12.12.2017
HSV’s strong home run ended by Frankfurt
Hamburg lost their final home game of the year, beaten 2-1 by Frankfurt. HSV took an early lead through a glancing Papadopoulos header, but two Eintracht goals in ten minutes gave the Eagles a first-half lead they didn’t relinquish.
HSV ended a run of three consecutive clean sheets as an inattentive ten-minute spell gifted Eintracht to first-half goals. The Rothosen had started the game well, breaking the deadlock from an outswinging Hunt corner, glanced in by Papadopoulos, but an attention lapse gave the visitors a way back in. First Wolf then Gacinovic scored for the Eagles, and though HSV spend the second half camped in the Eintracht half, they could find no way past Hradecky between the visitors’ sticks.
Papadopoulos rises highest to nod home the opener.
From high to low very quickly
Markus Gisdol made only one change to the team that drew against Wolfsburg. Ito dropped to the bench, replaced by another young gun, Luca Waldschmidt. It was the German’s first start of the season in the Bundesliga, having made a number of impressive cameos from the bench. And it was the Rothosen who started the better of the two teams, showing real intent in the early stages. A slick move ending with a low, driven Kostic cross from the left wing was sidefooted in by Papadopoulos, but the goal was ruled off because the ball had gone out of play. Minutes later though, the captain-on-the-night did put the hosts into the lead, rising above everyone else to head the ball past Hradecky in the Eintracht goal. Barely had the Rothosen had time to finish celebrating, however, when Eintracht were level. Breaking into the Hamburg half, Wolf found himself with a bit of space outside the box and drove a powerful drive past Mathenia. Ten minutes later, the Eagles took the lead. Gacinovic ghosted into the Hamburg box to curl a low cross into the bottom left corner, marking a rapid turnaround in fortunes.
Dennis Diekmeier poked past Hradecky, but the flag was then raised for offside.
A tale of missed opportunities
Hamburg were stunned, but the response was strong. The second half was barrage after barrage of Hamburg attacks and there were chances galore. Gisdol reacted to going behind by replacing Walace with Ekdal in the first half and the Swede was committed in his challenges, bringing a real physicality to the midfield. First Arp from close range and then Dennis Diekmeier came close to getting Hamburg’s second. Arp’s volley was brilliantly tipped over by the outstanding Hradecky. Diekmeier, meanwhile, had the ball in the net and was off celebrating, only to be halted in his tracks by the offside flag. Later, Ito came on for Waldschmidt, injecting pace and dribbling skills into the game. The young Japanese found Kostic’s head from an inviting cross in from the right side, but the Serb couldn’t keep his header down. Schipplock on for Mavraj was the final change of the game, as the Rothosen desperately tried to salvage something from the match. It wasn’t to be though, as the Eagles stood firm, and Hamburg were left rueing what might have been. It was a performance full of heart and effort, which will ultimately give the Rothosen hope going into the final game before the winter break against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday.
MATCH FACTS:
Hamburger SV:
Mathenia - Diekmeier, Papadopoulos, Mavraj (82. Schipplock), Douglas - Jung, Walace (36’ Ekdal) - Hunt, Waldschmidt (67’ Ito), Kostic - Arp
Eintracht Frankfurt:
Hradecky - Russ, Abraham (8’ Salcedo), Falette - Chandler, M. Wolf, G. Fernandes, Tawatha - Gacinovic (46’ Barkok), Rebic - Jovic (62’ K.-P. Boateng)
Goals:
1-0 Papadopoulos (9’), 1-1 Wolf (15’), 1-2 Gacinovic (24’)
Attendance:
40,983
Referee:
Manuel Gräfe (Berlin)
Yellow cards:
- / Falette (42’), K.-P. Boateng (75’), Wolf (94’)
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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