We head into Thursday’s Europa League match in Vienna versus Rapid with a couple of big questions. Like, can Marcus Berg fill the rather sizable shoes of injured Paolo Guerrero (in case the Hamburg Offside is your only source for HSV news–and God help you if it is–Guerrero is lost for [most likely] the season with a blown knee, suffered in a World Cup qualifier for Peru against Venezuela. And when did Guerrero get back on the good side of the Peruvian FA?)? Can HSV continue their great run of form against Champions League qualifiers VfB and Rapid? Well, I can answer yes to the first part of the question as Die Rothosen dispatched Stuttgart 3:1 in a match that wasn’t really that close, on absolute blasts by Mladen Petric and my new fave Eljero Elia, and a very handsome goal by Ze’ Roberto in stoppage time. Let me say this about that–Elia seems to me to be the piece that we’ve been missing for so long. He’s a guy with great pace, great finishing ability and some (OK-A whole lot of) flair. My hope is that he and Berg and Ze’ combined can not only fill the scoring void left by Paolo Guerrero, but give us a better goal differential than last year. My two cents for this week:  David Rozehnal started at CD with Joris Mathijsen and did not impress at all. For a big guy, he was waaaaaaay to passive. I think we see Boateng paired with Mathijsen in league and Cup play, and Rozehnal in Europa League matches.

This week HSV travels to Vienna to take on Rapid. Rapid find themselves in the group stage of the Europa Cup on the strength of their 2:2 aggregate defeat (on away goals 1:2) of EPL side Aston Villa.  We face Rapid again in the group stage, but not until Matchday 5 (2 December).

Not sure what else to say at this point, other than I don’t know if I want to start talking about our successes for fear of jinxing the club. But isn’t that a supporter thing to do? I think Nick Hornby would agree.  .   .

I won’t be live blogging the Rapid match, as it happens during the workday in the US, but I will *hopefully* put up a post where we can all sound off on the match.

Thanks for your patience everybody. B-T-W, I am looking for a new wing man, as Evan seems to be missing in action. This is your chance to get in on what looks to be a very memorable season. If you are at all interested, please email Daryl [at] theoffside [dot] com and mention the Hamburg Offside co-blogging position.

Meet Marcus “the Mountain” Berg, ex- of FC Groningen of the Eredivisie, and newest member of HSV. The story broke Friday evening (European time) by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Berg’s arrival was announced on the German part of the HSV website, but not the English version (Time out:  If anyone associated with the club reads this stupid blog, how about keeping the English version of the club site up to speed with the German side? Is that asking too much?) If you have been following this story, you know that Berg is a true goal scorer, and in the mold of a KJH–equally deadly with his head and his feet. In the past two seasons for Groningen, Berg has tallied 32 goals in 56 Eredivisie matches. Not too shabby.

You know what else is nice? Scooping somebody else for a change, instead of being owned by other Bundesliga bloggers. So I got that goin’ for me. Which is nice.

Next up is to sign another defender and the two names which continue to come up are Philippe Senderos of Arsenal and Rasmus Bengtssen of Trelleborg (Sweden). I’d put my money on Bengtssen if I were a wagering type.

Also, there has been some scuttlebut that VDV *may* be on his way back to Hamburg, and those same stories are quick to point out that the lovely and talented Sylvie has been pushing him for such a move. HSV are even said to be trying to track down a wealthy benefactor to foot the bill for such a move so as not to jeopardize the financial solvency of the club. The problem is not the transfer fee, though, but Rafa’s €4M+ wage packet. Hoffman has said there is no money to bring in VDV, but he is our Prodigal Son and I know that many HSV supporters would welcome him back with open arms.

The Europa League draw was this morning and we ended up with the winner of FK Suduva (Lithiuania) or Randers FC (Denmark). Third round qualifying takes place July 30 (away) and August 6 (home).  Randers won the first leg 0:1 yesterday.

Final thought–Bruno has decided to pick his own captain, which leaves David Jarolim in a tight spot. Jaro is on the wrong side of 30 and plays a position where we have a WHOLE lot of depth (Ze Roberto, Rincon, Tavares, and maybe even Lorik Cana)–is he expendable at this point or am I reading too much into the situation?

