Weinzierl: "We want to win back dropped points"
The FCA coach wants his team to be greedier
First Team
21.10.2021, 11:28
FCA will visit 1. FSV Mainz 05 to begin matchday nine on Friday (20:30 CEST), just five days after the draw against Arminia Bielefeld. Coach Markus Weinzierl wants his team to pick up where they left off in the first half of the Bielefeld match.
FCA haven’t had time to dwell on the missed opportunity against Arminia. The Fuggerstädter will travel to Mainz on Friday, where Weinzierl wants to put things right. “We let points slip away against Bielefeld and we want to win them back against Mainz,” said the Augsburg coach.
Weinzierl was happy with the performance from his team in the first half against Bielefeld, but not with how they played in the second half. “We are all in agreement that it’s only going to work if we play like we did in the first half,” clarified the 46-year-old. “It’s tough to get points playing as we did in that second half. That won’t be good enough in Mainz.”
Weinzierl will demand his team to be active throughout the game. “We have to play for 90 minutes and if we go in front in a game we can’t change our way of playing.” The coach won’t accept a passive performance in the manner of the second half last week. “I want to eradicate that from the team. We have to be greedier.”
Dorsch and Jensen still out
Niklas Dorsch and Fredrik Jensen will remain unavailable for Friday as they are still suffering from illness. After consecutive starts, Arne Maier is likely to be in the starting eleven again at Mainz. The midfielder is expecting “a physical game. Mainz will demand a lot of us, but if we perform like we did in the first half against Bielefeld then we will leave with the points.”
Mainz have lost three games in a row, but with ten points from eight games the Zerofivers are still in a good position. “Their development since January has been immense,” Weinzierl praised the opposition. “They are very stable and it’s going to be a tough task. We have to hold them off, get stuck into our individual battles and be active in the match – if we are passive then it’s going to be difficult.”
