Djuricic: 'Difficult without Shinji'
Mainz - Without Shinji Okazaki, scoring goals was always going to be a problem for 1. FSV Mainz 05, as Filip Djuricic and Co. discovered in their 0-0 draw with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Friday night.
1. FSV Mainz 05
bundesliga.com rounds up what the players made of the goalless draw at the Coface Arena...
Filip Djuricic: We're a bit disappointed not to have won and I missed a good chance in the first half, but it wasn't an easy game. It was also difficult without Shinji. I played as a false nine and it was a good opportunity for me, but it's always easier if you have Shinji in your team.
Jonas Hofmann: I think whoever scored the first goal here tonight would have won the match. Hoffenheim had a few good chances and we also had a couple, but we did a good job and defended well. Up front, we know what quality we've got and we're always good for a goal. Sadly we didn't get it tonight, but we're happy with a point. We've now got to defend with 11 men against Gladbach and try to hit them with our excellent attack.
Junior Diaz: Shinji is obviously an important player for us but the other guys in the team did their bit today. The fans were great for us today and we're still unbeaten, which is good. We're working under a new coach and with a new philosophy and we need to keep going. A point is a decent result.
Niko Bungert: You could see that neither side wanted to lose this one. We were hoping to get all three points tonight as we were playing at home, but you could tell we were a bit tired after the tough week we've had. I think both teams were happy to settle for a point.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Tarik Elyounoussi: We're happy with a point from this game. Mainz away is a tough match to win, they had their fans behind them and the atmosphere was really good. It was a tough pitch to play on as well. We've had a good start to the season but we need to keep working hard. It was a tough week with three games against good teams, but we're happy.
Adam Szalai: It was a very difficult game for both teams. Both sides put a lot of effort into the match and there were a lot of tough challenges, so I think a draw was probably a fair result.
Oliver Baumann: We wanted to cut out the mistakes we made against Freiburg [on Matchday 5] and I thought we succeeded. We were more disciplined today, but I felt we lost possession too often in attack and didn't make the most of the counter-attacks we had. The most important thing is that we managed to get a point, though.
