Die Wölfe have made a €9 million offer for Petric, he of 20 goals in 41 matches this season.  This is all necessitated by Milan’s flirtations with Edin Džeko.  Naturally, Petric, his agent, and HSV management all replied “Fuhgeddaboudit.” So far.

But what happens when Wolfsburg comes back with an offer of €14 or  €16 million, or more? They have that kind of cash to splash around now that they are in the Champions League next fall.  Didi Beiersdorf was a bit more coy when that question was posed to him. His response? Let’s see the offer on paper before we decide what we are going to do.  Wolfsburg, for their part, have a second option lined up:  Luca Toni.

Petric was a key acquisition for HSV last summer, and with the departure of Olic, I would find it very difficult to believe that HSV would let one of two remaining strikers on the roster be sold. But I thought that about Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong, too.

With the likes of Streit (bruised calf), Atouba (groin strain), Jansen (throat infection), Silva (torn hamstring), and Reinhardt (lack on practice) unavailable, Jol couldn’t play his team of choice.
This was the team last night:

Frankfurt started the match looking for an early goal. Meier and Fink both tested Rost (12 and 15 minutes respectively), but neither could get through. Not wanting to be outdone, the Rothosen started a series of attacks on the Frankfurt goals. Finally, in the 22nd minute, Pitroipa set up Jarolim just outside the box. Jarolim’s shot stunned the crowd, and evidently the Frankfurt keeper.

1-0

Seven minutes later, and Olic had a great chance to double the lead. Guerrero then missed another great opportunity, just 5 minutes before the break. A substitution by Funkel (Ioannis Amanatidis on) signaled the start of the second half.

The second half was on of the most intense games I’ve seen read on liveblog for a long time. As Monchengladbach miraculously took the lead against Dortmund our own Ivica Olic converted a Demel cross to double our lead.

2-0!

And at that point it all went downhill. In a matter of 5 minutes, Frankfurt leveled the scores, following goals by Meier and Caio….
…And just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, news came in that Kuba had scored for Dortmund.

2-2

So it was very simple. Score a goal, hope that Dortmund don’t score, and HSV would play in Europe next season. Don’t score, and our dreams would be down the drain. Jol reacted brilliantly, making a move that many would come to call pure genius and tactical vision. He subbed on Trochowski. In the 84th, he fired a free kick just over the bar. In the 89th, Pitroipa made a great long range shot that had the fans on their feet. Finally, when most fans had given up all hope, Trochowski recieved the ball on the corner of the penalty box. It was announced that Dortmund had only drawn at Gladbach. If there was ever a time, this was it. And with that Trochowski became my favorite player of all time, scoring a great goal and sending HSV straight to Europe!

3-2 HSV!

Match Facts:
Goals: Jarolim (22), Olic (58), Meier (61), Caio (63), Trochowski (90)
Booked Aogo, Mathijsen, Benjamin, Boateng, Trochowski
Attendance 51,500

Goals:

ROTHOSEN

So as I’m sure we all know, this is a must win game for HSV. As Martin Jol said: “Only a win will do.” Luckily, a win is certainly possible.After the disappointing loss to Koln last week (which will never be spoken of, ever again), we need a great game against Frankfurt, and help from relegation battlers Gladbach, to secure 5th place and European football.

Last game of the season. As Wolfsburg, Munchen, Stuttgart, and Hertha fight for the title, our Rothosen fight for 5th. Not quite as spectacular, but important none the less. Can you believe that it was only 4 weeks ago that we were in the race for the a treble?

So, for us the even have a chance of playing in the Europa League, we need a win over Frankfurt. To guarantee it, we need Monchengladbach to win, or a minimum of 23 goals against Frankfurt.

“We know what is required of us, it is crucial that we win on Saturday. I am sure we will reach the European League next season, because I don’t believe Gladbach will lose. We have had a full week of training this week for the first time in an age and the mood in the camp is good and very focused.” said Jarolim

Frankfurt
So, Frankfurt. Not doing the best, but certainly safe from relegation with 33 points. Coach Friedhelm Funkel will be leaving for greener pastures next season, following a 5 year stint with the club. They’re not doing the best, having conceded 7 goals in the past 2 matches, and have not won a game since their victory over Monchengladbach in April. But Funkel will definitely be looking to leave on a high note.

Last 5 games:
Bochum 2-0 Frankfurt
Frankfurt 0-5 Werder Bremen
Hannover 1-1 Frankfurt
Frankfurt 0-2 Dortmund
Stuttgart 2-0 Frankfurt

Breaking News!
After being injured for roughly 16 months, Dutch winger Romeo Castelen has recovered. Castelen joined HSV in 2007, and played 13 games before his injury. He looks set to appear on the bench, and could even gain some minutes.

