As of: February 10, 2024 11:50 a.m
HSV reached a new low under coach Tim Walter with the 3:4 win against Hannover 96. Hamburg can’t get their defense under control – and is seriously endangering their chances in the promotion race. However, sports director Jonas Boldt avoids a coaching discussion.
After the win in Berlin last weekend, Walter said he wanted to start a series. And the plan is taking shape – just not in the form the coach intended. Because the once again confusing 3:4 against Hannover 96 was HSV’s third home defeat in a row. The series is running.
The “Volkspark Fortress” is a drafty one-room apartment
Especially since another one, which has an even greater impact in terms of the club’s promotion ambitions, has already been running for five months. Since the transition from August to September, HSV has not won two games in a row. That was in the first half of the season against Hannover and Rostock. It was game days four and five. Since then, home wins have alternated with defeats and draws on foreign pitches for large parts of the first half of the season.
Looking at it this way, after the recent home defeat you could say that HSV had achieved the turnaround. There have been three wins in a row away from home. The problem: The team hasn’t started a series because nothing works at home anymore. The “Volkspark Fortress” is no longer a thing. It’s a drafty one-room apartment that regularly has open days – or rather, open days. 1:2 against Paderborn, 3:4 against Karlsruhe, now 3:4 against Hannover.
“It’s hard to understand how a game like this could happen to us again after Karlsruhe.”
HSV striker Robert Glatzel
Ten goals conceded in three home games make a mockery of the claim of more defensive stability formulated in December. HSV can no longer register ownership of the Volksparkstadion after the defeat against Lower Saxony at the latest. Because the team doesn’t demand enough possession and played too dominantly, especially in the first half. Not enough for the demands of the Walter team.
As they did against KSC, Hamburg allowed themselves to be duped early in the game. “It’s hard to understand how a game like this could happen to us again after Karlsruhe,” said striker Robert Glatzel, who made it 3-3 shortly before the end of regular time. “We woke up late again and ended up beating ourselves again.”
A lot of two-goal deficits
There are recurring patterns that have been hurting HSV for almost the entire season: sleepy phases with many goals conceded, inefficient pressing, poor positioning and spatial distribution, losing crucial duels. The problem of early deficits – especially double ones – occurred this season not only against Karlsruhe and 96, but also in the 2:4 in Kiel. In the 3-3 draw in Kaiserslautern and the 2-2 draw in the city derby at FC St. Pauli, they were still able to score a point after being two goals down. It would only be victories that would help the club in the promotion race. Wins in a row.
Further information
Inconsistent in terms of football, stagnating in development, refusing serious analysis: HSV is in danger of losing promotion again. more
However, Friday evening in the Volksparkstadion marked another low point and provided no evidence that the self-formulated promotion obligation can be fulfilled with Walter. What speaks for the coach is the team’s mentality of always getting back up after falling behind. At the same time, he is to blame for the fact that she constantly falls down. A coach – especially in the third year of his work – would have to guide his team so that they stay on their feet.
Defensively erratic, careless at the front
But instead of developing towards better defense as a whole, Hamburg’s defensive work is getting worse, wilder and more confused. Nine goals conceded in four second half games are not evidence of a more stable defense. And that was the clear focus after the first-round analysis – and a prerequisite for further collaboration with Walter.
The fact that in addition to the four goals conceded there were a number of weak finishes and two sendings off – a red card against Laszlo Benes, previously Hamburg’s best player with one goal and one assist, and a yellow-red card against Dennis Hadzikadunic – doesn’t fit into this for a long time more coherent picture. “The determination, the confidence in playing out and partly the concentration were missing today,” said captain Jonas Meffert in an analysis.
Walter’s explanations are thin
His coach’s explanations have been thin for weeks. After the Karlsruhe game, he argued that they had already kept a clean sheet eight times in the season and pointed to the high number of individual errors. On Friday he said that Benes’ red card was the “game changer” and that we had to “talk about the many goals conceded at home”. Before the game he had… “A sense of responsibility when defending” spoken. Once again, the words were not followed by actions on the pitch.
Further information
Hannover’s victory at HSV was overshadowed by tasteless protests from 96 fans against Martin Kind. He announced a reaction. more
And so top striker Glatzel was harsher on the team: “The second league is too good that you can make up for a two-goal deficit every time.” And Matheo Raab, who stood in goal for the out-of-form Daniel Heuer Fernandes and didn’t cut a particularly happy figure when he conceded the first goal, said with a view to the 3:4: “There’s a bit of a lack of cleverness at that moment. We always have that “We want to win games, but sometimes you have to take a point and not take too many risks.”
HSV can slip back to fourth place
If Kiel and Fürth win their games, HSV can still reach fourth place on Sunday. And behind them, with the resurgent Lower Saxony, another contender for promotion lurks just three points behind Hamburg thanks to their victory in the direct duel. The big goal – returning to the Bundesliga – is also in acute danger in the sixth second division season.
Sports director Jonas Boldt, however, rejected a coach discussion after another confusing appearance. “Two minutes after the game I won’t comment on it,” he said on Sky. Instead, he focused on a general analysis: “We generally made too many mistakes in all areas. The goals we conceded came too easily, we had no gaps, and we also played out the situations at the front far too hectically and gave them away carelessly.”
Is Boldt breaking up with Walter?
All of that is true. But it is the same finding that we had after the first home defeat of the season against Paderborn in mid-December. On Friday, Boldt tried to somehow get around the coaching question: “We have to fundamentally question the way we work. Of course, a coach plays a very, very important role.”
The question that only Boldt can answer is whether he will continue to be called Walter in the upcoming game against Hansa Rostock or whether he will break his loyalty to the coach.
Further information
Hamburg lost at home for the first time this season. It is the new low of a development that has the potential to tip the scales. more
In 1999 he came to Hamburg with the dream of the Bundesliga. Today, Namibia’s national coach is celebrated in his homeland – and unchanged in the Volkspark. more
This topic in the program:
Sports current | Feb 9, 2024 | 9:17 p.m