Tea Light in the Dark Universe: Bobby Wood at Hamburg

If clubs listened to their fans no one would ever be able to run out 11 players.

 

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— HSV English (@HSV_English) October 14, 2017

Bobby starting

 

Finished 3-2 to Mainz.

Bobby was pulled on 79' for Sejad Salihovic who scored a PK on 90'.

To give you an idea of HSV's situation, Salihovic was signed as a free agent after flopping in china's D2 and then Switzerland.

Despite the loss, HSV actually move up one place and out of relegation due to bad results for the other three teams.

 

Having watched like four Hamburg games this season. They are horrible.

 

It's good that the club can score but it's a shame it's not Bobby doing it

He should be demanding to take PK's

 

Please. This is completely inaccurate.

A horrible team would be a major upgrade over what we've been seeing.

Astonishingly, they may still stay up. There actually are three teams that are worse than them

 

They're the Sunderland of the Bundesliga (I know, I know...). Which means they'll save themselves from relegation once again, somehow, while still looking like the worst club or second worst club in the league.

 

perhaps he wanted a nice pay raise and playing in the 2nd/3rd best league in the world. Also starting and scoring for Hamburg gave him a starting role with the NT.

Perhaps he just picked the wrong club to join.

 

This was done to death on this thread at the time (and in the Jozy thread when he moved to Sunderland). When he joined UB the understanding from both parties was that the goal was for him to score plenty of goals and get a good offer. @mschofield (works for McClatchy, has been posted in Berlin, is a UB fan) posted a lot about this .

He wanted to play D1 ball (and the pay rise that goes with it) and a boost to his MNT prospects; they wanted a transfer fee to re-invest in the squad to give it more breadth and depth. A profit of 2.7 million Euros was a tidy sum by D2 standards and a significant inflow by theirs.

Of course, he could have refused to go, but that would have screwed Union Berlin royally and clubs have ways of making players who refuse very good moves to wait for The Greatest Move Ever feel their displeasure. Both Bobby and UB got what they wanted at the time. It's just that nobody thought leaving the Union meant joining the circus.

 

Why? Aside from footballing happiness (which, to be fair, is a big deal) what is the downside for Bobby? The only way leaving Union was a career mistake is if Union manages to get promoted this season. The bigger mistake may have been Wood re-upping with HSV when it appeared he had other options this summer (if the rumors other than Koln were true).

Wood will have no trouble going to another B2 club if he wants/needs - and with HSV worst case is he's back in B2. The question is without run-up to Russia to show his stuff, if he can't bag some goals at Hamburg, will he get another B1 option. Dunno, but if he can scrape together a few decent goals, he probably will.

 

the mistake - if there was one - wasnt going to HSV...it was agreeing to the extension with hamburg after playing well his first season when bigger teams were rumored to be sniffing around. hopefully that wasnt his one chance to move up the ladder club-wise.

 

if I recall Koln was interested and Dortmund wanted to bring him on as well

 

New title:

Bobby Wood just ain't that good at Hamburg SV?

 

And Koln weren't a bad option at the time. They were losing Modeste to China and Subotic to Dortmund, but the midfield that had fed Modeste with quality service was still there. At the start of the season they were playing quite OK, but the consequences of the lack of aggression and bite in the attack were becoming evident - playing 10, then 15 metres deeper; midfielders trying not to lose possession instead of to release the attack; etc. By now, the team is bereft of confidence and is starting every game in damage-limitation mode.

Bobby's bite at this level is open to question, but his aggression and hard running isn't; put him at the top of Koln's midfield with a full pre-season and he'd be upsetting defences and creating space very nicely.

 

yep. Though I'm not sure even Koln was ever confirmed and that would be fireplace into fire stuff at this point. Keep HSV up is best strategy. Score the goal that does it on the last day of the season, make all the papers.

 

did anyone watch the Mainz match? Within 20 mins Bobby fashioned two chances out of nothing by sheer hustle, aggression, and strength. Will watch the rest later.

 

Hamburg hosts Munich tomorrow

 

I think he would do much better for himself if he was a back up striker on a mid table team instead of the starting striker for the league's most dysfunctional club. He wouldn't have to be relied on to be the team's main goal scorer, and he might have a better chance of scoring when he does play.

 

0-0 in Hamburg vs Bayern at the half, but Bobby & co. down to 10 men

 

Wood has to be the most frustrated striker in the Bundi. Absolutely no service from his team, all by himself on an island up front.

 

how was his performance? did he play well despite not scoring for like the 5th game in a row?