Changes are Afoot (again)
By: Mark | March 8th, 2011
Yawn…
Well folks, it looks like we have to get ready for a new coach again, as Armin Veh has announced on the club’s official website that he will not be returning next season. It looks like this is being spun that he has decided not to exercise his option to remain on for next season, but I’m sure he is being pushed in that direction anyway. The question remains if the club will terminate his contract early to try to salvage things for this season, or keep him on to finish it out. Either way doesn’t make much difference for me – the team is not performing well enough, and I doubt that a coaching change with 9 games left will change much. The only positive I could see would be the chance for out-of-favor players like Elia and Jarolim to get back in the lineup under a new coach and see what they can do. Right now some guys are wasting away on the bench and all Veh is doing is burning bridges by not giving them a chance. There must be more going on behind the scenes, but with the inconsistency the team has had this year even with playing pretty much the same lineup several games in a row, it might be better to rotate the players a bit to give them all a shot. At least to help develop the younger guys they don’t want to sell like Choupo-Moting and Son.
Anyway, after Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Mainz, I’m pretty much ready to write-off the rest of the season and just hope for some interesting matches from here until the end. You never know – a win in Bayern would bring HSV back into a Europa League race, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Don’t get me wrong – I will certainly be excited if somehow Hamburg figures out how to win, but I guess I’m entering realist-mode for awhile.
The other big change coming next year will be the end of Bernd Hoffman’s reign as CEO of Hamburger SV. I’m sure this will come as positive news for most, since not much good has happened under his watch over the last few years. Sure there have been some good signings even after Dietmar Biersdorfer left, but really those signings have not combined to make a winning team in Hamburg. I’m hoping that the arrival of Frank Arneson in the summer and the subsequent exit of Hoffman in December will be a new beginning for the team. It could be time to trim the fat and sell off some of the under-performing players and try to keep a strong core group of players to rebuild around. Guys like Dennis Aogo and Mladen Petric – solid, dependable players that seem to have good attitudes. Can you believe at this beginning of this season we were debating whether the team should sell Petric? Now he’s one of the only guys you can count on.
I hope the team can pull things together and get a few more wins this year. I would hate to see Hamburg go on a slide like their rivals Werder Bremen have had. Let’s see what they can do this weekend in Munich – nothing like a game against Bayern to get the team motivated, so maybe they will surprise us!
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Comments
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Veh was gone as soon as they hired Frank Arnesson to be sporting director–the guy will want to bring in his own manager. My prayer is that he gets Jol back–pleasepleaseplease.
That Hoffman’s contract was not renewed should come as no surprise. The club has faltered competitively since he chased of Beiersdorfer and then Jol, and he hired Bruno for Pete’s sake, and it took almost a year to get Jol in as Huub’s replacement. He was very good at running the business side of the club and should have kept his nose out of the football operations.
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These seem like good things, but Arnesen really has to set up a philosophy and stick with it. Nine coaches in nine years is ridiculous.
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Chris, it would be amazing if Martin Jol came back. Maybe with Hoffman out, it could be a possibility…
Even though the team only finished in 5th the year Jol was in charge, there seemed to be a much more positive feeling about it. They also did well in the UEFA Cup (semi-finals I think). I think that was the year with all those Bremen derbies that really sent Hamburg’s season off the rails. Despite that part, I think Jol was the perfect man to keep the team moving forward, and look what’s happened since he left.
Come on Martin, we need you at HSV!!!
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You take a break for a couple of months and hope Hamburg magically emerge from chaos, but instead they’ve been embracing chaos as the club’s new culture it seems.
Too bad about Hoffman, but his sporting director/coach decisions have cost him his job. I hope Hamburg find someone who is as competent financially as Hoffman was. I’m happy about Veh leaving though. Always had my doubts about him and all he did was turning a team with potential into a mediocre bunch of individuals. After the Mainz game I no longer think that Hamburg have the potential to really attack an Europa League spot. And teams like Mainz and Hannover with their smart coaches and sporting directors deserve to be where they are.
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Hey welcome back Jan!
Yes, Hamburg have not been in the best shape lately. I hope the positive top-level changes can filter down to the players. Time to get this ship back on course!
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I think Jol had pretty much checked out by the end of his season due to his unhappiness with the management. That was the Werder fiasco where HSV played them four times in three weeks or something like that (UC, BL, and Pokal). It will be interesting to track Areneson’s moves this summer. There should be some good coaching talent out there and Arneson should make it palatable for a good coach to join the club.
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For the craziest picture you will ever find of Armin Veh, follow this link:
http://www.hsv.de/en/season/meldungen/bundesliga/march-2011/veh-meeting-of-two-punch-drunk-teams/
Looks like the man has checked out to me! Also, Mathijsen will be out for the Bayern match, which means Westermann will be forced back into a CB role, and I guess Kacar will be beside him. Yikes, I figured after last week’s debacle that the Kacar-as-CB experiment would be over. He’s not a bad player, just a victim of playing in the wrong position with little experience there. Also, Demel might be out, meaning Rincon could play RB. Jarolim should be back in the lineup as well.
