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.

Bayern’s own Mark van Bommel (Angela’s favorite). Martin Jol thinks the world of Dutch players, especially Dutch internationals (after all, he already has 2–De Jong and Mathijsen–and needs to replace the one he lost-Van der Vaart) and thinks even more of Van Bommel’s leadership qualities.  But he’s not allowed to comment on players currently under contract to other sides. And BMJ is not the only Dutch gaffer interested. Seems that Fred Rutten and Schalke and our old buddy Huub and PSV have their sights set on Mark when he becomes available.

For his part, MVB is saying all the right things–how he’s meeting with Rummenigge and Hoeness in January to discuss his future with the club and that right now, he’s under contract with Bayern and devoted to the side. Privately, this article states, he wants out of Munich. Fast. This story also speculates that a move may come as soon as January.

Would he be a good fit at HSV? I think so. The guy is unquestionably talented. Where would he play? In the near term, probably in De Jong’s spot; long term, probably in Jarolim’s midfield spot. And he is a leader–firey, vocal, demonstrative–something HSV haven’t had since my beloved VDV hit the bricks. BUT, the guy is 31. So he’s good for–what–3 more years? This is an interesting developement that bears monitoring as we draw closer to the winter break.

For those of you who speak German, there is also a pretty cool quiz about HSV on the Welt site. If you don’t speak German, you can use a translation tool to translate the questions, but be forewarned–you can’t translate the whole page (at least I couldn’t using Google translations), so I copied the questions to the text translator and did it that way. I won’t tell you how I scored.

For the eleventh (!) year in a row, HSV travelled to Berlin and left town without a victory, and for the ninth time in those eleven years, we left town with out a point. Not that the match officials were helping us or anything. It seems that on the winning goal, the referee’s assistant raised his flag to notify the referee of a foul (Mathijsen on Voronin), but then lowered the flag after Die Rothosen had stopped for Hertha to take the free kick. BUT, the referee never stopped play, as is his perogative, and Hertha, to their credit, kept playing, resulting in a Domvchiyski goal for the hosts. This link has a very good sequence of photos showing the play–you can make up your own mind.  Here is the story behind the photos (keep in mind that the source is one of the local Hamburg papers). HSV almost broke the curse in stoppage time as Jonathon Pitroipa launched a rocket which just struck the crossbar as time was about to expire.

Bad news on the injury front:  Nigel de Jong did not play as he experienced some pain in his sore knee prior to the match. He will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine whether there has been further damage to his sprained ACL (anterior cruciate ligament–the ligament on the inside of your knee joint). Really bad news:  His injury looks to keep him out for an extended period. Yikes. Good news on the injury front: Glass Joe Marcell Jansen started the match and finished uninjured!  Bad news: David Jarolim picked up his fifth yellow in Bundesliga play and now must sit out the Bremen match on 23 November. 

Here’s the lineup that took the pitch:

Rost

Demel   Reinhardt   Mathijsen   Jansen

Alex Silva    Boateng

Trochowski   Jarolim   Olic

Petric

Quite a bit different than the lineups I was throwing out there prior to the match. Interesting to see Jerome Boateng playing in the midfield, especially partnering with Alex Silva. I’d like to see that combination a little more often.

Anything positive to take away from another defeat? Well, besides the relative health of the squad, the fact that they held the opposition to *only* 2 goals, and despite a 191-second lapse in concentration, they outplayed Hertha for most of the match.

 It will be interesting to see how BMJ rallies the troops after this one. . .

Oh, and the Hamburg Offside celebrated its first anniversary on 13 November. So have a Holsten and celebrate! Skol!

Hertha, much like Hannover,  have Die Rothosen’s number in Berlin. Witness:  In the previous 10 matches played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Hamburg have zero–ZERO–victories, 2 draws and 8 defeats, scoring 7 goals while conceding a whopping 31(!). Interestingly, one of the draws came this past April, a thrilling (ha!) nil-nil affair. That match was the closest Hamburg have been to winning in Berlin in 10 years. In a match where 5 HSV regulars were suspended, including Rafael van der Vaart, David Jarolim, and Vincent Kompany, the key play was the missed PK by Ivica Olic.  

