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A draw for FC Koln in Berlin and a defeat for Werder Bremen at Augsburg yesterday meant Mainz retained their place in the Bundesliga for next season. That's impressive considering where they were when Robert Glatzel signed for them during the first week of February.
At that stage, Mainz were second from bottom of the table with just 10 points from 19 games and they were 7 points adrift of safety. They're currently unbeaten in their last 9 games and their record since Glatzel arrived is played 13, won 7, drawn 5, lost 1. Those results include a notable 2-1 victory over champions Bayern Munich late last month.
While he's obviously played a part in their resurgence, the truth is Glatzel has hardly set the Bundesliga alight since his return to Germany. He's started just two games since his loan spell began and has scored only two goals. He has made ten substitute appearances, but it appears the German top flight is a grade too high for him.
I reckon a return to 2. Bundesliga is the most likely destination for Neil Warnock's £5.5 million misfit, but whether or not any club in that league would be prepared to pay a fee for him remains to be seen.
Could be a case of another loan spell with us paying a significant amount towards his wages or a settlement so that he pisses off. I have no complaints about Glatzel. He clearly wasn't up to the physicality and pace of the championship. He worked hard and did his best, he was honest and didn't seem like the kind of bloke who would make up excuses. Just not good enough. I hope he's done well out of Warnock and the selection committee, or whatever the hell they're called.
I think that sums it up beautifully and is really fair. Good luck to the lad.Originally Posted by Tuerto
I see Glatzel has been keeping up his recent scoring trend.
His last 3 goals for us came after 6, 6 and 10 minutes of him being on the pitch. His goals this season have come after 1 and 11 minutes. That means 8 of his last 13 goals have come within 15 minutes of him playing (either as a starter or a substitute). Only 2 of those 13 goals came after he'd played more than one half of football.
Seems that he is pretty adept at catching defenders out early on but struggles the longer the game goes on.
If the driver for making him available for transfer is a desire to reduce the wage bill, then fair enough (although Tuerto is probably right about the likelihood of us having to pay a portion of his wages in a loan deal). However, if the decision to sell him is down to his ability as a footballer, then I wonder if we’ll get better than him to act as a back up to Keiffer Moore.
This is a really good point. Eric's stats are really interesting and I wish we had managers who took this into consideration. For example, when 5 subs were introduced. Managers could have been far more lateral in their thinking and used their benches to greater effect (I'm thinking an early Arsene Wenger type here). If a manager communicated this effectively, to say, Glatzel and the rest of the team and said you're getting 15-30 minutes at the start and then A.N. Other is coming on, it may well have given us the edge when teams had worked us out and were comfortable playing against us.
I know that everyone thinks pulling a player early on (whether he's scored or not) would be regarded negatively but we had a great opportunity to do try stuff and not many people did (feck my brain's gone today because a manager put 5 on against us recently and I can't remember who it was but it changed the game).
Anyway, I can't fault Glatzels work ethic and I don't know anymore whether I believe he couldn't play in the Championship or whether I've heard it so much I now believe it. It's been so long since I've seen any non-telly football I can't be sure of anything.
Definitely think that A.N.Other never gets a fair crack though!
I always thought he was a decent footballer and would come good . Maybe lacked a bit of physicality .
Looks like I could be wrong with this one , is it because I constantly hear it as well ?
Glatzel started the home game against Dortmund today, but was hooked at half-time with the visitors leading 2-0. Dortmund eventually ran out 3-1 winners. Haaland, Sancho and Bellingham featured for them.
It was Tony Mowbray for Blackburn after 78 minutes of the game.
I also have been following his progress game by game and, while his arrival has coincided with a massive upturn in fortune for Mainz, it seems to me (without having watched any of the matches) that he hasn’t pulled up any trees. Often coming on around the 75-80 minute mark in recent week seems to suggest he is seen as an option to stretch tired defenders or simply rest the starting striker (Szalai). I doubt very much that we’ll be getting offers of anything like the outlay but any loan offer should mean payment of wages in full. If not, we should keep him as backup to KM, although MM has been quite clear that that’s not an option he wishes to pursue.
Who knows - Maybe there was a financial clause in the loan agreement that meant if they stayed up a fee were to be paid
Great post. Made me smile.
That's the one!
The guy is clearly a tiny 6'4" lightweight with all the physical attributes of a runner bean. His 10 goals for us were only achieved after snogging a rabbit's foot and he has the football brain of a sea cucumber. We didn't know how lucky we were when we watched a red-faced, sweaty Gary Madine huff and puff his way to the equivalent of Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest. I've heard this a million times - no exaggeration.
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