Possible Line-ups

Rost
Boateng, Gravgaard, Mathijsen, Aogo
Jarolim, Tavares
Olic, Pitroipa, Guerrero
Petric

Fenin
Fink, Meier, Korkmaz
Chris, Inamoto
Ochs, Russ, Bellaid, Spycher
Proll

Predictions
Game: 2-0 HSV
Goals: Guerrero (33), Petric (54)
MotM Petric

Finally, 2 great goals in previous Frankfurt matches:

ROTHOSEN!

As I wrote to a friend earlier, this match had everything–quality shots, up-and-down action, crappy officiating, the works. Hamburg forced the play most of the evening on the Bavarians. I am not going to go into the details of the match–there’s a fairly good recap here. Let’s get right to the news then.

News and Notes:

Bastian Reinhardt left the match at the 64′ mark with a foot injury, further depleating an already thin HSV back line. The diagnosis is a broken metatarsal, and Basti will be out of action for a minimum of 3 months (surgery to repair the fracture was successful this morning). Jerome Boateng came off the bench to replace Reinhardt, but apparently will not keep that spot (see below) for very long.

HSV were very busy at the close of the transfer period, signing 5 new players (in addition to the loan of Marcel Ndjengs, which was completed last week). The new guys are as follows:

•Venezuelan giant Tomas Rincon, on loan from Deportivo Tachira.  

•Mickael Tavares, defensive midfielder, purchased from Slavia Prague (through 2012). I am pretty sure that Tavares is cup tied for the UEFA Cup, but will be invaluable in the DFB-Pokal and the Bundesliga campaigns–a nice pickup for HSV.

•Michael Gravgaard, central defender, on loan from FC Nantes of Ligue 1. He will likely be taking Reinhardt’s spot in the long term. His contract is up this summer and he has stated that he would like to sign a permanent deal with HSV. I don’t know what BMJ has against Jerome Boateng, but he either needs to play him or loan him out. With as little depth as HSV has right now on defense, it would seem natural for Boateng to be called upon. Boateng will likely start at right back versus Karlsruhe with Guy Demel moving inside to replace Reinhardt until Gravgaard is ready.

•Khalid Sinouh, goalkeeper, free agent (last club-AZ Alkmaar).

•Albert Streit, midfielder, on loan from Schalke.  Streit was banished from the dressing room last autumn shortly after joining Schalke from Frankfurt. He comes to Hamburg to fulfill the #10 role that was vacated both by VDV and Thiago Neves. It sounds like Streit got a bad rap as a troublemaker early on at Schalke and never had the opportunity to redeem himself.  REALLY looking forward to seeing this cat ‘ball.

•Speaking of Neves . . . The sale of Neves to Saudi side Al-Hilal was completed at the transfer deadline. The major stumbling block for HSV was the proposed loan from Al-Hilal back to Fluminense. HSV felt that playing in Brazil again would only increase Neves’ value on the transfer market this summer and that they did not want to lose out on any additional revenue that would be generated by him displaying his talents in Brazil for another season. In the end, HSV caved and sold Neves to Al-Hilal for the previously agreed sum of €7 million. So long Neves–truly, we harldy knew ya . . .

Anis Ben-Hatira was loaned to MSV Duisburg of the 2. Bundesliga.

HSV have drawn SV Wehen-Wiesebaden for the quarter finals of the DFB-Pokal. This is another great draw for Hamburg as Wiesbaden are the only 2. Bundesliga side left in the competition. The match will be played at the ‘Bank either 3 or 4 March.

Good news from the training room: Alex Silva (you know, the Brazilian who didn’t suck), resumed training on 3 February following surgery to repair a hernia. He is nowhere near ready to resume playing, though.

•Mladen Petric is still nursing a tender calf and missed training again. BMJ expects that he’ll be ready for the DFB-Pokal match with 1860 Munich (I don’t). If he’s not good-to-go for the match, HSV are going to have to go with Jonathon Pitroipa (always a fave at The Hamburg Offside) or Paolo Guerrero (probably Guerrero).

•Alex Silva is due to return to Hamburg from Brazil today following hernia repair surgery. He is in the first week of a projected 4-week recovery period.

•A sad anniversary in the training room–It’s been a year now since Romeo Castelen injured his knee in training. Good news:  He’s finally healthy enough to train on the ball again.