Hertha come into Saturday’s match fifth in the Bundesliga table on 21 points, with an overall record of 6 victories, 3 draws and 3 losses, and a home record of 3 wins, 2 draws and a single defeat (to Cottbus[?!]). They have impressive 1:0 victories over Leverkusen and Hoffenheim. Leading scorers so far are Liverpool loaner Andriy Voronin and Marko Pantelic (3 goals apiece). Hertha come off a huge win last week with a 1:0 result at home versus (then) table-toppers Hoffenheim.  Pantelic is probable for the match, having suffered a thigh injury in the Hoffenheim match. Things are really looking pretty good in Berlin right now.

Hamburg are coming off a decent, if unspectacular, showing versus Dortmund with a 2:1 victory. Both sides of the Croatian Combination scored–Petric in the 9th minute and Olic in the 33rd. The story was once again a tale of two halves with HSV dominating play in the first half and reeling in the second. The lack of focus for a complete 90 minutes continues to plague Hamburg, and has been their downfall (especially in the first half) of their three 0:3 defeats on the road this season. For Hamburg to get a result this week, they need to play a strong first half and follow it with a focused second half. Mladen Petric continues to showcase the value of his transfer with 4 goals in league matches (6 in all competitions), with his strike partner Olic also having tallied 4.

The injured list is starting to clear out, with Nigel de Jong and Marcell Jansen both having trained all week, and are expected to play. De Jong should start, sending Alex Silva back to the defense from De Jong’s spot in the midfield. This should necessitate either Bastian Reinhardt or Joris Mathijsen (he of a new 4 year contract extension) going to the bench. My guess is that it will be Reinhardt who sits this week. Guy “don’t spell my name Dimmel” Demel returns and likely starts at right back, displacing ex-Hertha junior Jerome Boateng. Glass Joe Jansen is fit to play, and should start at left back, sending Dennis Aogo to the pine. The enigma that is Thiago Neves has also recovered from a stomach virus that plagued him for the better part of a week and is on the roster for the trip to Berlin. Paolo Guerrero has been training hard trying to regain his form, but there is no indication as to whether he or Neves will start behind Petric on Saturday. And finally, a fond “Welcome Back” to Romeo Castelen, who has recovered enough from 2 arthroscopic knee procedures to begin training this week. It remains to be seen whether he will make the roster for the Hertha match (probably not). So here’s my stab at a possible starting lineup:

                       Rost

 Demel   Silva   Mathijsen   Jansen

            De Jong   Jarolim

Trochowski   Guerrero   Olic

                        Petric

And after all that, I came across an article on Mopo which says that Jansen is not fit to start (Aogo stays in), and that BMJ may go with more defensive tactics, starting Colin Benjamin at midfield, supplanting Piotr Trochowski (?). Here’s what that lineup would look like:

                        Rost

 Demel   Silva   Mathijsen   Aogo Jansen

         Benjamin  De Jong   Jarolim

Trochowski   Guerrero   Olic

                        Petric

So what to make of this? Frankly, I would rather have Trochowski and Olic wide supporting Petric and sit Guerrero/Neves if BMJ wants to go with a more defensive look. I don’t think you want to EVER willingly sit your best player, and let’s face it, Guerrero is, ahem, a little off his game.

BOTTOM LINE:  If BMJ goes defensive, I like a 1:1 draw or maybe, just maybe, a 2:1 victory for Die Rothosen; if he sticks with his “regular” starting XI, I foresee bad things–maybe 2:3 for Hertha.

Lots of news this week regarding some of the younger names at Hamburg. Belarus international Anton Putsilo has been training with Lokomotiv Moskow and will likely join them during the January transfer window, when his loan deal from Dynamo Minsk is up. Loan deals are being examined also for Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, Macauley Chrisantus (more reluctantly) and Anis Ben-Hatira. These guys are all very good prospects and when players like Jerome Boateng aren’t getting PT anymore, what are the young guys’ chances?

The really big story in the Hamburg papers is the HSV board of directors election, coming up in January. The crux of the matter is that there is a sizeable contingent of supporters who want to see Berndt Hoffman ousted as chairman of the club, and there are a couple of candidates who are wooing these votes to get themselves elected to the board and get Hoffman out. More next week.