In the 57′ of yesterday’s 0:1 defeat to Austrian 2. Bundesliga side Wacker Innsbruck, Alex Silva twisted his knee and and had to be substituted due to the extreme pain. He was carried from the pitch on a stretcher and replaced by Kai-Fabian Schulz. Team physician Dr. Oliver Dierk will examine Alex Silva today (Wednesday) and give an initial diagnosis, probably after an MRI. If it is a torn ACL or MCL, Alex Silva will miss the next 6 months at a minimum, and could miss the entire season–a HUGE blow to our already thin ranks on the defense.

If Alex Silva’s knee injury is as feared–a tear and not a sprain–the transfer strategy will have to change in order to replace the defender. As I mentioned yesterday, he was moved to central defense by Bruno. Jerome Boateng can certainly play CD, and excelled in that role at the recent Euro U21’s, but behind him on the depth chart is a whole lot of nuthin’. Yesterday, I wrote that Philippe Senderos of Arsenal, late of AC Milan, was a potential target, and that pursuit may speed up in light of Alex Silva’s current health. But what does that do to the transfer of Groningen striker Markus “the Mountain” Berg? Well, according to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, nothing–he’s already signed a 5 year deal with HSV. NOW, I travel to the Netherlands occasionally (though not as much as I used to), but I can’t vouch for the journalistic credibility/verascity of De Telegraaf’s football coverage. German television NDR also picked up the Telegraaf story, and they were not able to get a confirmation from the club. The Hamburg Abendblatt also picked up the story, so who knows where this is. Either way, I think they pursue another defender–maybe on a loan?–for depth, and move Boateng into the starting XI. OR, do they call ol’ Bastian Reinhardt back and say Dude, this whole thing where we said we didn’t think you could cut it anymore has been a total mixup.

The sticking point of the negotiations was the transfer fee. Orginally, Twente demanded €12m for Elia, while HSV were only offering €8m. Twente lowered their demands to €10m, but HSV initially wouldn’t budge on the €8m offer. Ultimately, HSV did pony up €9.1m and the deal was done. Elia was also pursued by a number of Premiership sides including Chelsea, Man City, Spurs, Bolton, and Wigan, as well as Ajax. Elia would never move to Ajax though, as he was dismissed from the Ajax youth academy when he was 13. He was re-discovered by ADO Den Haag two years later and after showing rapid improvement, he was pursued again by Ajax. Pfffffffft!  Get bent! His family jokingly threatened him with bodily harm this time around if he even considered BMJ and Ajax. Elia says he’s met with fellow Dutchmen Nigel de Jong, Khalid Boulahrouz, Rafael van Der Vaart and phoned Joris Mathijsen, and to a man, they all told him to come to HSV.

There’s a report today in Bild (I know, I know. . .) that Die Rothosen are back oogling Sweden international and Groningen striker Marcus Berg. Berg’s price is a bit higher than it was earlier this spring; he positively starred at the recent UEFA U21’s, bagging 7 goals in just 4 games. Groningen have set his transfer fee at a cool €10m. Which is all well and good. Except that we also have eyes for an interior defender, who happens to be Swiss international Philippe Senderos of Arsenal. Senderos spent last season on loan with AC Milan, but the Rossonerri chose not to exercise their option to purchase Senderos at the end of the loan. Here’s the rub:  HSV doesn’t want to pay for both, and they prefer to add another striker.  OK–seems to make sense to me, because up front we have (in no particular order): Petric, Guerrero, Tunay Torun, Elia, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, and by making this move, it would seem that the front office are preparing to move Guerrero this summer or in the winter instead of letting him walk for nothing in 2010, á la Ivica Olic. BUT, I just have a strong, uneasy feeling about the depth at the back, which has been a theme of mine for some time. Labbadia is moving Alex Silva back to central defense next to Mathijsen. That makes Jerome Boateng the perfect sub as he can play both right back and, as he showed with great aplumb at the U21’s, central defense as well. That looks really great, but again, I would prefer to see another warm body for the back line.

Based on Bruno’s stated preference for a 4-1-2-1-2 formation, here’s what the squad (as it is currently comprised) may look like whent they take the pitch on 8 August versus Freiburg:

Rost

 Boateng (Demel)     Alex Silva     Mathijsen     Aogo

 Jarolim

 Trochowski (Zé Roberto)                         Jansen (Pitroipa)

 Zé Roberto (Trochowski)

Elia/Guerrero     Petric

What do you think?

•HSV play Wacker Innsbruck tonight in a friendly. This is the last friendly that we play before the first round of the DFB-Pokal and Europa League qualifying.

