What role does David Nemeth play in the FSV Mainz 05 squad?
In the summer of last year, the Austrian returned from Sturm Graz after a year on loan - and with a lot of praise for the performance.
After securing a regular place in the first division of his home country without a start time, Nemeth wanted to assert himself in Germany as well.
Nothing has come of it yet.
Having started the season as the fifth central defender behind Stefan Bell, Moussa Niakhaté, Jeremiah St. Juste and Alexander Hack, the 21-year-old has made six appearances so far, only two from the start.
A disappointing result considering that St Juste was absent most of the time through injury and that another rival for a position was often absent.
But sometimes coach Bo Svensson decided to push Silvan Widmer from the right flank into the back three, sometimes Niklas Tauer, who was in the midfield, was given preference.
Tauer was the best Mainz player in the 0-0 draw against VfB Stuttgart a week ago, and he was the only one to complete the horribly weak first half at a good level.
"Niklas brings things to the central defender position that are very valuable for us," explained Svensson in the press conference before the game this Friday evening at VfL Wolfsburg (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on DAZN).
He has the advantage over Nemeth of being faster and more agile, just as St. Juste and Niakhaté are ahead of Bell and Hack in the relationship.
What perspective can be derived from this for the Austrian, "it's not the right time to talk about it yet," said the coach.
He only wanted to deal with such questions publicly after the last matchday.
In any case, Nemeth's chances of playing on Friday evening are slim, since Hack, who was injured last week, could play again and is an option for the starting line-up.
Svensson prepares whoever is allowed on the field in Wolfsburg for “a mega-difficult game”.
Lower Saxony still need a few points, their six-point lead over relegation place holder VfB Stuttgart is a deceptive cushion.
Svensson himself will work throughout the game not to receive another yellow card;
it would be the seventh this season.
The Dane does not hide the fact that he feels he has been treated unfairly.
In fact, the Bundesliga referees seem to apply very different standards to the behavior of the coaches.
Svensson saw a yellow card last Saturday for a short emotional outburst, his Freiburg colleague Christian Streich escaped unscathed in the cup game at HSV on Tuesday, although there were fears that he would bite off the head of the fourth official.
“I think,” said Svensson, “I've worked hard to gain a reputation.
Not much has to happen to see yellow.”