With the recent acquisitions of Mladen Petric, Marcell Jansen, Alex Silva (who has been confirmed as out of Saturday’s match, having arrived in Hamburg from Brazil this morning) and Thiago Neves, the battles for playing time with the first team are really heating up. WIth Alex Silva’s absence, Bastian Reinhardt gets another start, and deservedly so, after nailing 2 goals against Bielefeldt. The local papers speculate the Reinhardt will be out of a starting job once Alex Silva is match fit, and I think it’s going to be great watching them push each other for starting spot. The other central defense spot is manned by Dutch international Joris Mathijsen, who is not in any danger of losing his spot. At left back, Marcell Jansen steps in for Thimothee Atouba, and ominously, Jansen’s balky knee had to drained following the Bielefeld match. Jerome Boateng returns from injury to take back the right back spot from super-sub Guy Demel, who now looks to be the odd man out on the new roster. I have read that HSV will let him seek a January transfer. I think that may be a bit short sighted of the club, but Demel will not be happy with the situation if he’s not playing. In the midfield both Nigel de Jong and David Jarolim are entrenched in defending roles, and with Ivica Olic and Piotr Trochowski on the wings. That means that Jonathon Pitroipa is the odd man out there, as Thiago Neves will be playing behind striker Paolo Guerrero, and Trochowski taking Pitroipa’s wing position.  Here’s the projected lineup:

Rost

Boateng, Reinhardt, Mathijsen, Jansen

De Jong, Jarolim

Trochowski, Neves, Olic

Guerrero

OR

Rost

Boateng, Reinhardt, Mathijsen, Jansen

De Jong, Jarolim

Trochowski, Neves

Guerrero, Olic

Interesting that new striker Mladen Petric has yet to start a match for HSV since his arrival. . .

Leverkusen come to Hamburg sitting fourth on 2 wins (Stuttgart, Hoffenheim) and 1 defeat (Dortmund). In their three matches, Bayer have scored 9 goals, and conceded 5, meaning we are looking at a high scoring affair (Hamburg have scored 8 and conceded 5 in 2 victories and 1 draw). Rene Adler returns to goal for Bayer following a shoulder injury, which is great news for them, and not-so-great news for HSV.

HSV returns from the international break with no injuries and a full squad, though Alex Silva likely will not play due his late arrival from Brazil. I am very keen on seeing how Neves fits in with the side, and whether or not we can have a stronger defensive effort than we did versus Bielefeldt. With Boateng back, I think that’s likely, and I also think that Reinhardt will be playing his heart out to keep his place on the field and off the bench.

SWAG prediction (Again with the predictions? Oy. . .):  Look for a high-flying matchup on Saturday, with HSV taking all three points–4:3, with a pair from Olic, and 1 from Trochowski and Neves. I have a quite a strong distaste for Bayer, particularly after the UEFA Cup matches last season. I really, really want HSV to pound them.

Next up: A UEFA Cup group match with Romanian minnows, AFC Unirea Urziceni. Urziceni is such a small city that there isn’t an “adequate” hotel in town for HSV. They will be staying in Bucharest, some 50 miles away. I will have a “Know your minnows” post this weekend or early next week (it’s already in the works!).

Here’s the story from the Bayern’s web site (in English). This presumably kills the deal for Luciano Monzon (or more likely, Betis hijacked Monzon and HSV needed a backup plan), and he is headed to Real Betis, as I reported earlier today.

Here’s a bio of the lad from the English Wikipedia. He will be presented in Hamburg tomorrow (Thursday), 28 August. The transfer fee has so far been undisclosed and Jansen will reportedly sign a new deal with Hamburg through 2013.

OTHER QUICKIES:

•Anis Ben-Hatira has been loaned to Nürnberg. The same story says that Hannover are now after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (who is recovering from major knee surgery and has yet to play this season) for a loan spell, but Choupo-Moting and HSV have told Hannover to get lost.

•Simon Braasch of Mopo speculates that prized prospect Macaulay Christantus and Miroslav Stepanek could be loaned out before the transfer window closes Sunday. I don’t know about Stepanek, but I *really* doubt whether HSV will let Christantus go somewhere that they can’t monitor his health and progress, not to mention that the kid has only been in Germany since November 2007 and it’s the first time he’s been away from home. Oh, and there have yet to be any offers for Thimothee Atouba. SIGH.