“That wasn’t us out there tonight”

It was a disappointing result for the Zerofivers at the VELTINS-Arena on Wednesday evening. “It’s all on us today,” assessed Dominik Kohr after the 1-0 defeat to Schalke 04. Mainz’s performance left a lot to be desired all over the pitch and Martin Schmidt shared his disappointment after the game: “We were inferior across all departments,” summarised the sporting director. Despite having three strikers on the field in the second half, FSV remained toothless and failed to create anything clear-cut. There will also be enquiries into the defending that led to Simon Terodde’s decisive first half goal. Schalke were predictably tough to breakdown across the 90 minutes but Mainz ultimately failed to find a solution. “That wasn’t us out there tonight, we’re made of sterner stuff than that,” said Martin Schmidt after the game. Attention now turns to Sunday when Mainz are set to take on Eintracht Frankfurt at the MEWA ARENA (15:30 CET).

Reaction from Schalke defeat:

Martin Schmidt: “We were inferior across all departments tonight. We weren’t good enough both with and without the ball and also in terms of passing accuracy. We didn’t really create anything big all game, only a few half chances from crosses, such as when Marcus and Jonny couldn’t quite get on the end of some balls into the area. We knew what we were up against before the game. We knew it would be about the compactness and the duels. We should have applied more pressure at the top of the pitch but we didn’t really manage it all game. We didn’t deal with the man-marking all over the pitch. We couldn’t get forwards or deep into their half. They beat us in the typical Schalke fashion. The fact that the only goal of the game came from an individual mistake sums it up tonight. We now have to deal with it and we have four days to put it right. That wasn’t us out there tonight, we’re made of sterner stuff than that. If we don’t change things then we’ll struggle against Frankfurt.”

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We definitely have to do things differently on Sunday

Dominik Kohr: “It’s all on us today that we didn’t bring our mentality and passion onto the pitch. Schalke played as we expected them to. I felt that if we got the equaliser then we could have turned the game in our favour. But we have to come to terms with the fact that we weren’t up to scratch. It’s not a nice feeling. It’s now about analysing the game and getting a positive result against Frankfurt so we can go into the break on a high”

Danny da Costa: “We lost the game and we can’t complain because we failed to do what is required of us at this level. We knew it was going to be intense and that Schalke would do all they could in order to win the game. Normally playing this sort of opponent suits us. Not delivering what we discussed beforehand isn’t good enough. The second balls decide which way the game swings and we were often too late or not even close to winning them. We lacked the precision and failed to create any good goal scoring opportunities. This made it very difficult to win the game. We definitely have to do things differently on Sunday.