Germany: Bundesliga
FT
3 - 1
(2 - 0)
Stuttgart
Mainz 05
M. Mittelstädt (45), J. Leweling (45), D. Undav (73)
L. Ajorque (76)
By Peter Weis@PeterVicey

Schmidt refuses to back Siewert after latest loss: "A few things have to change."

FSV Mainz 05 attacker Jonathan Burkardt made no effort to hide his disgust following his side's league defeat to VfB Stuttgart yesterday. 

Rheinhessen sporting director Martin Schmidt, meanwhile, declined to specifically back head-coach Jan Siewert to remain in charge. 
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Another defeat yesterday poured more gasoline on the tire-fire that is relegation threatened FSV Mainz 05's current league form. Recently returned striker Jonathan Burkardt - who also happened to recently affirm his commitment to the club he has served since his academy days - made no effort to hide his disgust. The 23-year-old let the same expletive flow when conducting his post-match interview with German broadcaster DAZN.

"It's brutally disappointing to have been beaten here again," Burkardt noted,  "It's just shit at the moment. A shit situation. After the 0-1, we completely buckled and got in over our heads. The last 20-30 minutes of the first-half were a disgrace. We're talking about the same shit every week and we don't execute."

Burkardt did try and make it clear that he did not blame head-coach Jan Siewert for the team's performance, specifically stating that the newly installed gaffer could only influence so much "inside the lines of the playing surface". Club sporting director Martin Schmidt - meanwhile - was far less supportive of his trainer after watching the team's winless run extended to 11 games.

Mainz defeated RB Leipzig in Siewert's first match in charge of the team after taking over for Bo Svensson. The Nullfünfter haven't been able to bag three points since. November, December, and now January have passed. Schmidt made no effort to hide his dissatisfaction with the state-of-affairs in his own post-match interview.

"We didn't get and points and won't get any further like this," Schmidt said, "This was another game that fit the pattern of recent weeks. A good phase followed up by passivity. We'll certainly sit down and analyze the game tomorrow, then see what the next steps are. We can't go on like this. We need wins. We've not been winning for weeks. A few things have to change."

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