The Hamburger SV could not get beyond a 1-1 draw in Karlsruhe and played only a draw for the eighth time this season. It was not only the result that put a damper on the game. But also the overall performance.
After all, the protagonists didn’t have to grumble this weekend with another 1:1, the eighth point-split by HSV in this still young season. In Karlsruhe, not only the result meant a (further) damper, this time it was also an overall performance that brings this realisation: a candidate for promotion is not what the former Bundesliga dinosaur is in its fourth second division year.
Meffert: “This time the 1:1 feels lucky for us “
Tim Walter also evokes the “right path” and development after returning home. But the question has long been asked: Where does this really become visible? The centre-back talent Jonas David, promoted by the coach, is undoubtedly a prime example of the path proclaimed by Walter, and is gaining more and more stability after occasional setbacks. However, the 21-year-old is not exemplary for HSV as a whole. Already in the past weeks, opponents have been able to decipher Walter’s style, which is geared towards dominance and flexibility, in the course of the respective games; KSC succeeded in doing so from the start on Saturday night, and Jonas Meffert summed it up quite correctly: “This time, the 1-1 feels lucky for us, we had too many ball losses in the first half, were sleepy.” And they fell into their usual patterns in the second half, lacking the necessary consistency in the final third. Meffert: “We are downhearted because we didn’t get on top again.”
The fact that HSV missed the next opportunity to attack the top group and already gave away the tenth point after taking the lead proves: the development repeatedly emphasised by Walter is not taking place, or at least not sufficiently. And that is also due to a lack of quality in the once again newly assembled squad. Walter’s problems in finding two eights in his 4-3-3 system to carry Hamburg’s play forward are characteristic: David Kinsombi got another chance after several weeks off the bench and missed it, as did Ludovit Reis. The Dutchman, who was loaned to VfL Osnabrück by FC Barcelona last year, is something of a symbol for the Hanseatic League’s transfer policy: the newcomers should be young and capable of development after last year’s failed pillar model, but so far they have shown too little potential.
Only the home-grown David and Alidou are good as hopefuls
This applies not only to Reis, but also to left-back Miro Muheim from St. Gallen, as well as to Copenhagen loanee Mikkel Kaufmann. Apart from David, only Faride Alidou is capable of providing hope. Interestingly, both of these home-grown players were candidates for a loan or a departure in the summer; Walter in particular saw potential in them. And so far they have made more progress than the rest of the squad.
“Never again 1. Liga, HSV”, the Karlsruhe supporters had jeered in reference to the former popular song of the Hamburg fans “Always 1. Liga, HSV”. With a bitterly sour expression, Walter said it was “nice that we as HSV are still such an incentive, that we are sung about like this. Then we do pull a bit on foreign soil after all.” In fact, the gloating suggests greatness, which, however, results from the past. In the present, HSV is currently in exactly the right place, where it belongs according to its current performance: in the upper mid-table of the 2nd division.