Hamburg 1-0 Hannover

Hamburg took a huge step towards securing their Bundesliga status after defeating a disappointing Hannover side 1-0. To be fair to the seventh-placed visitors, who still look good for a place in next season’s Europa League because Bayer Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen all dropped points this weekend, they were missing a number of key strikers, but it was a lack of creativity and urgency in midfield that really hampered them. Hamburg, on the other hand, had the talismanic Son Heung-Min leading the line, and it was fitting that he nabbed the game’s only goal because he was by far the best player on the pitch. The home side were good value for their win, as they created the most chances, worked harder and were tactically smarter. Thorsten Fink’s side now move five points above the relegation zone with three games of the 2011/12 season left to play, although that gap will be reduced to two points if Cologne beat Borussia Mönchengladbach tomorrow afternoon.

Match preview here.

Starting formations

Hamburg (4-4-2, from right to left): Jaroslav Drobný; Jeffrey Bruma, Michael Mancienne, Heiko Westermann, Dennis Aogo;  Ivo Iličević, Tomás Rincón, David Jarolím, Marcell Jansen; Marcus Berg, Son Heung-Min

Hannover (4-4-2 from right to left): Ron-Robert Zieler; Steve Cherundolo, Karim Haggui, Emmanuel Pogatetz, Christian Pander; Manuel Schmiedebach, Sérgio Pinto, Christian Schulz, Konstantin Rausch; Jan Schlaudraff, Didier Ya Konan

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Hamburg 2-0 Hoffenheim

The formations which started the game.

Hamburg hauled themselves out of the relegation zone for the first time this season by winning their first home match in eight months. They beat former St Pauli hero Holger Stanislawski’s Hoffenheim side 2-0, although if the visitors had been a bit more clinical in front of goal, the outcome of this match – which saw two 4-4-2 systems cancel one another out for large spells – might have been quite different. However, Hamburg were good value for their win, and remain unbeaten under new coach Thorsten Fink.

Match preview here.

It took a few minutes for both teams to settle, with the pressing hard and fast, and the midfield area congested. However, José Paolo Guerrero’s clever turn and powerful run drew a good save from Tom Starke in the second minute, and so began a spell which saw HSV on top. They bossed possession, and made it difficult for Hoffenheim to get out of their own half. Nevertheless, the visitors showed good off-ball discipline in the opening ten minutes – working in tandem so that when one player sprinted out with the man he was marking, a colleague would plug the gap. As a result, Hamburg, for all their control, could barely get out of the second-third area of the pitch.

The next time they did, it was another moment of magic from Guerrero. The Peruvian’s reverse through-pass fed the disguised dart of Dennis Aogo, but his cross was a bit too long for Marcus Berg to do anything with.

Werder Bremen 2-0 Hamburg

The bogged-down in midfield formations I expected to see...

Hamburg stay rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga table without a victory to their name despite an improved performance in the derby. Werder Bremen were good value for their 2-0 win, however, after creating more chances than their beleaguered north German rivals. The three points, courtesy of a Claudio Pizarro brace, takes Thomas Schaaf’s side back up to second place in the table, with winnable games against Nuremberg and Hertha BSC coming up next.

Match preview here. 

Looking at the line-ups, I was expecting to see a very narrow derby game being played out by two sides deploying 4-4-2 diamond systems. However, as Bremen calmly spread the ball about in their own half and around halfway once the game underway, it was apparent that the visitors, at least, were in a flat 4-4-2 (Per Ciljan Skjelbred starting on the right wing).
Their coach, Michael Oenning, had obviously told his players to start cautiously, sitting off and absorbing the early pressure from Schaaf’s side. And, the tactic so nearly worked to perfection in the fourth minute, when Paolo Guerrero was fed on the left, used the floating and interchanging Marcell Jansen and Mladen Petrić as decoys, before scooping a cross towards the ghosting Skjelbred, who missed the ball by mere inches.

The chance sparked Bremen into life, as they held possession in the final-third and produced a few crosses and a wayward Phillip Bargfrede shot in a two-minute spell. Nevertheless, in the sixth minute, Jansen called Tim Wiese into action after a positive Hamburg move. The piano-carrying David Jarolím switched play, allowing Michael Mancienne to come upfield, before dropping a shoulder and dribbling into and in the infield space.