Europa League – HSV v Celtic preview

By: Chris | October 22nd, 2009

News and notes ahead of today’s match at Celtic Park . . .

•Jerome Boateng made the trip to Glasgow but will not play–he twisted his knee in training on Tuesday and is aiming to be ready for Sunday’s match versus Schalke. Look for David Rozehnal to start in his place. Kai-Fabian Schulz has been recalled from HSV II to provide depth on the bench.

•Bruno is adamant about staying with his 4-4-2 formation, and is considering starting speedster Jonathon Pitroipa (a Hamburg Offside fave) up front with Berg. I think he stays with Tunay Torun.

•If this blog is a primary source of your HSV news, you probably didn’t see this, but Romeo Castelen injured his left knee, AGAIN. This is the same knee that has been surgically repaired twice in the last 16 months, and now Romeo is worried that his career may be over. He is waiting for the pain and swelling to subside before deciding whether to have the knee operated on again. My hope is that he will be able to play following rest and strengthening, but it does not look good at this point. Too bad, too, Castelen is fast and talented when he is on the pitch, but sadly that hasn’t been the case for nearly a year and a half.

•Bild opines that the only person who can save HSV now is . . . (wait for it) . . . VDV! And really, they make some good points. Rafa is a skilled enough finisher to play up front with, or just behind, Berg; he is already familiar with the team and the Bundesliga; he needs to play regularly to maintain his position on the Dutch national team heading into WC2010; and most importantly, Real have not yet finished paying his transfer fee. The drawback–Berndt Hoffman says the treasury is empty and that we can’t take on his wages. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’d love to have him back. BUT, Mladen Petric *should* be back by January, and Paolo Guerrero *should* be back in February, and really there is a chemistry now with HSV that I don’t want to mess with. I have this uneasy feeling that bringing back Van der Vaart would somehow spoil what looks to be a team of destiny (right now). Who knows? Maybe the wheels will fall off the cart by December and we’ll be counting the days until his triumphant return. . .

•Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but the other name kicked around (pretty often, too) for a possible winter transfer is Martin Petrov of Manchester City.

•Bild (I know, I know) has a lineup posted that might just be crazy enough to work. Something like this if you can’t see the link:

Rost

Demel Rozehnal Mathijsen Aogo

Ze’ Roberto Jarolim

Pitroipa Trochowski Elia

Berg

Me? I think we see something like this:

Rost

Demel Rozehnal Mathijsen Aogo

Trochowski Ze’ Roberto Jarolim Elia

Torun Berg

Thoughts?

Bottom line:

The defense has been playing very well in front of Rost, who was a stone wall versus Leverkusen, especially late in the game. In the match versus Hapoel, Torun and Berg showed some chemistry and worked very well together. Bruno is adamant about keeping width in the midfield and for good reason–it’s worked. Despite the fact that Celtic are a bit off the pace in the SPL, Scottish football in general is getting a bad rap these days, and as a result *only* 40,00o tickets have been sold, Parkhead is never an easy place to play. But we have played in difficult away matches before (the 2007/08 UEFA Cup at The Maksimir in Zagreb versus Dinamo immediately leaps to mind). Celtic are struggling, but not really–the expectations are exceptionally high at Parkhead–and are a challenge to anyone at home. I will be very interested to see the attack now that Berg is The Man from here on out. If he and Torun can recapture the magic they displayed against Hapoel, I think we’ll be fine and take 3 points. But Celtic aren’t Hapoel Tel-Aviv. If the attack doesn’t get going, I think we’re lucky to get a result. My SWAG prediction: 2:1 to the HSV.