2016 Hotaru Yamaguchi @ Hannover 96 (GER)

Hotaru, Hiroki and Kiyo will be in the squad against Werder.

Mit folgendem #H96-Kader starten wir morgen in das #Auswärtsspiel beim SV @werderbremen! #SVWH96 #NiemalsAllein pic.twitter.com/z2Wya751C7

— Hannover 96 (@Hannover96) March 4, 2016

Some choice nuggets from local journalists:

• "It's difficult for Yamaguchi - he's not yet acclimated to the Bundesliga. He needs to first become used to the pace. His passing is good, but it's too early for him."
• "Sakai battles and runs all over the pitch, but doesn't make tactical actions. His crossing is always terrible, and his play lacks consistency. He may be mentally sensitive."
• "Kiyotake is the only Hannover player who can play good football."

 

Hotaru basically playing in the #10 position. Takes a shot on target in the early minutes off a counterattack.

 

Subbed off for Szalai after 35 minutes with Bremen already up 2-0. Obviously an emergency tactical sub and he looked resigned when going off.

 

Well, whether we agree that Sane had to advance because of the substitution or not, at least we can agree that Schaaf's decision backfired.

He seemed to find a good combination in Stuttgart's game which led the team to a precious away win, then in the next game after conceding a goal against a CL team while his team was playing good and slowly building rhythm, he panicked and made a needless substitution at HT to disrupt the momentum of the team.

... and he is still changing the starting line-up and formation every match and killing whatever kind of momentum the team could've build.

So far, bad coaching by Schaaf.

 

H96 doomed by the way.

 

Yep. It's over now

 

Best thing to happen to them now is getting rid of the pressure and actually starting to play well for a whole match (assuming Schaaf can get less jumpy about his tactics as well).

 

They need to figure out if Schaaf will stay for 2.Buli as well as which players to ship out over the summer. I guess it would be safe to assume that Kiyo and Zieler are good as gone, but frankly the rest of the squad seems no better than 2nd division level anyway.

 

Oh, I suspected but was too lazy to check Transfermarkt. He still hasn't developed as much as one might hope, but will probably get picked up by a mediocre Buli team. Frankfurt, perhaps.

 

It's not over until the fat lady sings.

 

Do they? Maybe I'm misremembering already, but I thought everyone was pretty upfront about Schaaf only staying in the case they manage to stay in the league.

 

It seems like all options are on the table.

Absteigen, bleiben, gehen - Thomas Schaaf darf alles https://t.co/rHOnjdJTrW #H96

— Bild Hannover 96 (@BILD_96) March 8, 2016

 

Sané, Hoffmann and Schmiedebach are all mysteriously out of the squad this weekend. Yamaguchi in the starting lineup looks a certainty.

 

Fingers crossed he doesn't get replaced after 5 minutes.

 

I'm not worried. There isn't anyone in the traveling squad who could fill in!

Hier ist der Kader für das morgige Spiel gegen @Eintracht_News! #H96 #SGEH96 #NiemalsAllein pic.twitter.com/l3WJK8kBRF

— Hannover 96 (@Hannover96) March 18, 2016

 

The Japanese trio is starting together. Hotaru looks sharp so far.

 

Best match of 96 under Schaaf so far, some real slick passing, good efforts and no 2nd half crumbling. Still no goals scored, and one offside goal against counted, so robbed of one point and still a loss again...

 

Sort of yeah, they resembled a football team at times today, albeit still a bad one. The strikers are awful in particular, but aside from Kiyo and Zieler it's pretty hard to make a claim for anyone being "good". Schaaf is under a lot of criticism but the personnel available is just not nearly good enough.

 

Today it was unsurprisingly announced that Schaaf is leaving after this season already if (ha!) H96 goes down.

 

lol yeah, *if*. It's looking like a pretty bleak move for Yamaguchi.

 

Yamaguchi will undergo surgery to repair a fractured ethmoid and maxilla (upper jawbone), then remain in Japan for a week of rehab.

 

Schaaf got gone, U19 coach Daniel Stendel (played for H96 between 1999 and 2006 is all I know about) replaces him.

 

Wonder if he has an relegation clause?

 

It was reported in local media that he doesn't, IIRC.