Hamburger SV is in the relegation zone of the 2nd Bundesliga. But the defeat against bottom team Osnabrück is a serious setback on the way back to the Bundesliga. Coach Steffen Baumgart therefore chooses clear words.
When the Hamburger SV footballers approached their fans after the final whistle, they were met with a brutal concert of whistles. The patience of the thousands in the north stand seemed to be severely strained, in some cases even exhausted. The 1:2 (1:1) defeat in the Volksparkstadion at home against bottom-placed VfL Osnabrück fueled the fears of all those who see the once irrelegable Bundesliga dinosaur slipping towards inaccessibility: Will HSV really become a long-term second division team?
At least one resigned man in an HSV windbreaker summed up the 90 minutes as a “nail in the coffin game” in which the Rothosen barely even managed to put the bottom team’s defense in any major trouble. A statement that also speaks of the fatalism that causes the feelings in the Hanseatic city to always oscillate between sky-high rejoicing and deathly sadness. In what is now their sixth year in the second division, Hamburg are still in third place in the relegation zone after 24 matchdays despite the zero number. However, they missed the opportunity against Osnabrück to make up for the point losses suffered by first St. Pauli (1:3 at FC Schalke) and second Holstein Kiel (2nd place). :2 at Hertha BSC) to capitalize. Before kick-off, the stadium announcer excitedly pointed out that the weekend up to that point could hardly have gone better. Alone: In the best spring weather, the HSV professionals didn’t know what to do with these templates.
Baumgart considers the appearance to be a “catastrophe”
Coach Steffen Baumgart perhaps also became fundamental in the knowledge of this missed great opportunity. “It’s not about the quality,” said the successor to Tim Walter, who the HSV management no longer believed could be promoted: “It’s about the fact that you have to do exactly that against an opponent who is fighting for existence. ” Regardless of the final result, the performance was “a disaster”. During the preparation, for example, he explicitly warned about the Osnabrück team’s standards.
And yet it was two free kicks that gave the purple-whites their first away win of the season. In the 6th minute it was a cross from Michael Cuisance that Lukas Kunze was able to convert unchallenged at the far post. In the 89th minute it was another free kick that led to the decision. It flew into the penalty area, ex-Hamburg player Robert Tesche put his foot between the ball and the opponent and referee Richard Hempel then had no choice when it came to Ignace van der Brempt’s kick. He pointed to the spot. Cuisance then aimed straight under the crossbar from eleven meters to the top right and turned in celebration to make an impressive away block as the ball bounced off the aluminum onto the goal line and into the net.
Robert Glatzel’s equalizer shortly before half-time did little to inspire Hamburg. Also because Osnabrück’s coach Uwe Koschinat had successfully told his team for the second half “that it was only about destroying HSV’s game”. Especially after the sending off of captain Maxwell Gyamfi, who first received a yellow card for a penalty and then came too late in the duel on the half-way line in the 76th minute. Yellow Red. “A maximum of one point” was actually still possible, said Koschinat. Nevertheless, a little later his team left the pitch as winners for only the third time this season. By the way, for the second time against HSV, the first leg also ended 2-1 for VfL.
HSV doesn’t get the quality on the pitch
Steffen Baumgart missed the “passion” and “heart” that the bottom team had shown. The 52-year-old summed up that promotion is unattainable by playing good football alone: ”But only with clear work and a mentality that shows everyone out there that you want to get promoted.” Baumgart joined in a mentality debate that Borussia Dortmund also conducts with great regularity. At HSV too, the quality of the individual players too often seems to be higher than what they bring to the pitch together.
“What I’m missing is a certain clarity in the game,” said Baumgart, criticizing Hamburg’s offensive game, which in his opinion was too sedate. 68 percent ball possession and 14:3 shots on goal suggest a clear superiority, but Osnabrück keeper Philipp Kühn was rarely really challenged. The purple-whites were ahead in terms of duel rate. Led by endurance runner Michael Cuisance and the equally tireless clearer Dave Gnaase, they managed to defeat a top team on a foreign pitch after the surprising home win against Hanover the previous week.
Baumgart wants to question everything
Baumgart therefore announced “an analysis and questioning” that should also include his own performance. It’s about getting the team “to where they are strong” – i.e. in the situations and actions that make the squad’s qualities usable. There were a lot of ball wins against Osnabrück. “But the question is, what do we do with winning the ball?” said Baumgart. There was no promising answer to this against the defensively stabilized bottom of the table.
Nevertheless, Baumgart did not want to look too pessimistic about the future after his second game as HSV coach. “We have it in our own hands,” he said, looking ahead to the remaining ten games, including the direct duel with Kiel, who are currently two points ahead of Hamburg in the direct promotion spot. “There’s still a lot of work to do, as we saw today.” Or as a fan put it hopefully shortly after changing from the stadium shuttle bus to the U2 towards Jungfernstieg: “There are still 30 points to be awarded.”