09.12.2017
Hamburg and Wolfsburg share the points in one-sided draw
Hamburg and Wolfsburg played out an entertaining draw at the Volksparkstadion. Despite many chances for the home side, Hamburg couldn’t break the deadlock and had to settle for one point in what was their second goalless draw in a row.
Hamburg created many chances and conceded few, as the home side picked up their seventh point from their last three home games. Jung, Hunt and Arp all had good chances to give HSV the win, but ultimately a mixture of poor finishing and strong defending kept the home side at bay. Albin Ekdal made his return from injury, while Walace and Ito also made returns to the starting line-up.
Fiete Arp curled the ball just wide on the half-hour mark from a delightful Walace pass
Walace impresses on return
Markus Gisdol made two changes to the side that drew at Freiburg last time out. Bobby Wood dropped out with a knee problem, while Walace came in for captain Sakai to make his first start since recovering from injury. The back four remained the same with that Papadopoulos-Mavraj axis continuing to stand firm. Hamburg went into the game with the strongest defence in the league over the past four games, conceding only three goals, and the Wolves were seriously limited in the first half, getting their first shot of the game in the second 45. Walace and Jung looked to dominate midfield and it was the Brazilian who set up the first good chance of the match, sliding in Fiete Arp who cut inside behind Uduokhai only to curl his effort just wide of the far post Casteels beaten. A little later, it was Jung to almost score. Ghosting into the box from midfield, our number 28 sidefooted the ball, but couldn’t keep it down.
Papadopoulos and Mavraj produced another dominant defensive performance in what was Hamburg’s third clean sheet in a row.
Ekdal makes return in second half
With probably more than a little bit of last time we played in his memory, Markus Gisdol introduced Luca Waldschmidt in the second half, the German coming on for Ito. It was another strong performance from the young Japanese, who once again showed his superb close control and dribbling skills. The 20-year old may even have won a penalty in the first half, cutting back and getting taken down. Nothing was given though. Another to impress for the Rothosen was Dennis Diekmeier. The right-back is rapidly becoming one of the most consistent of the squad, ever getting forward and putting in dangerous crosses. The number two again went close to scoring, this time moving in off his wing to curl a right-footed shot towards the top left corner, but Casteels was equal to it. Gisdol brought on Andre Hahn for Arp in Hamburg’s final change of the game, but although there was a late barrage, no one could find the killer pass or shot. There will be disappointment among the Hamburger SV ranks for not capitalising on by far the better opportunities, but ultimately the results marks the team’s third clean sheet in a row, while five points from three games is a significant improvement from earlier on in the season.
MATCH STATS:
Hamburger SV:
Mathenia - Diekmeier, Papadopoulos, Mavraj, Douglas - Jung, Walace (78’ Ekdal) - Ito (60’ Waldschmidt), Hunt, Kostic - Arp (83’ Hahn)
VfL Wolfsburg:
Casteels - Verhaegh, Uduokhai, Brooks, William - Guilavogui, Arnold - Origi (57’ Ntep) Didavi (90’+1 Osimhen), Malli (78’ Gerhardt) - Gomez
Goals:
-
Attendance:
45,226
Referee:
Christian Dingert (Lebecksmühle)
Yellow Cards:
Diekmeier (61’), Kostic (70’) / Ntep (58’), William (77’)
No show from HSV
HSV head coach Markus Gisdol was forced into changing his team ahead of the trip south. Long term injured first choice keeper Adler was still recovering from a broken rib before his understudy Mathenia also got injured and was ruled out of the matchday 31 encounter. Up stepped under-21 stopper Mikel to the fray. Key winger Kostic who scored the only goal of the game between the two sides on matchday 14 was suspended so his place went to Austrian Gregoritsch. Ostrzolek got the nod at left back ahead of Douglas Santos while Walace replaced Jung in defensive midfield. Gisdol made four changes in all to the side which lost 1-2 at home to relegation certainties Darmstadt last time out. The new-look formation struggled early on. Augsburg created three top scoring opportunities within the opening 20 minutes. New keeper Mikel managed to keep out efforts by Kohr and Schmid and was grateful to be able to watch a Stafylidis free kick fizz narrowly wide of target. On 22 minutes the visitors were in luck again as an Altintop effort struck the left hand post with Mikel beaten. It seemed to the capacity crowd including yet another sold out contingent of travelling HSV faithful that it weould only be a matter of time before the home side would break the deadlock and they did as Altintop rounded off two counter attacks on 28 and 41 minutes to make the halftime score 2-0 to Augsburg. Mickel was powerless on both occasions and was HSV’s best man before the break.
Deserved defeat
Lasogga came on for Gregoritsch and Jung replaced Walace at the start of the second half as Gisdol opted for a two-pronged attack. Later Jatta replaced Ostrzolek. The ploy simply didn’t work as the Rothosen had more of the ball than in the previous half but were completely harmless in front of goal. Augsburg played a much more intelligent game and struck the woodwork again through Baier. That superior intelligence was underlined late on as Augsburg struck twice through Max and substitute Bobadilla (76., 85.). It was game over for HSV who failed to threaten until the 84th minute for Lasogga and Wood to miss chances. It was simply not good enough and the Rothosen remain just one point above the relegation play off spot in the table. Matchday 22 sees Gisdol and Co. host Mainz who are level on points but two places better due to a superior goal difference. Only a win will do as the teams lock horns at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg next Sunday (07.05.17, 3.30 PM).
Match details:
FC Augsburg:
Hitz - Verhaegh, Gouweleeuw, Hinteregger, Stafylidis - Kohr, D. Baier (88. Callsen-Bracker) - Schmid, Halil Altintop (80. Bobadilla), Max (87. Ji) - Finnbogason
HSV:
Mickel - Diekmeier, K. Papadopoulos, Mavraj, Ostrzolek (63. Jatta) - Sakai, Walace (46. Jung) - Gregoritsch (46. Lasogga), Holtby, Hunt - Wood
Goals:
1:0 Altintop (28.), 2:0 Altintop (41.), 3:0 Max (76.), 4:0 Bobadilla (85.)
Booked:
Baier (48.) / Mavraj (33.), Gregoritsch (44.), Ostrzolek (51.), Holtby (72.)
Referee:
Manuel Gräfe (Berlin)
Att:
30.660 (sold out)
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