14.04.2018

HSV lose 2-0 to Hoffenheim

Despite a fighting effort, HSV fell to TSG Hoffenheim 2-0 on Saturday afternoon. The Rothosen were pegged back early by an extremely offensively strong Hoffenheim side and could never claw their way back even with the lion’s share of the possession.

Match Report

Serge Gnabry (18’) and Adam Szalai (27’) were the goalscorers for the men from Kraichgau and their goals proved to be too much for HSV to overcome. The hosts’ attacking force was extremely hard for the Rothosen to deal with in the opening half an hour, while they couldn’t quite finish off the chances they created themselves. Hoffenheim had no such problems, who had two goals disallowed on top of the pair that did count. A good performance, but no points.

(Kopie 6)

Ambitious going forward…

Christian Titz selected almost exactly the same side to play Hoffenheim to the one that defeated Schalke at home last week. Gideon Jung was the only new face, as he replaced the suspended Papadopoulos. The Rothosen put on a courageous attacking display against a Hoffenheim side that is strong at home, but it was their defensive display that proved to be their downfall. The quick counter-attacks from the home side gave HSV problems from the outset and were too much for them to stop. Gnabry bagged the opener off such an attack in the 18th minute, thanks to some strong build-up play from Kaderabek. Szalai then doubled the lead after Schulz’s solo run down the left wing – a lead that would not be overcome (27’). Head coach Christian Titz decided to bring on Albin Ekdal for Steinmann in defensive midfield as a result, and that didn’t stop the Rothosen from pushing to claw their way back into the game. They could only create a few chances, however, and never got close to replicating the cutting edge that their opponents possessed which led to them also hitting the woodwork twice to end the first half.

(Kopie 7)

… but overmatched in defence

Hoffenheim dug in to defend their lead in the second half, and allowed Hamburg to control the flow of the game. HSV had much more possession as a result. Despite some good attacking moves, HSV just lacked the final pass they needed to create any meaningful threat to the Hoffenheim goal. It was again the hosts who had the pick of the chances. Akpoguma put the ball in the net from a corner, but it was rightly disallowed due to offside.

Titz brought on Arp and Salihovic to try and turn the game in HSV’s favour towards the end, but it wasn’t enough. Despite giving their all, the Rothosen travel back to Hamburg empty handed.

Match stats

TSG Hoffenheim

: Baumann - Nordtveit, Vogt, Hübner - Kaderabek, Grillitsch (70‘ Rupp), Schulz - Amiri (78‘ Demirbay) - Kramaric, Szalai, Gnabry (58‘ Akpoguma)

Hamburger SV

: Pollersbeck - Sakai, Jung, van Drongelen (76‘ Salihovic), Douglas - Steinmann (33‘ Ekdal) - Kostic, Holtby, Waldschmidt (63’ Arp), Ito - Hunt

Goals

: 1-0 Gnabry (18‘), 2-0 Szalai (27‘)

Attendance

: 30.150 (sold-out)

Referee

: Harm Osmers (Hannover)

Yellow cards

: Amiri (64‘) / Douglas (51‘), Jung (85‘)

Red cards

: None

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)