Mainz is mostly famous for Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, the picturesque wine districts around the city, the Carnival celebrations…. and Jürgen Klopp. This was where the well-respected ex-Liverpool-coach launched his coaching career in 2001 after having played 325 matches for Mainz before he moved on to Borussia Dortmund in 2008.
But there could very well be another Klopp in the making at Mainz in the face of the 50-year old Danish coach, Bo Henriksen, who arrived at the club in February last year from FC Zurich when relegation was almost a certainty.
Klopps and Henriksens appearance on the sidelines and in the media also holds many similarities as both of them display a lot of temper, energy, charisma and certainly the rare ability of making players reach their full potential.
When announcing Henriksen’s appointment, sporting director Christian Heidel described him as a “coach who is a very emotional, open and an opinionated character who radiates an incredibly positive energy”.
Mounting pressure and poor results made players introverted
Indeed Henriksen’s ability to get the best out of his players and turn negativity into the opposite made him the perfect fit for a club knee-deep in trouble with Mainz in 17th spot, nine points away from safety and 13 matches left to play.
Henriksen, who in Switzerland became known as “Happy Bo” given his always bright mood, faced an uphill task taking over from Jan Siewert who was sacked after only recording one win in 12 matches. But the Dane arrived from Zurich with strong credentials after rebalancing a Swiss outfit propping up the standings in the Super League and turning them into a strong side who lost just six times over the next seven months.
When Henriksen set out to find the reason for the downfall at Mainz, he found out that the mounting pressure and the poor results made the players introverted.
"I wanted to find out what they felt was the problem and how we could turn things around. And what I saw was self protection. They had reached a point where they were afraid to fail, they felt uncomfortable on the pitch and blamed things around them in order to protect themselves", said Henriksen to the German media.
"How can I help you?"
As part of the process, Bo Henriksen started asking the players questions which he had never been asked before himself during his active career. "The first thing I asked my players was: 'How can I help you?' which was a question that truly baffled them", says Henriksen.
He discovered that he needed to toughen up his humanistic approach in a country where “ordnung muss sein” but at the same time couldn’t accept a culture where players were worn out mentally because they feared the wrath of the coach.
"The players must feel that I believe in them. In order for us to achieve something as human beings, we need somebody to believe in us, like us and want the best for us. Otherwise, we start acting out of fear or because we need to make some money. Not because we think: 'Wow, how cool is this.' If you can form a group where you feel recognized and involved, then anything can be achieved", said Henriksen.
The personal attention for each player seems to have worked wonders for Mainz and at the same time Henriksen has been able to recreate the “Mainz DNA”, with coaches, officials and players all taking pride in the club’s philosophy that that a dogged, determined style is their only way of competing with teams who has the luxury of operating with much bigger financial resources.
Exactly what Mainz needed
In an interview with Kicker, midfielder Nadiem Amiri, who under the guidance of Henriksen has turned into a German international, explains that the Dane is "exactly the kind of coach Mainz needed".
"I have never experienced a football coach like Henriksen," said Amiri. “He is a very positive person, full of energy and very good professionally. The way he approaches the players, the whole club, is unique. Everybody loves Bo. He's positively crazy and exactly the kind of coach Mainz needed.”
Players seem transformed with Jonathan Burkardt (4th in the goalscoring table with 14 goals this season) rediscovering his goal instinct after recovering from a year out with a serious knee injury. Playmaker Lee Jae-sung has emerged from a miserable slump. Anthony Caci, the French wing-back has a spring in his step again, ad so it goes on.
Overall, they have the second best defense in the league (26 goals conceded), after Bayern (23) and part of that defensive resilience is down to goalkeeper Robin Zentner, who has saved no less than 83 percent of the shots that he’s faced so far this season which is the third-best in the German Bundesliga.
Their defensive record has been crucial to their improvement this season, as they conceded 51 goals last season. In terms of their attacking performance they have also made strides forward scoring 42 goals with an xG of 34,59, much more than statistically expected.
Second best defense in the Bundesliga
After 19 games last season, Mainz had scored 14 times, which is the same as captain Jonathan Burkardt has scored alone this season.
Those goals have helped them record 13 wins, five draws and seven defeats and they’ve actually already nearly doubled the amount of games they won in the entirety of the 2023/24 campaign (seven).
Henriksen’s success at Mainz must be a sweet revenge for a man who in Denmark has been deeply underrated. Whether it has been down to his slight rockstar looks or his sometimes erratic and passionate behavior on the sideline shall be left unsaid, but generally Henriksen has been regarded as a great motivator at best but without the necessary tactical skills to be in charge of a big club. With his current success Henriksen has proven all his critics wrong.
“I am who I am, and I am not going to change”, says Henriksen today to Viaplay. “I’ve heard the criticism often and it comes from ignorance. I have always worked at clubs where you often didn’t have the same conditions as others. That meant you had to outsmart the others and you can’t do that without tactical skills. I have had to work extremely hard to change the image of myself. When you challenge people’s attitudes, you risk getting hurt, perhaps especially in Denmark. But like I say, I am not going to change”, ends Henriksen.
On Saturday Henriksen and Mainz may potentially get their 14th win of the season when they face 5th placed Freiburg at home at the MAWA Arena.