Who knows, maybe these injury-forced lineup changes could actually help the team?
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Here’s the lineup for tomorrow: Rost – Rincon, Westermann, Kacar, Aogo – Jarolim, Zé Roberto – Ben-Hatira, Elia – Guerrero, Petric
and the subs: Mickel, Tesche, Benjamin Jansen, Pitroipa, Son, van Nistelrooy
Drobny has a hand injury, so Mickel is the backup keeper. Elia finally gets a start, and I think he needs it. I like Jansen a lot, but I think Elia needs to play several games in a row to try to get something going and increase his value. If he can get better, maybe Arneson will figure out what to do with him next season.
Guy Demel is definitely out, and the big name that didn’t make the trip this week is Trochowski.
Bayern looks to have a good lineup this week as they are desperate for a win: Kraft – Lahm, van Buyten, Badstuber, Luiz Gustavo – Kroos, Schweinsteiger – Robben, Müller, Ribery – Gomez
I always look forward to the Hamburg-Bayern matches, so I hope this is a good one. It should be a tightly-fought affair. Hope you get a chance to watch it!
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Luke has a good preview for the match over on the Bayern Offside: http://bayern.theoffside.com/1-bundesliga/fc-bayern-munich-vs-hamburger-sv-matchday-26-lame-duck-pokal-preview.html
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How about this? You guys can have van Gaal for a used bag of footballs, some new goal netting, a case of Paulaner and 10 kilos of sausage??
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Good idea Tomas, but I think we will have to give you Holsten instead of Paulaner
We will gladly throw in Veh as well…
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I would gladly drink Holsten as well compared to the sh!t they have here in the states! ; )
As far as Veh goes… just keeps pushing him north into the Sh!tty Premier League. -
What a crap-ass game that was. I think we have seen the end of Armin Veh.
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Confirmed. Armin Veh is out. Michael Oenning to take over as head coach for the time being.
http://www.bundesliga.de/en/liga/news/2010/index.php?f=0000177972.php
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Well at least Veh is gone, I know nothing about Michael Oenning but I’m not terribly excited. At least Bayern have a better chance to get to the CL now, I really don’t want a Hanover to get in and represent the Bundesliga…
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That was a terrible match on Saturday. This late season implosion because the team doesn’t like the manager is getting tired. I think we can safely say this season is over. It’s a real shame too, with a lot of the other big clubs struggling had HSV been on the ball, we really could have accomplished something this year. Instead, it was another year of infighting and mediocrity.
This team needs a shake-up. We’ve got a new sporting director and manager coming in, but that dressing room needs to change too. When a team quits on one coach, it might be the coach, when it happens over and over, its the players. We need new blood and new leadership.
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Hoffman is officially out now! We don’t have to wait until the end of 2011 – clearly the HSV board realize that immediate changes need to be made. My guess is that they are worried the presence of Hoffman would keep potential good coaches away, and the club really needs a fresh start in management. I hope they find good replacements soon so they can get things going in the summer and be ready for the next season.
Sorry I haven’t had time for a full post this week – really busy at work. But check out the link for the news about Hoffman: http://www.bundesliga.de/en/liga/news/2010/index.php?f=178216.php
It will be interesting to see how the team responds to all the turmoil this weekend…
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Another apology for my lack of proper posts right now, but here is the probable lineup for tomorrow’s game against Cologne:
Rost – Diekmeier, Kacar, Mathijsen, Aogo – Westermann, Zé Roberto – Ben-Hatira, Son – Petric, van Nistelrooy
and the subs: Mickel, Jarolim, Demel, Trochowski, Torun, Elia, Guerrero
Notable exceptions this week are Jansen, Pitroipa, and Tesche (finally!). Also, Dennis Diekmeier makes his regular season debut for Hamburg after a lengthy injury. It will be interesting to see what he can do, as he could eventually take over the RB position from Guy Demel. Don’t leave us Guy!
This will also be the first game under the command of Micheal Oenning, since the sacking of Armin Veh. Oenning still has a contract for another year, so if the board likes what he can do, we may be looking at our future head coach for awhile. My worry is that he spent too much time working with Armin Veh, that it may take some time for his influence to wear off. I’m still holding out for the return of Martin Jol!
Cologne have been in great form in 2011, so with the state of affairs in Hamburg, I’m not getting too optimistic about this match. It is a home game at least, and usually the players try to put in a good effort for the first game under a new coach, so let’s hope for a surprise by HSV. All we can do now is look towards the future and hope Hamburg can pick up some wins along the way.
Enjoy the match!
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Wow what a game! We’ll see how much of that had to do with Oenning and how much was the players reacting to the departure of Veh, but still it was great. They took some chances with balls rather than just play super controlled and never have any creativity… Ben-Hatira really seems to be a good player! FIFA vastly underrates him at a 68.
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