•Former HSV defenders Thimothee Atouba and Bastian Reinhardt are on the radars of Ajax and Hertha, respectively.

There’s a great story in the online edition of Welt today detailing all the known goings and potential comings of each of the 1. Bundesliga clubs this summer. So what’s the HSV angle to this story? On the known goings, there’s not much new–we all know that Ivica Olic is gone to the Bavarians, that all of the winter loaners were given back (No thank you!), and, oh, we have a new trainer. Among the players leaving the club that I haven’t (and neither has Evan) touched on are Thimothee Atouba and Bastian Reinhardt. Atouba was offered a contract extension this winter (at his current wages) as he was rehabbing his torn achilles; he rejected that offer presumably because he thought he could get more money on the open market. Well, there isn’t a huge demand for petulant defenders who are recovering from major injury, and bottom line–Atouba had no takers. Reinhardt is a bit more of a sticky situation. Basti is among the all time club leaders in matches played and is certainly a fan favorite (in stark contrast to Atouba on both accounts), but seemed to have slowed a step in the 2008 Rückrunde. Basti split time with Alex Silva in the Hinrunde this season, and negotititaions with the club on a contract extension at that time not only stalled, they ceased.  

Weld lists Alex Silva (back to Brazil, AC Milan, Sevilla), Marcell Jansen (Juventus), Mladen Petric (Wolfsburg), Piotr Trochowski (everybody) as potential exits. To a man, the Hamburg management have said no way Jose, nobody’s leaving the club this summer, which we all know means unless the price is right. Let’s face it–last summer, would you have thought that Nigel de Jong would EVER leave HSV? Me either. What I read about Alex Silva was that he wanted out because Jol was playing him in the midfield and that he would never get a look for the Selecão if all he ever played was midfield–he wanted back in central defense. With Reinhardt’s and Michael Gravgaard’s departures, I look for him to move back into defense, and be happy.

Predictably, what interested me is all of the potential newcomers listed by Weld:  Niko Kranjcar of Pompey (who was rumored [there's that word again] to be on his way last summer), Kostas Katsouranis of Benfica (almost a sure thing he’s coming),  Tim Borrowski of Bayern (on the outs with Munich management), Eljero Elia of Twente (who is now reportedly on his way to Ajax since BMJ flew the coup), and Hamburg native Ivan Klasnic, now that Nantes have been relegated to Ligue 2. But the REALLY interesting names are Alexander Hleb of Barca, our beloved Rafael van Der Vaart of Real, and Kevin Kuryani of Schalke. And FYI, our transfer budget this summer is about €16-18 million.

Hleb is not coming to HSV; but are VDV and Kuryani?

Another fun little bit on the Weld web site is a reader poll to determine the greatest HSV player os all time. Here’s the poll in German, because it’s pretty self explanatory. My vote went to Uwe Seeler. Coincidentally, he’s the leading vote-getter right now.

Both Collin Benjamin and Guy (”don’t spell my name Dimmel”) Demel stayed in Hamburg as the side travelled to Manchester Tuesday–they are still nursing thigh injuries.  A bigger question though is the availability of Alex Silva, who is rehabbing a torn hamstring. Alex Silva did not travel with the squad on Tuesday as he remained in Hamburg for a “fitness” test with the trainers. He did travel to England Wednesday, though, and is in the squad for tonight’s match. My guess is that Jol will not play our steady Brazilian with the high number of matches in the coming weeks. That and the fact that HSVII defender Kai Fabian Schulz also travelled to Manchester cements it for me that Alex Silva will not be used in anything except the most dire emergencies.

Here’s one hack’s attempt at a starting XI:

Rost

 Boateng    Gravgaard    Mathijsen    Aogo/Jansen*

 Jarolim     Aogo/Jansen*

 Trochowski    Pitroipa

 Olic    Petric

*Either Jansen or Aogo will lineup at left back and the other will line up in the midfield with Jarolim. Flip a coin if you want, but my guess is that Aogo starts at left back.

The last second loss to Stuttgart on Sunday (which I admittedly did not see) makes me think that the lads are tiring a bit, and if you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I want nothing more than HSV to play in the Champions League next season. So if something has to go, let it be the DFB-Pokal or the UEFA Cup. Let’s concentrate on the Bundesliga. With our crappy goal differential, we are essentially a point behind anyone we’re level with in the table and will need all the help we can get.

