Ten million visitors

Even with several days having passed by, looking back at the first game of the Bundesliga season still proves to be difficult for players and officials at Hannover 96. The undeserved defeat against Hertha Berlin is only appeased by the generally good performance the Reds displayed in the German capital. Now, Hannover are keen to capture the first points of the season while hosting Mainz on Saturday. Coincidentally, the ten millionth visitor for a Hannover 96 home game is expected to show up on Saturday. The bond between fans and squad is more important than ever, in order to prevent a scrappy start into this years campaign. Chances for that are good, since the opponent have been experiencing some turbulent weeks recently.

Unavailable due to a torn muscle fibre: Jan Rosenthal

Change of coach before first match-day

Mainz made Bundesliga history by sacking their head coach Jörn Andersen before the first match-day had even begun, after his team was knockout in the first round of the DFB Cup. The new man in charge at Mainz is the inexperienced, 35-year-old Thomas Tuchel, former U19 coach in Mainz. A risky approach since Tuchel has no experience as a coach in professional football. Mainz' injury list is similarly lengthy as Hannover's. The new head coach is forced to do without players like Dimo Wache, Eugen Polanski, Filip Trojan and Bo Svensson. The known "Carnival-Club" is facing a tough season and surely their declared season goal can only be: staying in the league.

Injuries and a new signing

The Reds sickbay is not exactly becoming less crowded. Coach Dieter Hecking will still need to replace several important players. Apart from the long term injured Jan Schlaudraff (groin problems) the injury list continues with Sofien Chahed (broken foot), Altin Lala (rehab), Vinicius (back problems), Sergio Pinto (meniscus surgery) and Leon Andreasen (being treated in Denmark). On Thursday, Dieter Hecking received the message that Jan Rosenthal will also be unavailable as he sustained a torn muscle fibre.

There were however also some positive news this week. Valdet Rama was able to participate in the teams training sessions again and he is an option for Saturday. Furthermore, the Ivorian new signing Didier Ya Konan joined the club on Tuesday and since then he took part in the squads training sessions. Konan was however not able to meet the entire squad yet, since apart form the injuries there were also six players travelling to all parts of the World in order to play for their respective national teams. Which had the effect that the group of players running around the training facilities this week was fairly manageable. "I'll leave all my options open until the end," said coach Dieter Hecking when asked if Ya Konan was fit to play on Saturday. The speedy and agile striker would be useful this weekend, especially since his attacking colleague Mike Hanke has been struggling with a groin problem since Tuesdays training session and is in danger of missing the clash against Mainz.

Vinicius is also not available at the moment

Things are calming down

After turbulent days: the lengthy discussions about a possible return of Jan Simak, the long injury list, the national team departures and the completed transfer of a long needed left winger – it appears as if Hannover is finally ready to enjoy a successful start to this seasons Bundesliga home debut. Tickets for the game against Mainz are going away quickly and the weather forecast for Saturday is good. Hopefully, the ten millionth Hannover home game visitor will experience an exciting match with a positive ending for the Reds. Then, we will surely soon reach the 20 million mark.

This is how the teams could line-up:

Hannover 96: Enke – Cherundolo, Haggui, C. Schulz, Djakpa (Rausch) – Balitsch, Stajner (Schmiedebach), Krzynówek (Rama), Bruggink – Ya Konan (Stajner), Forssell

Mainz 05: Müller – Heller, Bungert, Noveski, van der Heyden– Karhan, Pekovic, Hoogland, Invanschitz, Soto – Schürrle

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