauer, who Mainz loaned to Gelsenkirchen in January. The 22-year-old was supposed to strengthen the S04 defence – in other words, gain match practice.
However, nothing came of it. In the training camp shortly after his arrival, Tauer tore a muscle fibre and has been struggling with physical complaints ever since. “Unfortunately, everything didn’t turn out as hoped for Schalke and for us,” says Svensson. So far he hasn’t played a big role at Schalke, he’s often been injured, just like here. “