His tenth season in the Kraichgau is a very special one for Hoffenheim’s Czech player – and possibly his last.
Pavel Kaderabek has already played a whopping 272 games for TSG Hoffenheim since the now 32-year-old stalwart moved from Sparta Prague to the Kraichgau region. Now in his tenth season, the Czech is already racing up and down Hoffenheim’s right wing and, like Oliver Baumann and Andrej Kramaric, is part of the furniture, so to speak.
And yet a lot is new for Kaderabek. The coach, the basic formation, the system – and three colleagues from his home country. “For nine years I was alone here, but last year three of my fellow countrymen suddenly arrived,” the Czech is pleased to have three new colleagues from his homeland, ‘of course it’s something new for me to hear my mother tongue in the dressing room too.’
Jurasek, Hlozek and Hranac in a slump
That makes it easier for Kaderabek and a bit easier for David Jurasek, Adam Hlozek and Robin Hranac. However, all three are more or less in a performance slump. Forward Hlozek is a regular, but Hoffenheim’s record purchase is still falling short of expectations. Left-back Jurasek, who had already come on loan from Lisbon in the second half of the previous season, simply can’t get into the groove after breaking his forearm in the summer, and center-back Hranac is just tentatively feeling his way back towards his next chance to prove himself after a botched debut.
“I’m trying to help the boys,” Kaderabek said. ”It’s difficult for Robin Hranac because he had one game and then didn’t play again. I’m trying to support him and tell him that he just has to keep working and wait for his chances. David Jurasek was out with an injury for a long time, but now he’s back and fit and slowly getting his run back. And Adam Hlozek needs moments and support from us to get crosses. We have to support him more so that he can score goals.”
And besides, Kaderabek also has to take care of his own advancement. ‘My contract expires in the summer, we’ll see what happens,’ says the former international player for his country, who has already closed the international game chapter. His high-intensity style of play is becoming increasingly noticeable, and Kaderabek can no longer complete the workload as quickly as he once could. The question arises as to whether TSG and the native of Prague will come to an agreement again under different conditions, or whether this will really be Kaderabek’s farewell season in Hoffenheim.
Confidence ahead of the BVB game
Until then, the dynamic athlete will, as usual, give his all and was understandably frustrated after the 0-0 draw in the Europa League against Bucharest. “We’re disappointed because we knew that this game was extremely important, because it won’t be easy against Tottenham and in Anderlecht after this,” Kaderabek suspects. ‘We also created chances, but we didn’t manage to score.’ Even his well-placed cross into the center of the box could not be finished by Anton Stach, who was in a promising position to score, after a good hour of play.
“We combined too slowly and rarely managed to get behind the lines,” said Kaderabek, who is nevertheless optimistic about the trip to Dortmund. “We’ve always played well in Dortmund recently, it won’t be easy in the middle of the week, but Dortmund have hardly had time to recover either,” said Kaderabek, who will probably have to make way for the fresher Valentin Gendrey again on Sunday. ”We know that we are in a position in the Bundesliga that we don’t want to be in. We want to get out of it, that’s why we want to score in Dortmund too, let’s see if we can manage that.”