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.

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.

 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.

Yep, in fact it’s been four plus (!) years of futility for HSV against their heated rivals in Hamburg (previous match previews here and here; previous match recap here, for your amusement). You read that right–Bremen have come in and earned a result in every match in Hamburg since a 1:0 victory on 2 February 2003. The winning goal scorer–Sergei Barbarez. To put that into perspective, Gerhard Schröder was still Chancellor . . .

Bremen come into Sunday’s match ninth in the Bundesliga table on 20 points. As is often the case, they have been blistering at times on offense and so-so on defense, having scored a whopping 31 goals in 13 matches, having conceded 24.  Bremen have 3 wins, 2 draws and a single defeat in their last six matches, suggesting that they may have turned the corner in their Bundesliga season and are ready to make a run for the top of the table. Their biggest victory so far has to be the 2:5 drubbing beat down of Bayern Munich on 20 September, a scoreline which frankly still shocks me 2 months later. The visitors will be without the services of Mesut Ozil (suspended); Daniel Jensen and Martin Harnik are out with injuries.  

Hamburg have been 2 different clubs this campaign boasting a robust 5-1-0 at home this season, with only a 1:1 draw with Schalke staining their record, scoring 11 and conceding a paltry 5. The other club (of the 2 different clubs reference)?  Well, they have, ahem, struggled away from home, with 2 victories against 4 defeats, having scored a meager seven goals, while conceding 14(!). BUT, since this is a home match, we need to accentuate the positive. 

NIgel de Jong is out (and will remain shut down for the remainder of 2008 while his injured knee heals), as is Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (knee surgery) and Thimothee Atouba (achilles tendon rupture). Captain David Jarolim is suspended for Sunday’s match, having “earned” his fifth yellow card of the season on Saturday’s trip to Berlin–Joris Mathijsen wears the armband for the first time versus Bremen.

Probable lineup for HSV:

Rost

Demel   Reinhardt  Mathijsen  Jansen

Boateng  Alex Silva

Trochowski  Guerrero  Olic

Petric

Quick notes:

•Alex Silva will draw the assignment of marking compatriot (and flopper-meister) Diego, a job has had many times while training with Brazil. He will not, however, be swapping jersey’s with Diego following the match–that honor is reserved for Naldo, a close friend of Silva’s from waaaaaay back.

•Tim Wiese and Ivica Olic have buried the hatchet (and no, not in Olic’s head).

•This is the most expensive match in HSV history, in terms of ticket prices, and the side want the supporters to get their money’s worth. Same story quotes sporting director Didi Beiersdorfer as saying this is not a season-making (or breaking) match, but a loss sends you midtable (maybe for the remainder of the season) while a victory puts you back in touch with the leaders. Can’t argue with that .  .  .

•History notwithstanding, Mladen Petric IS CONVINCED Hamburg will win out this time.

So .  .  . I think that HSV showed some improvement in the Hertha match, and are playing with better balance (between offense and defense). Their record at home speaks for itself and that alone would normally make this one pretty easy to call. BUT, this is the derby with the most bitter rivals–a rival side that has not lost on HSV’s home pitch in 4+ years. SWAG Prediction:  Lots of offense, a breakneck pace at times, and a helluva ballgame to watch for the supporters of both sides. Bottom line: 2:2. Screw it–make it 3:2 for Die Rothosen.

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.