Hamburg SV is still waiting for its first win in 13 matches. Is the team is suffering from home-made problems? bundesliga.de analyses the situation.
Experts predicted that Coach Thomas Doll's team was headed for a "glorious future" at the end of last season. They finished the Bundesliga in third place, their best spot in the table for the past six years. That meant they could participate in the qualifying round for the Champions League
And Hamburger SV was the only team to defeat Bundesliga Defending Chamipions FC Bayern München in both matches last season. Allowing only 30 goals Hamburg had the best defence in the Bundesliga. And Daniel van Buyten and Khalid Boulahrouz were among the best inside defenders anywhere. That was last May.
No wins in their last six Bundesliga matches
Now, five months later, the situation is completely different. Hamburg haven't won in their last six Bundesliga encounters and haven't earned a single point in their first two Champions League matches. The team is in 16th place in the standings with just five points. One-time team captain Daniel van Buyten earns his pay in Bayern, and Bouhlarouz with FC Chelsea.
But to put the Hamburg slump down to two players leaving the club wouldn't be right. The personnel situation definitely plays a role in the slump. Sport Director Dietmar Beiersdorfer confirmed that on the club's web page: "The new team definitely needs time to find its rhythm. It takes a little time for the new pecking order to be established."
The potential is definitely there
HSV has new signings that will help the club. Especially Vincent Kompany (RSC Anderlecht), and Juan Pablo Sorin (FC Villareal) on defence and strikers Boubacar Sanogo (1. FC Kaiserslautern), Danijel Ljuboja (VfB Stuttgart) and Paolo Guerrero (Bayern München), who've already proven their value as goal-getters in the Bundesliga. The team has reason to be confident.
Beiersdorfer says "The potential is definitely there. I expect that every player will try to serve the interest of the whole team now. And then we'll be on our way up the table, for sure."
Injuries and suspensions weaken the team
The 42 year old Sport Director sees the injury list and suspensions as further factors contributing to the poor start to the season: "Missing players like van der Vaart, Atouba and Demel at the same time isn't easy to compensate for. But we do know that our results could have been better in spite of that."
The "midfield motor" Rafael van der Vaart (torn thigh ligament) and Thimothee Atouba (pains) will be out for a longer time, and a number of other players missed for varying lengths of time including Kompany, Sorin and Guerrero. And the latest new player on Hamburg's injury list is Bastian Reinhardt with a torn muscle injury.
"Full confidence in Thomas Doll"
Hamburg has played in Germany's top flight since 1963 and it didn't help the start to the season when the team were forced to do without three players due to suspension: Guy Demel and Mehdi Mahdavikia were red-carded and faced lengthy suspensions while Collin Benjamin was suspended for one match after a second bookable offence brought him a red card.
Thomas Doll will certainly have more alternatives when the injured or suspended players can play again. And the club's management isn't impressed by the criticism from the media that Doll has to deal with.
Beiersdorfer is emphatic when he says: "We have complete confidence in him and his coaching team. In a situation like this it's important to remember to stay calm and not to attack one another. Thomas has our support and will get the team back on track. We're going to pull together even more and we'll come out of this slump even stronger than before."
The Bundesliga is very evenly matched
The Sport Director is confident about the team's future, and sees that the competition level in the Bundesliga has become much tighter. "The top teams are five points ahead of the pack and with just a few wins you're quickly at the top of the standings, " according to Beiersdorfer.
And Hamburg played well last weekend when they twice came from behind to equalise in the draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.
"We can build on our play in the second half of that match. And against Schalke we'll do everything possible to win," Beiersdorfer adds in reference to the team's next home game on Saturday, October 14. Perhaps that game will be the beginning of Hamburg's "glorious future".
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They are being unlucky with injuries and the strikers don't seem to be on goal scoring form.
Hamburg is currently 16th in the Bundesliga
table.
They'll face Schalke at home in the next game, Schalke one of the joint first in the table.
Then Hamburg travels to Portugal for the Champions League game against Portuguese Champions FC Porto.
Hamburg SV
