Match report
02.02.19
Arminia Bielefeld 2-0 HSV
Little goes to plan for HSV as they lose 2-0, having been reduced to ten men early on.
Die Rothosen were defeated 2-0 by Arminia Bielefeld on Matchday 20, in front of a crowd of 26,515 in a sold-out Schüco-Arena. Missing key players, HSV suffered a further blow in the twelfth minute, when Gotoku Sakai was sent off for a professional foul as the last man. The hosts made the most of their extra-man advantage, scoring twice soon after through Andreas Voglsammer and Reinhold Yabo. Despite giving it their all in the second half, HSV were unable to avoid their first competitive defeat of 2019.
LITTLE GOES TO PLAN…
The conditions ahead of the game weren’t ideal from a HSV perspective. Having had to deal with captain Aaron Hunt’s absence due to injury, there was further bad news when top-goalscorer Pierre-Michel Lasogga was ruled out due to a muscular injury on the eve of the match. And if that wasn’t enough, things went from bad to worse once the game was underway, with Sakai receiving his marching orders early on after fouling Bielefeld striker Voglsammer, who was through on goal, leaving HSV with an uphill struggle as the game progressed.
Down to ten men, the Hamburg players were put under considerable pressure by their opponents, who made the most of their man advantage to score twice in quick succession. The hosts’ first goal should have been ruled out, however, with Voglsammer raising his boot dangerously high to poke the ball home after a set-piece. There were no complaints with Bielefeld’s second though, with some lax defending allowing Yabo to strike from distance. The game looked firmly out of Hamburg’s reach before the half-hour mark, but despite this, die Rothosen refused to give up, and went into the changing rooms the stronger team at the end of the half.
… BUT HSV STILL FOUGHT
Die Rothosen came back out for the second half with some tactical tweaks. Jatta, who has started the game as a striker, moved across to the left wing, and Ito moved up front. Despite the one man disadvantage, HSV controlled the majority of the play, with Bielefeld happy to sit back and try and break quickly on the counter attack. However, Hamburg were able to contain Bielefeld and were on the front foot despite playing with ten men, which ensured the game remained exciting until the final whistle.
The excitement could have further increased after the hour mark, when Ito was denied a penalty by the referee. The Japanese striker was involved yet again when he had the chance to pull one back in the 86th minute, but missed. Despite die Rothosen taking control in the second half, the hosts looked comfortable over the course of the game. Ultimately, the combination of missing players and the early red card were just too much for HSV to be able to turn the game around, despite the visitors dominating proceedings in the second half.