Merlin Polzin led his new-look Hamburg side out for their first home league fixture at the Volksparkstadion on Sunday afternoon, hosting a Mainz team with a familiar feel to them.
As Nicolai Remberg and Nadiem Amiri led their teams onto the pitch, Hamburg's Nordtribüne paid a touching tribute to the late Kevin Keegan with a wonderful choreo before kick-off . The Englishman, revered in the Hanseatic City after his exploits in the late 70s, sadly passed away in July.
Hamburg suffered a 2-0 defeat away to Borussia Dortmund on the opening day, and Polzin saw fit to make four changes to the starting XI that turned out in the Ruhrgebiet. A busy deadline day saw three new arrivals at the Volksparkstadion, with David Møller Wolfe and Zakaria El Ouahdi thrown straight in for their debuts; Fabio Vieira , meanwhile, began on the bench.
The visitors made two changes themselves to their starting XI that drew 0-0 at home to newly promoted Paderborn last weekend, with Kacper Potulski and Stefan Posch replacing Dominik Kohr and Danny Da Costa in defence.
Urs Fischer's side made the stronger start to the game, with a mistake from Jordan Torunarigha allowing Sheraldo Becker to force a good save from Daniel Heuer Fernandes within the first ten minutes. Moments later, Mainz worked a good opportunity from a corner for Amiri to strike at goal, though the German international sliced his effort wide.
After Becker squandered another decent chance from the edge of the box, he gave his side a thoroughly deserved lead on the twenty-minute mark. Following a rare mistake from Hamburg captain Remberg in the middle of the park, Kaishu Sano had the chance to put it on a silver platter for Becker, who fired past Heuer Fernandes.
That goal seemed to spark a bit of life into the hosts, as they soon began to gain some control in midfield, though they failed to create any real goalscoring chances. Polzin's team were made to pay for that lack of threat on the stroke of half-time, as Mainz once again broke down the right flank through Becker. His low cross to the far post gave Philipp Mwene the simplest of tap-ins.
That goal seemed to spark a bit of life into the hosts, as they soon began to gain some control in midfield, though they failed to create any real goalscoring chances. Polzin's team were made to pay for that lack of threat on the stroke of half-time, as Mainz once again broke down the right flank through Becker. His low cross to the far post gave Phillip Mwene the simplest of tap-ins.
A drastic change was needed at half-time for the hosts after an extremely lacklustre opening 45 minutes, and Polzin obliged with a triple substitution. Introducing Fabio Vieira, Patson Daka , and Shafiq Nandja in place of Martin Adeline , Bilal Nadir , and Torunarigha.
Despite the changes, Hamburg were caught napping at the beginning of the second half, and Phillip Tietz turned home from close range to widen the margin even further.
The remainder of the game followed a similar pattern to the first, with Mainz in complete control and not offering the hosts a sniff of a chance, whilst looking dangerous in the final third.
Hamburg's suffering was compounded late on when a snapshot from the edge of the box by Tietz seemed to surprise Heuer Fernandes, as he somehow let it slip through his hands to give the visitors a fourth goal. Tensions heightened in stoppage time when Ransford Königsdorffer got in on the act with a fifth goal for his team, cueing a controversial celebration from the Ghanaian against his former club, much to the anger of Remberg and Vieira.
Alarm bells are ringing for Hamburg; there are no two ways about it: it's a shocking start. Polzin is sure to be the recipient of many questions in the coming days as he looks to turn his side's fortunes around. The task doesn't get any easier for Die Rothosen, with a trip to Leipzig to come next week.
A brilliant performance from Fischer's side sees them rise to fourth place in the Bundesliga at this early stage of the season. Mainz's rise since the Swiss coach took charge midway through last season is nothing short of remarkable, and how far they can go this season will be interesting to see.
Daniel Heuer Fernandes (2) – Nicolas Capaldo (3), Sebastiaan Bornauw (3), Jordan Torunarigha (2) – Zakaria El Ouahdi (4), Bilal Nadir (3), Nicolai Remberg (3), David Møller Wolfe (3) – Martin Adeline (3), Albert Grønbæk (4) – Terem Moffi (3)
Others: Fabio Vieira (5), Patson Daka (5), Shafiq Nandja (4), Otto Stange (6)
Alexander Schwolow (6) – Stefan Posch (7), Fabio Gruber (7), Kacper Potuslki (6) – Anthony Caci (6), Kaishu Sano (7), Phillipp Mwene (7) – Jae Sung Lee (6), Nadiem Amiri (6) – Sheraldo Becker (9), Phillip Tietz (9)
Others: Ransford Königsdorffer (6), Danny Da Costa (-), Rael Nakuzola (-), Lennard Maloney (-), Otto Ruoppi (-)
Mainz's focal point throughout the game, Becker caused huge problems for the Hamburg back line for the entirety of his 67 minutes.
Becker gave his team a deserved lead early on and had a hand in the next two goals as Mainz ran out comfortable winners in the end.
GGFN | Harry Good
