BVB mark Stöger's debut with 2-0 victory in Mainz

Dennis-Julian Gottschlich reporting

The 32,976 fans at the Opel Arena saw a close-fought but goalless opening half in which BVB were on the front foot while Mainz had the better opportunities. The visitors made a bright start to the second period and broke the deadlock when Sokratis drove home on 55 minutes. The hosts turned on the pressure in the aftermath, but BVB looked more stable than they have done in recent weeks and wrapped up a point courtesy of a Kagawa strike in the dying minutes (89).

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The scenario:
Having announced the departure of Peter Bosz following a nine-match winless run, Borussia Dortmund unveiled Peter Stöger as their new coach at a press conference on Sunday. The Austrian's first task was to take his charges, who sit eighth in the Bundesliga, to 14th-placed Mainz. All the statistic pointed towards a victory for Borussia, who had only lost one of their last 14 clashes with FSV and had conceded fewer than a goal per game on average in their previous battles with the Zerofivers.

Personnel matters:
Peter Stöger was without eight players on his debut in the dugout, with Bruun Larsen (knee), Castro (lateral collateral ligament tear), Durm (hip operation), Götze (partial ligament tear), Philipp (knee), Piszczek (lateral collateral ligament tear), Reus (rehab) and Rode (stress reaction) all sidelined with injury. The 51-year-old made three changes to the team that lost to Werder Bremen at home on Saturday, reintroducing Weigl, Toprak and Toljan in place of Dahoud, Subotic and Bartra. Mainz, meanwhile, were without Adler and Onisiwo.

Tactics:
Borussia returned to their 4-3-3 formation with Weigl as the holding midfield player and Kagawa (right) and Guerreiro (left) on either side in the middle of the park. Wide forwards Yarmolenko and Pulisic dropped back into midfield whenever Mainz had possession, leaving BVB in a 4-1-4-1 system each time their hosts came forward. Mainz played with a back three that expanded to a back five when BVB attacked. In front were three defensive-minded midfielders and two centre-forwards.

The match & analysis:
For long spells, Borussia Dortmund struggled to create goalscoring opportunities against a highly compact Mainz unit despite having significantly more possession, with their first sniff of goal coming after 18 minutes when Aubameyang fired wide of the mark from a shot on the turn 12 metres out. The Zerofivers, meanwhile, looked convincing at both ends of the pitch, with Serdar in particular posing a threat going forward. The match was only one minute old when the youngster had his first effort from distance, although the ball sailed high over the frame of the goal on that occasion. He followed that up with further attempts after 7 and 13 minutes respectively, first striking the crossbar from 20 metres and then missing the target after failing to get sufficient contact on a shot from a centre-left position seven metres out.

Borussia's desire to bring their winless run to an end was clear from their performance, as was the fact that their confidence had taken a knock following a long period of sub-par results. Kagawa underlined their attacking intent with a shot from around 25 metres in the 31st minute, which went wide, while Mainz tried to capitalise on the uncertainty in the BVB ranks with a couple of headers, although both Diallo (26) and Berggreen (30) failed with attempts from promising positions. Shortly before the interval Weigl lofted a ball over the top towards Aubameyang, although the Gabon international struggled to bring the ball under his control and toe-poked his effort wide of the mark from 16 metres out (41). BVB had an even better opportunity on the stroke of half-time when Guerreiro hit a low drive from 20 metres out, though the Portugal international was denied by a sprawling save from Zentner in the Mainz goal (45+1).

Sokratis hammers home

The two opportunities for Aubameyang and Guerreiro were a sign of what was to come after the interval. BVB grew stronger in the opening minutes of the second half, for the most part looking solid in defence while creating danger going forward. Weigl rounded off a tidy move in the 51sth minute with a shot from the edge of the penalty area that sailed narrowly wide, before the visitors took the lead from a free-kick on the left four minutes later. Kagawa's cross was headed against the post by Toprak, and when the ball landed at the feet of Sokratis the Greece international hammered it down into the ground and into the net to break the deadlock. The goal, the first of Peter Stöger's tenure, was the second time the defender had found the net this season. Curiously, the first came against his new coach when the latter was in coach of Cologne earlier this term.

The goal served as a welcome boost to Borussia Dortmund's confidence, but it also marked the start of a spell of pressure from Mainz. Bürki saved a header from Hack (66), before Brosinski missed from the edge of the area (70) and Diallo fired narrowly over from seven metres out (73). As the minutes ticked on Mainz looked a little flat and open, allowing BVB to strike on the counter. Kagawa spurned a chance to seal the points when he was denied by Zentner in the 79th minute following a move involving Aubameyang and Yarmolenko, with Dahoud later missing from 18 metres (87). But the visitors finally wrapped up the victory a minute from time when Aubameyang dribbled past Zentner and rolled the ball towards Kagawa, who tapped home from close range to make it 2-0 (89).

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Prospects:
Saturday evening (18:30 CET) sees TSG Hoffenheim travel to SIGNAL IDUNA PARK for the top match of Round 17. BVB will then put their Bundesliga campaign on the back burner as they travel to Munich, where they face a DFB Cup last 16 tie against FC Bayern in their final match before the winter break.

Teams & goals