Hannover 96 vs Mainz preview - Dufner frustrated by lack of goals

Posted Monday, February 02, 2015 by PA

Hannover's sporting director Dirk Dufner has called on his team to be more incisive in front of goal when they host Mainz in Bundesliga action on Tuesday night.

The Reds came away from their trip to Schalke with a 1-0 defeat despite dominating large spells of the game and creating enough chances to win several times over.

The ball hit the back of the net only once, though, and it was Hannover's goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler who was forced to fish it out and Dufner has called for improvements in midweek.

"We played a great game for 90 minutes, playing good football and everything was fine - apart from the goal," Dufner said on his club's website.

"You've got to score here and that's why we've done too little today.

"When you get so many good chances away from home, particularly at Schalke, then you've got to take at least one of them.

"Schalke scored a lucky goal and we couldn't get any with all of our chances. Of course it hurts and we've lost undeservedly.

"We're just lacking the absolute will to get the ball in the back of the net and we've got to change that quickly and then we'll have a really good team.

"I'm not totally depressed. The team's fit and playing good football, we just lack goals."

That certainly was not Mainz's problem at the weekend as they put five past Paderborn to move away from the relegation zone.

"We're delighted today with this win, but we've got to put it behind us and prepare for Hannover," said coach Kasper Hjulmand.

Filip Djuricic will not make the trip to the HDI-Arena, with Mainz confirming they are in talks with Southampton over a transfer of the midfielder.

"It is now common knowledge that we are talking about the transfer of Filip to Southampton," said Mainz's sporting director Christian Heidel on his club's website.

"The contracts have not been signed yet and the deadline for a move to England is not the same as here, so it doesn't have to go through before midday."