End of season awards

By: Chris | May 29th, 2009

With the Bundesliga season complete and a spot in European competition secured, Evan and I have decided to hand out awards. There are 8 awards to be handed out, so let’s get down to business. Without further ado, we present the 2008/09 Hamburg Offside post-season awards.

Most Valuable Player (MVP)

Nominees: Joris Mathijsen, David Jarolim, Piotr Trochowski, Ivica Olic, Mladen Petric

Chris: Here’s my criteria–Who was the most valuable player this season, without whom we would have not had the record we did. To me this is different than Player of the Year. I am torn between Mathijsen and Petric. Mathijsen is always marking the opponent’s star/best player and is rarely out of position. His vision and passing are phenomenal; he is truly a world class defender. Petric is the dagger that we have needed up front for several years, the clinical finisher who also took some of the attention of defenses away from Olic, allowing him to blossom as well. And my opinion is that his absence late in the season is what doomed us. Make mine Petric.

Evan: I’m going to have to agree. I think Trochowski has been brilliant, and he certainly gets the runner up for me, but its been Petric that really solved our attacking problems. I’ll admit, following the loss of Van der Vaart, I really wasn’t sure who could give us that edge. But Petric has, for the most part, solved that problem. So definitely Petric (with Trochowski as second).

Least Valuable Player (LVP)

Nominees: Thiago Neves, Marcel Ndjeng, Albert Streit, Michael Gravgaard

Chris: Where do I start? How about all of the winter transfers except Tavares? Here’s the criteria I am applying to this one–a player who played in a significant number of matches but made little positive impact, or in fact made a negative impact. My vote: I would have voted for Thiago Neves but in retrospect, he didn’t play all that much. Ndjeng and Streit were just as worthless, but also fail the didn’t-play-that-much litmus, so I vote for Michael Gravgaard. Surprisingly, the guy I would have awarded it to last year was quite effective this year prior to his injury (Thimothee Atouba–and now that Jol is gone, will Atouba get a new contract? I doubt it. I don’t think another manager will get him to perform the way that BMJ could.)

Evan: I’m actually going to say Neves here. He came to us from Fluminese [Chris: Where he scored a hat-trick in the Copa Libertadores final(!)], played 5 or so matches, and left. He was mean’t to fill the gap left by VdV, but he (to me personally) seemed more like a young loan signing than a great transfer coup. I know that the criteria is for a player to have played and made little positive impact, but Neves didn’t even play. And when he did, I certainly didn’t take much notice of him. Neves, and Gravgaard as second.

Most Promising Young Player

Nominees: Dennis Aogo, Jonathan Pitroipa, Jerome Boateng

Chris: Have to go with Aogo-he played more than Pitroipa and Boateng, and was a solid contributor. (I *still* have no idea why Jerome Boateng was in Jol’s dog house all season. Guilty by association with his brother, perhaps?)

Evan: Also have to agree. Aogo has been great, really working to fill the gap left in the midfield and defence. A really promising youngster, who we can hopefully hold on to.

Best player acquisition

Nominees: Marcell Jansen, Jonathon Pitroipa, Dennis Aogo, Alex Silva, and Mladen Petric

Chris: To me there’s a ton of them. If I can split my vote, I vote for Jansen and Petric; if not, I am going with Petric for the reasons stated above.

Evan: Petric, reasons stated above.

Worst Player acquisition

Nominees: Thiago Neves

Chris: Without question, Thiago Neves, since we actually bought him, and paid a bundle too.

Evan: Neves. DUH!

Match of the Year

Nominees: UEFA Cup Round of 32, 2nd Leg, UEFA Cup Quarter Final 1st Leg, Away Match at Bayern on Matchday 1

Chris: The UEFA Cup Round of 32 2^nd leg against Galatasaray. Down 3-1 on aggregate we came back in Istanbul and won. Sublime. That match, to me, perfectly sums up the difference in the side between Huub Stevens and Martin Jol.

Evan: Between the Manchester City match or the Galatasaray match. Man City, merely because demonstrated to DJ and Kompany what a mistake they made in leaving us and the Galatasaray one because it was one of the greatest comebacks I can remember. Before Guerrero’s first goal, most people had given up on HSV, yet we still won. That game also reminds of what we’re losing with Olic’s departure. Put me down for the match in Istanbul.

Goal of the Year

Chris: Pick either of Guerrero’s goals from the above [UEFA Cup Round of 32 2^nd leg] match. I’ll go with the first one-he launched it from another time zone and scored.

Evan: Guerrero’s second goal from that [vs. Galatasaray in Istanbul] match. He made an absolute mockery of the Gala defence, and it was truly beautiful to watch.

Player of the Year

Nominees: Mladen Petric, Ivica Olic, Marcell Jansen, Piotr Trochowski

[Chris: I'll let Evan lead this one off.]

Evan: Either Olic or Trochowski. I’m a big fan of Trochowski, and think he really showed the potential he has this year. To me, his goal against Frankfurt sums him up. He tried until the last minute in that match, and even when many fans and players became disheartened, he just kept going. I think he really is one of the best players, and think the Polish FA are idiots for not getting him when they had the chance. Olic has also been great, scoring goal after goal. Once again the Frankfurt match really sums it up for me. No matter what, he never gave up. He didn’t need to try, let alone play that match. He had signed for Bayern, and wasn’t playing for anything other than pride and loyalty. He truly loved HSV to the end, and showed that in every match. Olic for me.

Chris: My criteria–Who was my favorite player over the last 9 months? Gotta go with Olic. From the winning goal he scored in extra time against Juventus in the Emirates Cup when the Juve players just stood around after HSV had drawn even in extra time, to the way he played against Frankfurt in a match that he had no stake in save for personal pride (I mean c’mon, he’s already signed with Bayern and is going to be in the CL next year). He will be missed. I also became very fond of Jansen, who showed remarkable durabiilty (for him) if not production. His transition from defense to attacking midfield was a very pleasant surprise.

And finally, our own two cents on who we think the next trainer should be . . .

Evan: I’m hoping for Bernd Schuster, but I’m not sure if we’re a big enough club for him [Chris: Agreed]. I’d be happy with most coaches, as long as they have common sense and decent communication skills (a rarity these days). Horst Hrubesch sounds interesting, and we’ve seen how well club legends turn out as managers (Barcelona for example).

Chris: I really hope that it’s not Mirko Slomka. I hate that guy. I really am hoping for Horst Hrubesch. He’s a former star from HSV from way back when. I wonder if we have a shot at Berndt Schuster. I think Klinsmann wants to go back to the US and work in MLS-it’s easy money and no pressure, plus he likes living in Southern California (in the LA area).

Latest news:

Bruno Labbadia of Leverkusen is the leading candidate, with Thomas Schaff of Bremen and Slomka also in the mix. Beiersdorfer has made one criteria an absolute: The new gaffer must be a German speaker. That likely rules out the Steve McClaren’s of the world.