They destroyed Hansa Rostock 6-0!!!! I had heard that HSV were on the rise, but this is INSANE! What gives? Can someone explain this to me....is Rostock THAT bad? Or is HSV a club on the rise? Thanks.
The truth is in the middle I think, Hansa lost all their home games so far, even though they were not playing that badly, on the other hand HSV really played well since Doll came in, they lost only ones wery unfortunate last week against Schalke after they were 1-0 up , plus 2-0 in Dortmund and 1-1 in Bremen... I don't see a good future for Hansa this season, they will go down I think
I'm surrprised that they didn't go down last season. I guess a low budget and bad play make for a bad combo.
Hansa lost all (!) of their 7 home matches. Last in table with 8 points only and coach Juri Schlünz just a few hours ago stepped down. Hard times for Bundesliga's only team of former East Germany. :-/
It's called luck. Hansa are in shambles, I knew it was only a matter of time before Schlunz stepped down. Hamburg have been on fire since Doll stepped in, but the same happened with Schalke and Rangnick. When Hansa get a new coach, they'll do better. It always happens, the new coach wins the first few games. I don't know why, but it does. Hamburg's lucky streak can't end soon enough.
If that is true, wouldn't a smart play be to hire a new coach every month or 2???? Then you would never stop winning!
Before the season started I thought they had bought some real good buys to an already effective mid table team. I was surprised to see them do so poorly again. I believe their disastrous form is past them.
Hansa lost the first few matches mainly by bad luck - they played pretty well. And if you have lost enough matches to make the media speak of a crisis, you usually wont win the next matches. Thus I think that Rostock will get better next year after the break. But I have to admit that their performances are disastrous at the moment - if they go on like that they have good chances to get compared with legendary Tasmania Berlin. But as I said I dont think this will happen.
hamburg has a pretty good squad, imo... van buyten lauth (hopefully he plays soon) and mpenza were all good buys... was pretty impressed with collin benjamin, jarolim and rahn when i saw them play... add to this established bundesliga players such as mahdavikia, romero, takahara, barbarez and wicky, and you have a pretty good team... im very surprised toppmoeller didnt do better with them
Yeah--what's up with that?!!! Is Toppmoeller simply overrated or was it just bad chemistry at Hamburg? Somone please enlighten me on this one.
But the best of them may be Boujhalrouz (sp?), the Dutch defender they picked up I believe after the season started. He's been great for them. Agree that they've collected a good bit of talent. If/when Lauth is healthy, he, Mpenza, Barbarez, Romeo, Mahdavikia and Takahara are a pretty deep group of strikers and provide Doll with a lot of options. Lauth has a bright future (although I don't think he's ever going to be a huge goal scorer; more like someone who is dangerous but makes others around him better), Mpenza brings speed, Barbarez has smarts and is a proven BL goal-getter, Romeo is a born goal poacher who can be effective if not asked to do much more than score, Mahdavikia was at times in the last few years HSV's best player, and Takahara, while not probably a bona fide BL starter, can do well as an energetic sub or spot starter. At MF, I still think they need a creative MF. Barbarez can fill that role, and so might Mahdavikai, but that's a band-aid. Maybe the new guy from Belgium (Portugal's Oliviera--I think that his name) will be OK there. He started Sunday and apparently had a good game. Not surprisingly, his adjustment to the German game has been slow, but maybe he's starting to figure things out. Doll seems to have settled on Jarolim and Beinlich on the outside. Both players I think are overrated, but have been playing well as of late and give you an honest day's work even if not playing well. Rahn seems buried, but can provide some depth on the left, and Mahdavikia can play an outside MF position too (so long as he's not asked to do too much defensively). Wicky is solid at D-mid, and Benjamin is best utilized as versatile substitute who can play anywhere on the defense. The central defensive pairing of Boujhalrouz and van Buyten looks very promising. At outside back, they are a bit thin (who's playing there now? Klingbeil, who's adequate, and is it Schlicke?). Pieckenhagen (sp?) is a competent BL goalie (although IIRC, HSV has Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum in reserve). Obviously, Toppmoeller just never figured out this group of talent. It's a group that can compete for a UEFA cup spot.
