Step 3 Successful! 4-0 Derby win over Bremen!

By: Mark | February 22nd, 2011

The new (old) strike partnership

(The Man)den Petric
Nice to see the boys bounce back in a big way after the midweek loss to hometown rivals St. Pauli. Although the Werder Bremen match started slowly, Hamburg eventually got on the scoreboard, and the floodgates opened. I have to say that Mladen Petric was really the difference in this one. His goal to open the scoring happened as he was falling down – most of the other Hamburg strikers would usually fire the shot wide or over the net, but Petric has Robin Hood accuracy, which he likes to show off with his bow and arrow celebrations. Then in the second half his hard work was rewarded again as he stole the ball off of Per Mertesacker who couldn’t clear the ball, which left Petric an easy pass to get Paolo Guerrero on the score sheet. This was the real turning point, as it spurred the team on to score two more goals with style. Guerrero got a brace (great to see that!), and finally Anis Ben-Hatira scored a goal after coming on as a sub.

Armin Veh rings the changes
For the most part it looked like the changes in the lineup worked out well for Armin Veh, and this may have saved his bacon for a few more weeks. At this point I doubt he will get fired, but it will take more good performances and qualification for European competition for him to earn a contract extension for next year. To be honest, the thought of yet another coaching change makes me feel ill, but such is the way of HSV!

I liked the play of Heung Min Son this week. He was lively and not content to stay on the wing. He cut in several times and tried to create chances – something the team was sorely lacking. Also, the gamble of putting Kacar in defense with Westermann in midfield paid off, but I don’t think that would be my preferred lineup every week. If the team can attack as well as they did against Bremen, I don’t see the need of weakening the back four every week. Kacar could certainly fill in for Jarolim in midfield though – a position he may ultimately claim for himself. It also looks like Guerrero has made a claim for a starting berth at striker – ahead of Van the Man. Petric is in great form and should start every match, and then Guerrero and Ruud can alternate or sub in for each other. I would be ok with that.

The tricky thing now is how to handle the wing players – Elia, Jansen, Pitroipa and Son. We know each of them can inject a lot of quality in the squad, but none of them has a good game every week. I’d say that Son should get the next start, and maybe Elia – but just to shut him up. I’m pretty sick of all his whining, and at this point I hope Hamburg sell him for big money in the summer. If he was in such good form as he says he is, then Veh would have him in the lineup. But he’s not, so Veh has used the other 3 guys to better effect. For now I’ll side with the coach.

If 6 Was 9
Now for the depressing part – as happy as we can be that the team bounced back to beat Bremen and claim 6 of the 9 points available in the northern derby week, take a quick look at the Bundesliga standings. If Hamburg had beat St. Pauli and got 3 more points, they would be in 5th place right now, ahead of Mainz, and only 2 points out of Champions League qualification! Instead, we are in 7th, 1 point out of the Europa League. I guess we can play “what if?” games every week, but it sure does hurt to see the difference a single 1-0 loss can make. Here’s a nice write-up about the ups and downs of HSV this season: http://www.goal.com/en/news/15/germany/2011/02/22/2362916/teutonic-tuesday-jekyll-and-hyde-hamburg-stumble-towards

New Sporting Director
Finally the saga is over. We now have the Biersdorfer replacement the club has been after for 2 years. Frank Arnesen, currently of Chelsea (!) will be taking over this summer after his current contract expires. To be honest, I don’t know much about him other than what I’ve read in the last couple of days, but clearly his pedigree is great. Click on his picture for the Bundesliga.de write-up about him. This has to be a move in the right direction, and in a nice touch the HSV board are keeping Bastian Reinhardt to work alongside Arnesen.

So, all positive news at the moment, and I hope this carries into next week. Next up the team travel to play FC Kaiserslautern on Saturday for the return fixture of the match that I got to see live in October. Hamburg won that game 2-1, but it was very tightly contested. Looking forward to a better turnout this time for Hamburg!