•Finally, some good news from the trainers:  über stud Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting is also back to training on the ball this week. Choupo-Moting, as you may recall,  suffered a knee injury (torn cartilage), had the knee surgically repaired, started rehab-ing the knee, suffered a similar injury to the same knee during the rehab process, and had that injury repaired as well. The Hamburg Offside *loves* Choupo-Moting–he’s a local kid who came up through the youth ranks and is the future face of the club.

•No news from the training room on the status of Thiago Neves. Neves suffered a thigh strain in training camp in Spain. My prepsumption, then, is that he is healthy.

•Nigel de Jong’s departure only means good things to Bastian Reinhardt’s contract negotiations. Reinhardt’s camp have been seeking a 2 year extension to his current deal. There was speculation in the Hamburg media that HSV were dragging their feet on the extension because Reinhardt is getting a little long in the tooth (he’ll be 34 in November). Due to the lack of depth on defense and in the defensive midfield presently, Reinhardt’s bargaining position is a whole lot stronger now that De Jong’s flown off to City.

De Jong did not return with the team to Hamburg following the conclusion of the training camp in La Manga, Spain (he travelled to Manchester for a physical) and did not play in yesterday’s 3:0 victory over Hansa Rostock. And as a complete aside, has there been a more precipitous fall in recent memory than Rostock? Two years ago they were in the 1. Bundesliga, then were relegated after last season, and now are in danger of being relegated from the 2. Bundesliga. Yikes.

So our attention now can turn to three topics: 1) New transfers; 2) the DFB-Pokal match versus 1860 Munich on Tuesday; 3) the Bayern match on 30 January.

For new transfers, there have been a number of rumors reported in the comments of the last post regarding players from Belgium, notably Steven Defour of Standard Liege and Lucas Biglia of Anderlecht.  In today’s online edition of Kicker.de, the name of Stade Rennes defensive midfielder Stephane Mbia was bandied about and HSV are reportedly negotiating a transfer. From what I found on the Rennes club website, I like this Cameroon international. Mbia is 22 years old and is under contract with Rennes until 2012. Mbia has been capped 12 times scoring 3 goals, and his national coach says he is the real deal/next big thing/all that and a bag of chips/etc. He is also being scouted by Newcastle (who isn’t?). Christian Paulson and Demy de Zeeuw are still rumored to be in the mix.

As for the Cup tie with 1860, Ivica Olic still does not know his status following the red card in the Hoffenheim “friendly” last week. A suspension looks likely, but since the match was a friendly (and not a DFB sponsored contest), there is some speculation that only a fine to be donated to charity is in the offing. Mladen Petric sat out the Rostock match with a sore calf, but is expected to train and play versus 1860 Munich.

That’s all well and good, but what should HSV do with the dough? I’d love to hear your comments on:

•Replacement for De Jong. The name we continue to hear is Mark van Bommel of Bayern, but lately we also are hearing Christian Paulsen of Juve, *and* newly trialed Marcel Ndjengs (formerly of ‘Gladbach). The old Demy de Zeeuw rumor from the fall doesn’t appear to have any legs, so I don’t know what to make of it. Personally, I’d love to see Van Bommel.

•Replacement for Olic. My good friends at the Abendblatt say that Serb striker Milan Jovanovic of Standard Liege would be a good fit and is available for around €7M. I have *no* idea on this one.

•Any other moves before the 30 January match at the ‘Bank with Bayern. I think we need some additional depth on defense. When Alex Silva comes back, he may take De Jong’s spot (he was outstanding there while De Jong was rehabbing his knee) and we may be looking for more defense. There is another rumor swirling around that Rafael van der Vaart may be coming back to the fold, but it wouldn’t be until this summer.

Bear in mind that Alex Silva is out until approximately the first week of February and that Atouba is done for the year.

Hamburg come into tonight’s match riding high, following a 1-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Once again, Mladen Petric did the damage, heading home the match winner at the fifty-nine minute mark, on a sweet cross played in by Marcell Jansen(who, remarkably, has gone nearly 3[!] weeks without an injury). With the win over Frankfurt, HSV are now 4th in the Bundesliga table, level on points with Hertha (behind on goal-differential), and 2 points behind leaders Hoffenheim and Bayern.

HSV once again have a number of injuries, but what side doesn’t this time of year? Colin Benjamin suffered a strained calf muscle in the Eintracht match and is doubtful for tonight; David Jarolim is nursing a bruised knee (but may still play); Alex Silva is still recovering from an severe ankle sprain; Bastian Reinhardt took the drugs and started the Eintracht match. Fortunately, Guy Demel returns this evening from a 1 match Bundesliga suspension and should step into the starting XI.

