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Bundesliga Player Ratings | Elversberg 4-1 Mainz
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- Bundesliga Player Ratings | Elversberg 4-1 Mainz
Two teams entered Friday evening's Bundesliga encounter level on points after seven matchdays. Both had also suffered 0-2 defeats against 2. Bundesliga opposition in the second round of the DFB-Pokal during the week. Vincent Wagner's newly promoted SV Elversberg ultimately emerged victorious, collecting their fourth league win of the season with a commanding 4-1 triumph over Urs Fischer's Mainz 05 at the URSAPHARMArena.
Bundesliga Player Ratings | Elversberg 4-1 Mainz
Fischer's Rheinhessen have now lost three matches on the spin after an uninspired performance that raises plenty of questions.
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Two coaches respond differently to cup defeats
Mainz trainer Urs Fischer, true to his usual form, didn't tinker too much with the squad that couldn't overcome Uwe Rösler's VfL Bochum. In-form right wingback Anthony Caci returned to take the place of captain Silvan Widmer. Squad talisman Nadiem Amiri also returned to the XI, replacing Jae-Sung Lee, after sitting out the Pokal fixture with knee problems. The other eight outfield positions remained unchanged. Regular No. 1 keeper Robin Zentner finally returned from his hand injury, sending Alexander Schwolow back to the bench. Vincent Wagner, by contrast, opted for five changes from the Darmstadt loss. Felix Keidel, David Mokwa, Maurice Krattenmacher, Maximilian Rohr, and Francis Onyeka came in for Amara Condé, Cole Campbell, Noah Futkeu, Florian Le Joncour, and Frederik Schmahl.
Elversberg manhandle Mainz during lopsided first half
The guests from the west showed little interest in pressing for the ball in the opening five minutes. Fischer's men shelled up in a highly compact 5-3-2 while the Saarland hosts were permitted to pass the ball among their ranks freely. Early stats saw Elversberg lord over 80 percent possession. Whenever Wagner's men pushed forward, they were quickly absorbed by the Mainzer ranks. The hosts were gifted a splendid opportunity via a set piece just outside the 18, in a central position, in the sixth minute when Stefan Posch fouled Francis Onyeka. Surprise German national team call-up Felix Keidel stepped forward to take the free-kick, executing deftly. An expertly bent effort around the Mainzer wall enabled the hosts to secure a seventh-minute 1-0 lead.
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Fischer's team did attempt to respond, finally getting forward with the ball and earning a pair of corners. Regrettably, nothing came of them. Elversberg looked more likely to double their advantage during several counterattacking opportunities. Mokwa punched through on the left in the 13th minute and unleashed a dangerous effort that FSV defender Phillipp Mwene narrowly avoided turning into his own net. At the other end, Posch at long last produced the first Mainzer shot in the 17th minute with a narrow header wide off his side's third corner. The guests remained unsorted at the back. Zentner, in his first match back since matchday three, displayed visible signs of rust with a slapstick control botch in the 22nd minute.
The corner Zentner conceded may have led to nothing, but the 32-year-old and his back three looked like a frozen four when Lukas Petkov broke through on the right in the 26th minute. The SVE winger played Mokwa through, who in turn quickly served up Onyeka. The Bayer Leverkusen loanee took a touch to draw Zentner out a tad, then finished calmly into the opposite corner. There was very nearly a repeat of the first Elversberg goal in the 33rd minute when Onyeka once again drew a foul just outside the penalty area. This time, Keidel sent a free-kick from an almost identical position well over the bar. Mokwa (37th) and Petkov (39th) blasted more shots over as the Mainzer back ranks continued to crumble.
The best the guests could reasonably hope for was to head to the locker rooms without incurring any additional damage. This, regrettably, would not occur. Zentner, slightly tripped up by one of his own players, failed to clear a corner at the stroke of halftime. The ball landed with Krattenmacher, who shook off both Amiri and Paul Nebel before finishing across Zentner into the far-right corner for the 3-0 at 45+1. The Mainzer travelling supporters, who happened to have a front-row seat for all three SVE goals, unhappily sent their team off the pitch with the standard German football chant of "Wir wollen euch kämpfen sehen!" ("We want to see you fight!").
