WhoScored continues its look at the sides that have disappointed this season by analysing the Bundesliga, with one candidate standing head and shoulders above, or even below the rest.
Hamburger SV have been in the news of late after sacking manager Michael Oenning following a run of 5 defeats in the opening 6 games of the season. Director of football Frank Arnesen went on to appoint himself as manager of the club on a temporary basis after refusing to be forced into appointing a manager he did not want.
Just two days later the Dane has appointed Thorsten Fink on a 3-year-contract, joining from Swiss club Basel, and the German has a tough task on his hands to turn around the side’s fortunes, though he is positive he can do so;
"My main idea is offensive-minded. As HSV you shouldn't react, but try to act. It should always be your aim to win. Regardless of whether you play against Barcelona, Bayern or Freiburg. We have to force our game on our opponents. We have to show that we have fun, give it everything and want to thrill people." - Thorsten Fink upon his appointment (13/10/2011)
Demise Under Oenning
Hamburg were well in line for a fight for European football last season but a failure to win in their last 7 league matches, losing twice and drawing five, saw them drop off the pace and finish 8th in the Bundesliga after Oenning was appointed in March. The 46-year-old won his first league game in charge of the club 6-2 against Cologne but failed to win a Bundesliga match in the 13 that followed, drawing 6 and losing 7, and was perhaps unsurprisingly sacked.
Rodolfo Cardoso took caretaker charge and won at the first time of asking in what is HSV's only victory of the season, 2-1 away at Stuttgart. Arnesen appointed Fink, who almost masterminded a famous victory for Basel at Old Trafford, eventually drawing 3-3, after another defeat at home to Schalke last time out. One of the new manager's priorities will be to organise a young defence that has conceded 20 goals in just 8 games thus far to build on their meagre 4-point haul, which currently sees them prop up the rest in Germany's top-flight.
Drop in Results from Last Season
A look at the 7 games that HSV have failed to win this season, losing 6, shows they have dropped 9 points from the same fixtures last time around. A tough start saw Oenning take his side to champions Dortmund, falling to an easily forgivable 3-1 defeat having lost 2-0 last season.
Their first home game of the season ended in a draw with Hertha Berlin, with a 2-2 scoreline down on the 1-0 win from two seasons ago, with Hertha having been promoted from Bundesliga. 2 last term. A humiliating 5-0 defeat at the hands of a rampant Bayern Munich was surprisingly better than the 6-0 drubbing last season, but certainly increased the pressure on the under-fire Oenning.
The next home game was one that the HSV fans would have expected to win and was a re-enactment of Oenning's first game, and only league win in charge, against Cologne. However, the manager could not inspire the same result from the 6-2 win in March, instead falling to a punishing 4-3 defeat.
A 2-0 loss away to Werder came next as Hamburg stretched their run without a win, though they did lose the fixture 3-2 last time around. It was a 1-0 home defeat to high-flying MGladbach that was the eventual nail in the Oenning coffin, ending his 6-month reign at the club with a 13-game streak without a win in the league. Former assistant Cardoso managed to get the sides first 3 points in their 14th game since the victory over Cologne but the sinking feeling returned when going down 2-1 to Schalke, a fixture they reversed in the home tie in the previous campaign.
Performance Analysis vs Cologne
The one match that stands out as being somewhat harsh on the strugglers came against Cologne, going down 4-3 despite controlling the game at home with 60% of the possession. The hosts struck 3 times from 15 shots (7 on target) and twice led in the match before conceding two in the final 10 minutes. In comparison Cologne had just 7 shots and were absolutely clinical on the day, scoring with 4 of their 5 on target. Hamburg also out-passed their visitors, with an 85% accuracy trumping Cologne's 72%.
In the same match last season, Oenning's first league game at the helm, Hamburg ran out 6-2 winners, with goals clearly not hard to come by in this fixture. The result came despite having less possession than this time around (56%), though they were rampant in front of goal, scoring with 6 of just 7 shots on target. Cologne were more involved on that day, taking 2 more shots in total and succeeding with a far greater amount of passes (83%).
Lack of Creativity
While the issue of conceding 20 goals is certainly a major one that will be playing on Thorsten Fink's mind, a lack of creativity from central areas will need to be addressed if HSV are going to climb out of the relegation zone. While Fink will need the likes of international defenders Heiko Westermann and Dennis Aogo to step up, he must get more attacking impetus from the middle of the park, with Robert Tesche's assist one of just 3 all season for the side - the others coming from young wingers Gokhan Tore and Zhi Gin Lam.
Improvements have been made in recent matches under Cardoso that saw the side attempt 34 shots in the games against Stuttgart and Schalke, with 14 on target. These figures are well up on the side’s average figures for this season which sees them rank second bottom in the league for shots per game (10) and shots on target per game (4).
Ratings Tell the Story
German-Hongkonger Zhi Gin Lam is the only player to have an average WhoScored rating of over 7 (7.06) having come into the side under the caretaker stewardship of Cardoso in the last 2 matches. Along with Tore, the wide man is one of a number of youngster inspiring hope in the fans right now, with their ongoing development potentially proving crucial come the end of the season.
HSV’s average player rating of 6.38 is joint second bottom according to WhoScored once again, only ahead of Augsburg and paled into insignificance by league leader Bayern's 7.24. Bottom of the individual pile this time around is Serbian midfielder Gojko Kacar. Having started in the opening day defeat to Dortmund the anchor man has picked up an injury and made just 2 substitute appearances since. The 24-year-old will need to improve on an average rating of 5.72 to force his way into Fink's plans upon his return but if he can do so, may provide the platform and freedom required for his more attacking teammates to create.
The stats from last season show that the side is missing the exploits of veteran winger Ze Roberto, who joined the Qatar-bound bandwagon this summer despite excelling at the age of 36 last term. The Brazilian was the side's top rated player by WhoScored (7.34) and certainly provided the creativity that the side are missing right now, laying on a team high of 9 assists. On the opposite flank the team is without Jonathan Pitroipia, who provided 6 assists last term and left for Rennes, and the departures are certainly taking their toll.
Having played 6 of the top 7 already this season, HSV will be hoping that a run of winnable fixtures can give Fink the start he needs, though the new boss will need to hit the ground running as of next week, with Cardoso and Arnesen to take charge of this weekend's match with Freiburg.
