As of: January 29, 2024 11:57 a.m
With the 3:4 win against KSC, HSV has reached where it has often been in the second division: fourth place. In addition to the footballing inconsistency and the lack of development, this also has to do with the constant refusal to seriously identify the problems.
It was Tim Walter’s usual reflex: “We did better recently, it’s not for nothing that we already have eight games without conceding a goal in the statistics,” said the coach after the 3:4 against Karlsruher SC on Sunday. It is the reflex to focus on the positive after bad results, to emphasize strengths and to look forward.
Walter’s self-revealing statement
In fact, Walter’s statement is of course correct, it is humanly understandable, but it is also a deception – and above all, it is extremely dangerous for the club’s goals. Because HSV at the end of January 2024 is no further than HSV in autumn 2023 – and certainly not further than HSV in autumn 2022. And it is precisely this fact that such a statement tries to distract from.
Especially since it is self-revealing: Eight games without conceding a goal means, conversely, that they have conceded 26 goals in the remaining eleven games of the season so far. With an average of 2.4 goals conceded in these eleven games, it will be difficult to achieve the victories that are crucial for promotion. And so after 19 match days, ten Hamburg successes are offset by four draws and five defeats. A win rate of just over 50 percent. Or transferred to the table the familiar fourth place from many years of the second division.
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HSV slips to fourth place
For the first time this season, the “Rothosen” fell out of the top 3 in the league after the wild game against KSC. When those responsible announced in December that they wanted to continue with Coach Walter, they emphasized the honest analysis that they had carried out together, pointed out things that they wanted to change and how closely they would follow the 48-year-old’s work.
And framed by two 2-0 wins in Nuremberg at the end of the first half of the season and at Schalke 04 at the start of the second half of the season, there were – at least superficially – steps in the right direction: less hurray football, no goals conceded.
Wins against Nuremberg and Schalke further concealed the problems
However, the two victories – especially against fickle (Nuremberg) and indisposed (Schalke) opponents – only briefly concealed the problems that had become completely obvious with the first home defeat against Paderborn in December: a lack of consistency in defense, a lack of efficiency in the defense Offensive, lack of energy and concentration in crucial phases of the game.
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These are the themes of all five league defeats this season, they have been the same themes for years. After the big analysis in December, there should be a noticeable development, with performances like against Karlsruhe it looks more like a settlement. The renewed fulfillment of the promotion hope in year six in the second league.
The greatest consistency is the erratic performances
Because the team shows its greatest consistency in the return of erratic performances. Hamburg have already provided plenty of evidence of how not to get promoted in the past, but also this season, and Sunday’s was one of the clearest.
The team continues to lack any form of cohesive pressing, KSC repeatedly freed itself from the apparent grip with just a few passes. So it’s always just a few who win the ball well – which can be used to create chances on the offensive and with which the opponent’s play can be stopped on the defensive.
The defensive behavior is not suitable for promotion
Apart from that, the entire defensive behavior – which starts with the start, continues with systematic shifting and ends with the consistency in the duels – is not suitable for promotion. Not individually, not in a group.
Because the lack of robustness that you can accuse right-back Ignace van der Brempt of in his lax duel before the 3:4, you could accuse winger Jean-Luc Dompé of it five times per game because he fought for 50:50 balls would enable a counterattack in the majority if they won, not with all determination. Instead of being able to launch an attack, the opponent has the opportunity to attack himself.
AUDIO: HSV coach Walter: “…then you’ll get the receipt for it” (4 min)
FC St. Pauli shows how it works
It would be scenes like these in which a visible development could take place. The eagerness to fetch a ball, win a duel, defend a cross, score a goal, which can be felt at any time. Alone: She cannot be recognized. You don’t have to look that far – as painful as it may be for HSV fans – to see how it works. To the city neighbors FC St. Pauli.
Building on a consistent defensive game, the team develops offensive power. Decisive for this: fixed processes, good positional play, clear routes paired with greed and efficiency. The team has developed under coach Fabian Hürzeler – and the formula for how to get promoted.
“Overall, that’s not enough to win.”
HSV striker Robert Glatzel
At HSV, midfield strategist Laszlo Benes sees his team’s chances of doing so dwindling: “It simply can’t happen that we concede four goals at home. That’s far too much for a team that wants to get promoted.” The Slovakian, once again his team’s best player, was absolutely horrified on Sunday: “I have no explanation for it. We have a big goal for the season and have to play better.” And striker Robert Glatzel summed up: “Overall, that’s not enough to win.”
It is emblematic that the two most consistent Hamburg players, who were responsible for 23 of the 38 goals, sounded the strongest alarm. The keeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes, who has fluctuated in performance this season and looked extremely unhappy in Igor Matanovic’s 1-0 defeat, insisted that the team had shown in the previous games “that we can defend compactly and well. Knowing that makes a difference us strong.”
This year Fernandes like Meffert like Walter
And midfielder Jonas Meffert said: “The world won’t end because of this: We know that we can do better again next week.” Then we go to Hertha BSC in Berlin at the Olympic Stadium (8.30 p.m., in the NDR Livecenter). So to one of the places where HSV already demonstrated a lack of consistency in their dramatic exit from the DFB Cup at the beginning of December.
The analyzes by Heuer Fernandes and Meffert use the same keep-on-and-strongly-believe-in-it rhetoric that Walter also uses. But if you assume that words can become action on the pitch, it is precisely the rhetoric that the club – completely independent of the people – would have to abandon as quickly as possible if it does not want to become the dinosaur of the second division.
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sports club | 28.01.2024 | 10:50 p.m