Bottom line:  City have not played well as of late, but they are very strong at home. HSV looked tired in their last Bundesliga match, and the lack of depth due to injuries will take its toll soon with the number of matches to be played in a very short amount to time. That said, HSV dominated the leg in Hamburg, and if not for the heroics of Shay Given, City would have been on the wrong end of a Barcelona-esque result (maybe 5 or 6-1).  I’ll give City credit for playing at home and their brilliant keeper could possibly steal the match. If Robinho decides to show up, he may have an impact on the result, and I don’t have word as to whether former HSV stud Vincent Kompanyreturn from injury this week. Don’t discount that a Martin Jol managed side has never, ever lost to Manchester City (6-0-0 with Spurs, 1-0-0 with HSV). Hamburg have too much for City, but City is tough at home.

SWAG prediction: 2:2, with goals from Robinho and Stephen Ireland, and Trochowski and Petric. Let’s get it on.

So decimated by injuries are Die Rothosen that Jol has called up reserve Volker Scmidt and Kai-Fabian Schulz from HSV II. Guy Demel (strained quadracep) and Alex Silva (torn hamstring) are both out. Jerome Boateng continues to recover from the flu and *should* be available.  While Paolo Guerrero (bruised ankle) and Collin Benjamin (bruised thigh) have both been adjudged to be fit and are in the squad, Jerome Boateng is suspended for the match. Guerrero will come off the bench in support of The Croatian Combination (Olic and Petric), while Benjamin may start in the midfield in lieu of Alex Silva. If Benjamin is not 100%, look for Tomas Rincon to get the nod. Marcel Ndjengs is available as well, but isn’t a viable starter.

Mikael Tavares and Albert Streit are cup tied and unavailable, although neither would likely play if they were. Good thing they are loaners because they both have, ahem, failed to impress so far. SO, here’s one guy’s shot at a lineup:

Rost

Boateng Benjamin    Gravgaard    Mathijsen    Aogo

Trochowski    Benjamin Jansen    Jarolim    Jansen Guerrero

Olic    Petric

For Citeh, there is late word today/tonight that former HSV-er Vincent Kompany is injured and did not travel with the side to Hamburg. Nigel de Jong is obviously cup tied, but did travel with the side and is looking forward to seeing his old mates. Martin Petrov and Stephen Ireland return for the Citizens, however.

Bottom line:  Hamburg are flying following the victory over TSG Saturday, but participating in 3 competitions appears to be finally taking its toll on the lads. Still, City were not impressive in their last round victory over Aalborg, needing several heroic penalty saves from Shay Givens to advance. Martin Jol has never lost to City as a manager, sporting a 3-3-0 record against them while managing Spurs (I may be a homer–that is to say, I am a Hamburg supporter–but Jol should be the manager of the year). SWAG Prediction: 2:1 Hamburg, with goals by Petric and Guerrero, and Robinho.

UPDATE: 09 April 1637 GMT:

The revised starting XI above came from the HSV web site this morning (US Central time). Here’s an alternative starting XI from the Abendblatt that makes a bit more sense than moving Jansen inside and putting the hobbled Guerrero wide:

Rost

 Benjamin    Gravgaard    Mathijsen    Aogo

Trochowski    Jarolim    Rincon    Jansen

Olic    Petric

Subs would be: Hesl, Schmidt, Schulz, Ndjeng, Torun, Pitroipa, Guerrero

On with the list. And, again, please accept my apologies for the dearth of posts this past month.

When last we checked in, HSV were preparing for a visit from the now-mighty Wolfsburg at the ‘Bank. When the dust settled, gone was HSV’s undefeated record at home in all competitions the league (duh–we lost 0:1 to Ajax on Thanksgiving [November]) as Wolfsburg defeated Die Rothosen 1:3 in a match that wasn’t as close as the score would indicate, on a brace from Grafite (who the Hamburg Offside simply cannot stand). That result left HSV in a traffic jam for second place on the table.