Rheinhessen remain rudderless after the break
Shockingly enough, Fischer sent the exact same XI onto the pitch for the second 45. Mainz's play improved somewhat after the restart, but the Rheinhessen were unable to generate anything on goal beyond a meek Philipp Tietz header in the 53rd minute. Fischer had finally seen enough in the 63rd minute. A quadruple substitution saw Widmer, Ransford Königsdörffer, Benedict Hollerbach, and Lennard Maloney replace Amiri, Mwene, Tietz, and Nebel. Königsdörffer appeared to have pulled a goal back, but the 3-1 was chalked off because he was in an offside position.
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The match gradually ran out of steam and didn't pick up again until second-half injury time. SVE substitute Campbell initiated a beautiful play and supplied an equally beautiful finish at 90+1. After receiving the ball back from fellow substitute Nicolas Mickelson, the USMNT international controlled it with his chest before firing home a gorgeous first-time tricycle kick finish for the 4-0. One minute later, Mainz substitute Hollerbach bungled a rebound of a Königsdörffer effort over the line for a late consolation. Fittingly enough for Mainz, the evening ended with Stefan Posch getting sent off for a second yellow card at 90+5.
SV Elversberg 07 Player Ratings
Nicolas Kristof ( 6) – Luca Sirch ( 6), Lukas Pinckert ( 6), Maximilian Rohr ( 6), Lasse Günter ( 6) – Felix Keidel ( 7), Lukasz Poreba ( 7) – Lukas Petkov ( 7), Francis Onyeka ( 8), Maurice Krattenmacher ( 7) – David Mokwa ( 7)
Substitutes: Nicolas Mickelson ( 6 ), Cole Campbell ( 7 ), Frederik Schmahl ( 6 ), Raif Adam (-), Luca Schnellbacher (-)
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FSV Mainz 05 Player Ratings
Robin Zentner ( 3) – Danny da Costa ( 3), Stefan Posch ( 1), Kacper Potulski ( 2) – Anthony Caci ( 4), Kaishu Sano ( 3), Phillipp Mwene ( 5) – Paul Nebel ( 4), Nadiem Amiri ( 6) – Sheraldo Becker ( 4), Philipp Tietz ( 3)
Substitutes: Silvan Widmer ( 4 ), Ransford Königsdörffer ( 4 ), Benedict Hollerbach ( 6 ), Lennard Maloney ( 4 )
GGFN Bundesliga Player of the Match: Francis Onyeka (8)
The Bayer Leverkusen loanee delivered a decisive performance in Elversberg's emphatic victory, scoring the hosts' second goal and repeatedly troubling Mainz's disorganized defence. His composed 26th-minute finish was particularly impressive, as the 19-year-old drew Robin Zentner off his line before calmly slotting home. Onyeka also won three fouls, including two in dangerous positions outside the penalty area that enabled Felix Keidel to threaten from set pieces.
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The statistics offer an interesting picture. Onyeka scored with his only shot despite generating just 0.06 xG. He also won 75 percent of his eight ground and aerial duels combined, including both aerial challenges. His passing accuracy stood at just 50 percent from 12 attempts, but the attacking midfielder's influence extended well beyond his relatively modest 28 touches.
The performance represents another encouraging development for a player whose opportunities had appeared uncertain during the summer. As GGFN noted in its extensive Elversberg preseason preview , Onyeka initially faced considerable competition for a starting role despite arriving from Leverkusen with significant promise. His emergence also follows a first Germany U21 call-up and involvement in Antonio Di Salvo's recent international fixtures . Friday's display offered further evidence that the young attacker can play an important role in Vincent Wagner's increasingly impressive Bundesliga project .