We`ll never know why he failed so badly, but not a small amount of it must be due to bad chemistry. Toppmöller comes from Kaiserslautern, a small, ordinary provincial town. The complete opposite to Hamburg. Toppmöller is a provincial type of guy who did work wonders in a small town like Leverkusen, but his approach to life didn`t really impress people at Hamburg.
Thanks G You would think a guy who smokes cigarettes on the sideline while his players are running their guts out would be a hit in the big town--then again, maybe not
I expect HSV’s run to continue, a CL place is not out of the question. Why were they pathetic under Topmoller? He played players out of position and in the end some of them probably boycotted him.
That's one reason, another is, that Toppmöller talked to much to the newspapers instead of talking to the players. And thats not a good thing for a coach to do. Just look at the results, Toppmöller: 8 games, 6 points, Doll: 7 games, 16 points. If the run continues (which I, of course, hope ), at least UEFA-Cup should be possible.
Welcome to BigSoccer, Daniel. What have you heard about Lauth? Is he close to returning? And if he does return by the end of the Winterpause, is he going to move right into the starting line-up or will he have to make his mark from the substitute's bench? Also, any likely purchases for HSV in January? I still think they need a creative MF. I ask these questions primarily because I have Lauth on my Kicker fantasy team, and I'm thinking about selling him and buying someone else during the break.
Hi Wolfsburgh! (btw how did you become a Wolfsburg fan Working for Volkswagen ?) Lauth should return in the Winterpause, his recovery looks quite good so far! And in my opinon he has good chances to be in the starting line up than. We have 4 strikers for 2 spots in the line up, and I think it should be Mpenza and Lauth. Of course Romeo is a killer (some 36 goals in about 75 Bundesliga games), but he is to slow and Takahara still needs to many chances to score. He's a good dribbler and runs about 200 km in every game but obviously he won't be the japanese Gerd Müller... There is a striker from the LA Galaxy in training this week (Ngyema?) but even if they buy him, he will only be striker no.5 and there still is a very talented 18 year old striker in the b-team. And the midfield has improved a lot in the last weeks. Barbarez, Beinlich, Jarolim and Moreira (also a new guy) create good oppurtunities and I dont believe that they will add a midfielder in January. But anyway I would recommend buying someone else for your kicker team, coz it will take some time for Lauth after that long injury (almost 6 months!). Maybe you should pick up Mintal or Buckley, they should be cheap and look really hot.
Daniel: thanks for the reply (and the advice). I agree with you that HSV has better depth than most teams in the BL at striker. It's a nice collection of players, all with their weaknesses to be sure, but some complimentary strengths, too. Lauth will only make them better. I still think they need a creative midfielder (Beinlich and Jarolim are workers, not creative players, and Wicky is a d-mid), unless Moreira works out (maybe too early to tell with him?). P.S. I just bought a VW, but was a Wolfsburg fan before that. Long story short, Vfl had just been promoted, were the plucky underdog, had 2 or 3 US players on their roster, I liked VW cars, and the club's lack of tradition meant I could get in on the groundfloor (or relatively close to the ground floor, anyway).
They seem better with their backs against the wall. Last year when the word Relegation was being applied to them, they changed coaches and got back into the safety zone. They have a lot of talent too, its not like they are short talent, just getting them on the right page is the hardest thing. Lauth, Mehdihvakia, Van Buyten, and company are not so bad. But in the end I see them as a midtable team. they are no weak enough for relegation, nor strong enough for the top half of the league. Yet that is...
Doll is definetly the right one for the little hsv, but next weekend their fortune will be stopped: by the big HSV (96!) Anyways, I like you guys, so I hope for a good game and we'll have a biiiig party greetings from Hanover Squig
Hamburg have gotten too comfortable in Bundesliga .1, i think a relegation scare will toughen them up a little bit. It worked for Bayer Leverkusen.