Blog: Mainz ready to set new Bundesliga record
FSV Mainz 05 have surprised everybody and taken the Bundesliga by storm in the first seven games of the season. A maximum points haul from those first seven now sees them on the cusp of setting a new Bundesliga record – no team in its history has won their first eight matches of a season. Martin Shillito highlights why Thomas Tuchel’s side are perfectly capable of continuing their remarkable winning streak.
With it being only their second season back at the top level of German football after a two year stint in the 2. Bundesliga and having a team replete with relatively unknown entities, the powers-that-be at Bruchweg could certainly have been forgiven for setting the team a mid-table target once again following a very successful ninth-place finish in the last campaign.
Yet Thomas Tuchel, the league’s youngest manager at 37 years-old, has made some amazingly shrewd acquisitions to his squad during the summer, and those players, coupled with his tactical nous and bounding enthusiasm for the game, has resulted in an astonishing start to the season that sees Mainz three points clear at the top having not dropped a single point.
Tuchel and his charges welcome Hamburg to Bruchweg on Saturday aware of the new league record they could well set, but you can be sure the manager will focus his players’ minds solely on the three points rather than any superficial records. Although he comes across as supremely relaxed, you also get the impression he is meticulous in his preparation of his team and thoroughly professional.
The 20 year-old midfielder Lewis Holtby, acquired from Schalke 04 on loan for the season, has played an important role in Mainz’s incendiary start. The German fledgling has scored two and set up six of his side’s 18 goals so far. He is a constant thorn in the side of opponents, with his magnet-like feet and knack of getting into good areas to create a goalscoring opportunity. He is certainly thriving under Tuchel’s tutelage, and Schalke, who are currently languishing in the bottom three, will be rueing letting him go.
Sami Allagui, Adam Szalai and Andre Schürrle, all young forwards at the club, have also gained their spurs since August. New additions Allagui, 24, and on-loan 22 year-old Szalai have both netted three times, whereas 19 year-old Schürrle, who has been with the club since 2006, has bagged four goals himself.
The boys from Mainz really do have the attributes to keep on capturing three points every week. Perhaps the most valuable of all those attributes is the unwavering belief and team spirit they have been injected with by Tuchel. To be 3-1 down at half-time at Wolfsburg and then go on to win 4-3 epitomises that splendidly well. The record is on the horizon.
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