The Monday Bulletin: Hope for Mainz, toothless Bremen, Wirtz to the rescue and Fortuna's free tickets for all fans
Hello and welcome to the fourth edition of the Gegenpressing Monday Bulletin. This newsletter will hopefully prove to be a vital source of information for any serious Bundesliga fan, as we look to round up some of the most intriguing aspects of the matchday thanks to snippets of insight from our writers. Let us know what you think of the format and the talking points in the comments section below.
Mainz rock bottom but Gruda offers hope
After one-and-a-half impressive campaigns under Bo Svensson, Mainz 05 are now a club-record 12 Bundesliga games without a win stretching back to last season, and rock bottom of the league. Particularly vulnerable against high balls and headers (especially when opponents happen to be called Kevin Behrens), the Nullfünfer have also only had themselves to blame for conceding early goals and for some calamitous defensive errors – with Liverpool loanee Sepp van den Berg a regular culprit. Nevertheless, despite still searching for a first win, the last two games do give cause for optimism. A hard-fought and well-deserved 2-2 draw away at Borussia Mönchengladbach last week was followed by arguably Mainz' best performance of the season so far against Bayern Munich on Saturday – despite the 1-3 defeat. One of the biggest straws for optimistic Mainz fans to grasp at is Brajan Gruda, the 19-year-old German U21 international who has stood out offensively in the last two weeks. Gruda's equalizer against Gladbach, a screamer into the top corner, was a contender for goal of the month, while his confidence and cheek shone through in an attempted effort from the halfway line. Against Bayern on Saturday, he set up Anthony Caci's goal to make it 2-1, a key cog in a well-worked move that saw Mainz get back into the game. He came close to halving the deficit again late on when, after shrugging off Kim Min-jae with a powerful dribble, he saw his shot bounce back off the post. A trip to second-bottom Bochum on Friday presents the perfect chance for Gruda and Mainz to get a first win of the season and ignite the relegation battle. (Matt Ford at the Mewa Arena)
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“Fortuna for Everyone” almost a complete success
Last week, I wrote about Fortuna for Everyone for Forbes. For those who haven’t read the article, in short, Fortuna Düsseldorf are hopeful to make all their games free to attend. The concept is supposed to help the club gain bigger control over the MERKUR-SPIEL Arena and also grow the club’s popularity. In a pilot project, Fortuna will be playing three games this season that will be free for everyone to attend. The first match took place on Saturday against Kaiserslautern, and it was almost a complete success. Not only did 52,000 fans pack into the arena, but Fortuna also managed to come back from an initial 3-0 deficit. Richmond Tachie (21’), an own goal by Jamil Siebert (30’), and Marlon Ritter (32’) gave Kaiserslautern an initial 3-0 lead. But four minutes after Ritter’s goal, Ao Tanaka reduced the deficit to two goals, and then in the second half, Matthias Zimmermann made it 2-3 (50’) before Felix Klaus (57’) equalized for Fortuna. Then, in the 63rd minute, Tanaka scored his second to cap off a remarkable comeback by the home team and, at first glance, a perfect evening for Fortuna and their new pilot project. But one little detail could put a damper on an otherwise perfect day for Fortuna. Just after the visitors made it 3-0, Lautern striker Ragnar Ache was hit by a bottle thrown from the stands. According to the DFB statutes, Kaiserslautern has until Monday to protest the result. But whether the game will be overturned, or the match replayed is somewhat doubtful. Kaiserslautern head coach Dirk Schuster was also quick to state that the incident had very little to do with the result. “My analysis is just from a sporting perspective,” Schuster said. “We didn’t lose the game because someone threw a bottle of cola.” (Manuel Veth)
Bremen still haven’t figured out how to replace Füllkrug
Niclas Füllkrug may not have been at his absolute best for Borussia Dortmund on Friday night, but there’s no doubt that Werder Bremen head coach Ole Werner would have given his right arm to have the German international leading the line for his team. So far this season die Werderaner have scored just 12 goals in eight games and in many ways the club have really struggled to replace the aforementioned star striker, who joined Dortmund two games into the new season. This is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Füllkrug still sits second in Bremen’s squad for shots from open play in the Bundesliga this season, despite leaving the club almost two months ago. Marvin Ducksch has tried to accommodate for his former striker partner, but has managed just two goals to date. While fellow strikers Rafael Borré and Dawid Kownacki have just one goal between them so far. Friday’s toothless display at the Westfalenstadion offered an xG of just 0.3, which was the lowest return for a Dortmund opponent in the league this season. And with Union Berlin, Wolfsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt and then Bayer Leverkusen to face before December, Werner’s side look in serious trouble of nosediving into the relegation spots. (Stefan Bienkowski)
Why Stuttgart might be fine without Serhou Guirassy
Stuttgart beat Union Berlin 3-0; Serhou Guirassy scored his 14th goal of the season, building on what has been a remarkable run to start the season. So far, so good. But there was some bad news. Shortly after scoring the opener, Guirassy had to be taken off with what appeared to be a muscle injury in his upper thigh. Initially, the hope was that the precautionary measure would be enough to prevent a longer injury. But on Sunday, Stuttgart confirmed that Guirassy would be out for “several weeks.” This could be a significant setback for the side coached by Sebastian Hoeneß. But Stuttgart haven’t won seven out of eight and scored 25 goals just because of Guirassy. That much was evident after Guirassy had to leave the pitch in the 30th minute as Stuttgart scored two more goals without their talisman striker. Silas scored a fantastic solo goal, and Deniz Undav, who replaced Guirassy in the first half, made it 3-0 with a brilliant header. Both Silas and Undav will play a big part in compensating for Guirassy’s absence. Undav, in particular, is one to watch. Not only has Undav scored three goals in five games this season already, but the 27-year-old, who is on loan from Brighton, was the top goalscorer in Belgium for Union Saint Gilloise in 2021/22 scoring 25 goals and ten assists in 33 regular season games. (Manu Veth)
Wirtz rescues Leverkusen against an impressive Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg probably deserved a point against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. Xabi Alonso’s side certainly looked a little rusty after a busy international break and over the course of the game the hosts racked up an xG of 1.74 - the highest Leverkusen have afforded an opponent since they travelled to the Allianz Arena to face Bayern Munich last month. And had Jonas Wind converted an excellent short-range chance moments before the end of the game, the Wolves would have likely walked off the pitch content with a point. Although Lukas Hradecky’s excellent shot-stopping deserves praise, the real difference maker was once again Florian Wirtz. Rested in the first half after playing back-to-back games for Germany in North America, the young star then entered the fray on the hour mark and from that point on Leverkusen began to quickly pull away from their foes. In the final 30 minutes of the game Leverkusen racked up no less than 57% of their xG of the game, with Wirtz clocking four successful dribbles, two passes into the opposing box and - despite coming on 2/3rds of the way into the game - more touches of the ball than the midfielder he replaced. In fact, when Frimpong fired in the cut-back for Leverkusen’s second goal, it was Wirtz that really should have converted the chance, but ultimately failed to reach the pass before Alejandro Grimaldo fired it into the back of the net. Wolfsburg did well to nullify Leverkusen in the first half, but sometimes you can’t account for young brilliance. (Stefan Bienkowski)