Following the defeat to Wolfsburg, Hamburg took on lowly SV Wehen of the 2. Bundesliga in the DFB-Pokal (and by lowly, I mean LOW–at the time of the match, they were dead LAST in the 2. B’liga). HSV went through the motions and came away with a 2:1 victory, after which keeper Frank Rost prophesized (and I’m paraphrasing), If we play this shitty in our league matches, we’re going to get throttled, regardless of who we play. You know, like ‘Gladbach. Who we play Saturday. Well, Rost proved more than prescient because HSV went on the road and had their asses handed to them 4:1. Marko Marin was sublime in his–dare we dream?–audition for HSV, with a nice assist to Rob Friend on the game’s first goal and the final nail in the coffin with a penalty on our oracle Rost. The only good thing to take away from this match was that it seemed  to serve as a much needed wake up call to HSV. Or so we thought. At least I thought so.  In the interim, Hamburg drew arch rival Werder Bremen (Boo! Hiss!) away for the semi finals of the Pokal

HSV are still alive in three competitions–the league, the Pokal, and the UEFA (ne: Europa) Cup. After finishing off Nijmegen in the first knockout round, HSV drew Turkish giants Galatasaray in the round of 32. The first leg was played on 12 March at the ‘Bank and Hamburg played a less than spectacular match, failing to take full advantage of 10-man Gala for most of the 2nd half, allowing the Turks to leave town with a 1:1 draw and an ever-precious away goal (and I take exception to the author’s suggestion that there were 30,000 away supporters at the match; the ‘Bank seats 57,000 TOTAL, and they away supporters had one small section on the lower deck–a more likely number is 3,000).

The following Sonntag, HSV welcomed Cottbus to town and a visit from the relegation strugglers was just what the doctor ordered. Bayern-bound Ivica Olic pounced on the visitors 32 minutes in, and Piotr Trochowski sealed the victory with a lovely goal from about 25 yards out in the 39th minute. HSV kept 10 men in front of the ball for the entire second half and Cottbus could muster nothing more than a couple of extreme range shots.

Which brings us to the return leg of the UEFA Cup. There are few more initimidating venues for visiting football clubs than the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul. With HSV playing the return leg on the road, and having conceded an away goal in the home leg of the tie, the prospects for a treble this season looked mighty, mighty bleak. And things did not look any better once the match started. Galatasaray started off the scoring with a penalty by Harry Kewel following a mugging by Jerome Boateng on Milan Baros in the area at the 42′ mark. Baros was not going to be denied this night, as he knocked home an Arda Turan poke with a nifty little lift over the charging Frank Rost just after the restart. Things looked really, really bad for HSV.

But providence smiled upon the Hanseaten and Peruvian party-boy Paolo Guerrero with a blast from another time zone to the top left corner over ‘keeper Morgan De Sanctis. And he wasn’t finished. A scant three minutes later, Guerrero shredded the Gala defense before sliding another goal past De Sanctis, drawing Hamburg even, and giving them 2 away goals for good measure. As if that weren’t enough, Olic sealed HSV’s advance to the quarterfinals with a lob goal right at full time. The amount of heart this side showed to win this match when they were down 3-1 on aggregate in one of the most difficult stadiums venues in Europe cannot be measured. To me, this will be the match we point to when we look back at the turning point of this season.

Up next for Hamburg was perennial contender Schalke 04, except that Schalke aren’t contending this season. Summarily bounced from the CL, and then the UEFA Cup, Schalke are having a rough go of it this year. So much so that their collective performance had already cost sporting director Andreas Muller his job, and the prospects for gaffer Fred Rutten weren’t looking much better. So what did Hamburg do? They put the hammer down and trounced Schalke 1:2 in match that wasn’t that close. Both goals were struck by Guerrero, whose price for a contract extension with the club has gone sky high (his current deal runs through 2010 and the club was looking to lock him up for another 2 years). And, Rutten, too, was shown the door shortly following the HSV defeat.

In the meantime, the draw for the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup has taken place, and Hamburg have drawn Manchester City, a club with which we already have more than one connection. In fact we have two. Two former faves of the Hamburg Offside, Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong, now ply their trades at Citeh, and the Citizens snuck into the quarters on penalties over Aalborg. Kompany is now playing in the midfield opposite De Jong and has been quite successful.  Really looking forward to this tie. By the way, should HSV prevail over City, we would play the winner of the Bremen-Udinese tie.

And finally, HSV dished out a little more payback for those 3 3-goal defeats we suffered in the Hinrunde, with a 1:0 victory over suddenly mortal Hoffenheim on Saturday past on a goal by speedster Jonathon Pitroipa in 28th minute.

Well, that’s it for the recap. Thanks again for your kind words whilst I was away. I intend to be back with a post about injuries and who looks to be in and who’s out come this summer, and a quick HSV-City preview before Thursday’s match.

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.