HSV, Villa and Ajax are all even on 6 points in Group F. Tonight’s action will determine the group champion, and therefore a more advantageous draw in the UEFA Cup knockout stage. Remember, in the UEFA Cup, group winners draw UEFA Cup group third place sides, while the second place side draw the eight third place clubs from the Champions League (don’t get me started on that little detail-IMO, you are either in one competition or the other . . .). HSV are coming off a 0:1 loss to Ajax in Hamburg (the only defeat in all competitions at the ‘Bank this campaign), while Villa lost at home to MSK Zilina 1:2.

Aston Villa, for their part, find themselves in fourth place in the Premiership on 31 points with a +9 GD, just ahead of Arsenal, who sit fifth on 30 points. Martin Jol knows Villa well from his days at White Hart Lane, and he believes that Villa are flat better than his old rivals. Unfortunately, we Hamburg supporters won’t get to see the XI that are making so much noise in the EPL this season:  Villa boss Martin O’Neill left England nationals Gabriel Agbanlahor, Gareth Barry, Ashley Young, James Milner (who could play for England–he’s that good), and Danish international Martin Laureson off the squad who travelled to Hamburg. We will get to see rising star Nathan Delfouneso start however.

After tonight’s match, Hamburg have 7(!) weeks to rest, get healthy and get ready for the second-half push in the Bundesliga, so we will see the first team (well, those who are healthy). It would be very pleasant to head into the break with some momentum from a big win over a high quality opponent such as Villa. With HSV’s record at home now standing at 6-1-1 in all competitions, coupled with the fact that Hamburg will be playing Villa’s B-squad, I say make mine an HSV victory, 2-1. We shall see. . .

 Frankfurt come into the match 11th in the table on 19 points. Die Adler are sporting a 5-1-4 record over their last 10 league matches, while posting a 2-0-2 record on the road in the same 10-match span. Frankfurt’s leading scorer is Greek international Nikos Liberopoulis (a personal favorite of mine for 2 reasons: One, I just *love* saying the guy’s name–say it with me, Liberopoulis, see?; and two, the dude just has some mad skillz–this cat can ‘ball), who has tallied a healthy 7 gates in 12 Bundesliga matches this season.

Last time out, Frankfurt cruised to a comfortable 4-0 victory over 10 man Bochum. Bochum’s keeper Daniel Fernandes took down Martin Fenin in the area five minutes in, right after Fernandes threw him the ball. Long story short, Fernandes was tossed and my boy Liberopoulis converted from the spot. Liberopoulis added another goal before the break, with Markus Steinhofer and Marco Russ piling it on for the hosts.

This week, Frankfurt will likely be without (in no particular order): Oka Nikolov (foot), Christoph Preuss, Christoph Spycher, Ioannis Amanatidis (all knee surgery), Zlatan Bajramovic (toe), Umit Korkmaz (broken foot), Alexander Meier (unfit) and Chris ([another personal favorite-like his name, too ] shoulder surgery). Wow.

HSV return home following their just their third road victory of the season over Köln. Die Rothosen are sporting a 3 game unbeaten streak in the Bundesliga, and sport a lovely 6-1-0 record at the ‘Bank so far. Interesting bit to note:  Of the 24 goals Hamburg have conceded to date, 17(!) have come in the first half–a whopping 8 have come in the first 15 minutes. Not good, people, not good.

Some good news from the hospital ward–Bastian Reinhardt and Alex Silva both feel well enough to play Saturday. Whether or not they get the green light from the medical staff is another story . . . BMJ says in the story that he (Alex Silva) has never had an injury and he wants to play, BUT he only did 20 minutes on a treadmill yesterday. Reinhardt, for his part, says he can take painkillers and go. That’s the spirit! If they can’t go, HSV are going to be a bit shorthanded Saturday, as the Guy Demel is suspended.

Assuming Alex Silva and Reinhardt can’t go, here’s one man’s starting XI:

Rost

Boateng  Odjidja-Ofoe  Mathijsen  Aogo

Benjamin

Jarolim                                Jansen

Trochowski

Petric             Olic

Two things: I know Odjidja-Ofoe is more of a holding midfielder, but there is nobody, I mean NOBODY else on the side to play defense; And, following the defeat to Hertha, BMJ has gone with a 4-4-2. In the matches (both UEFA Cup and league), HSV are 3-1-0, with 7 goals to 3 conceded.  A little more defensive, dare I say, Huub-esque, but effective nonetheless.

Swag Prediction:

In the last seven matches with Frankfurt in Hamburg, HSV are 5-1-1, scoring 13 and conceding 5 over that span. Add in our outstanding home record this season, and I’m thinking 3-2 HSV.

For a Frankfurt supporter’s take on things, head over to the Frankfurt Offside and see what Ollie has to say.