Der Dino Lebt

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TheOtherSpecialOne

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Hamburger SV, also known as HSV, is one of the oldest clubs in German football.

They are also one of the most succesful clubs in German football history, having won 12 major trophies over the course of their long history, the highlight being their 1-0 win over Juventus in the 1982-83 European Cup final, the predecessor of the UEFA Champions League. Furthermore it is also the only club in Germany that has the distinction of having played in every single season of the Bundesliga since its foundation in 1963.

So far so good, unfortunately it all goes downhill from here, in recent times Der Dino has been struggling. Mismanagement among other factors have led the club to a massive decline. For 2 years in a row now the club has only narrowly avoided relegation to the second tier in German football.



This is where we take off, it is my plan to restore Der Dino's reputation and to bring back the glory years of the past.

My short-term goal is to bring some stability to the club. Once the foundations have been laid down I will be looking to work my way up the ladder in both German and European regard.


For the first season I have disabled the transfer budgets and I will not be bringing in any new players or staff members until atleast the winter transfer window.


This is going to be a very interesting journey for sure and I hope that you'll join me along the way.


​
 
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As you can see the clubs current facilities are rather okay, we have decent youth facilities while our training facilities are excellent.

Over the course of my career at HSV I will be looking to improve their youth facilities as I believe that having a good youth setup is vital for long term success, for now however the facilities will be just fine.



The Stadium
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As you can see our current stadium the Volksparkstadion is a very impressive one. It has room for 57000 people but only 47000 of these are seated positions.

While the original Volksparkstadion was built in 1953 it was actually totally demolished as it was very unpopular with fans. The new and current stadium removed the track and field facilities of the old stadium in order to make the stands closer to the pitch thus creating a much better atmosphere than in the old Volksparkstadion. The new stadium was inaugurated in 2000 when Germany played Greece. Germany won the match 2-0.


The Volksparkstadion:
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The Squad
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Overal I believe that the current squad is very balanced squad. We have a good mixture of experience and youth.

I certainly feel that this seasons objective of achieving a mid-table finish is very do-able and with a bit of luck we might even achieve something more.

Lets take a look at some of our players whom I believe will be key for us over the course of the next season;


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In goal we have Rene Adler, simply a quality goalkeeper and probably one of the best of the Bundesliga in my opinion.

He has some excellent reflexes, his positioning is brilliant and he is also very capable at one on ones. The only real weakness that I can see is that he is somewhat lacking in aerial regard as his command of area and tendency to punch are not the best. Still having him in goal will surely give the defenders a lot of condfidence.


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Next up we have Johan Djourou, most of you will probably be familiar with him from his time at Arsenal.

Now Emir Spahic might arguably be a little better than Djourou but Spahic is getting on age wise. That's why I have chosen Djourou as my key man in the defence.

He boasts some excellent allround attributes and both his marking and tackling are pretty good. He also possesses a fair amount of pace which is always usefull. He is lacking in the concentration regard which is somewhat of a concern though. All in all I am sure that he'll be a very decent choice for us at the back.

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Next up we have 25-year-old Albin Ekdal. This guy is simply an excellent allround player.

His technical attributes are pretty good allround but its his excellent mental attributes that make him such an important player for us. His teamwork and work rate are very impressive and that is exactly what I like in my players so he'll definately be a key part in my plans.

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Next up is Aaron Hunt, a very technically gifted player.

He has a very impressive technique add to this his excellent vision and you have an assist king in the making. I believe that Hunt will be a major part of our attacking play and am personally expecting a lot of him. Lets hope that he can come through for us.

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Finally we arrive at the big man (literally) up front; Pierre-Michel Lasogga.

He is going to be a key part of our attack, he isn't the most technically gifted striker but he makes more than up for that with his physical appearance and great mental attributes. Lasogga is very determined and isn't afraid to work hard for the team. Furthermore he is also very clinical in front of goal so I am certainly banking on him getting a fair share of goals for us.

The only major drawback that he does have is that he is fairly susceptible to injuries so I'm hoping that he'll manage to stay injury free for most of the season... only time will tell.


I also want to highlight 3 of our most talented youngsters, I believe that all three of them have the potential to become quality players for us and I'll definately look to give them as much playing time as possible in order to aid their development.​

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Pre-Season Review
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As you can see we've had quite a busy pre-season playing a total of 8 matches.

Overal I would rate it a 6 out of 10. We started off pretty poorly against CSKA Sofia mainly due to the players not being motivated enough and underestimating their opponents.

Luckily we managed to pull ourselves together and got 3 consecutive wins in a row with the highlight being a 5-1 victory against Linz. Now I know that these aren't the most difficult opponents but it was still pleasing to see us play so well.

Then we hit another bump in the road as we only managed to draw against a Austria Salzburg side that we simply should beat and then lost 2 consecutive matches in a row against respectively Ajax and Chelsea. It has to be said though that we gave Chelsea a very tough match and in the end I was pretty satisfied despite the loss.

We finished of our pre-season campaign with a convincing 2-0 victory against Las Palmas and so we head into the upcoming campaign with a fairly positive spirit.


Injuries
Unfortunately several of our players have picked up injuries during the pre-season matches, among these players are Lasogga and Muller. Luckily their injuries are only minor ones and they are recovering pretty well.
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A Look Ahead
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With our pre-season over we are finally getting ready for our competitive fixtures so let's take a look at what te month August has got in store for us.

We start the month off with an away game against 3. Liga side Energie Cottbus in the 1st round of the DFB-Pokal. Then we have our first Bundesliga match against newly promoted side SV Darmstadt 98.

Then we face Werder Bremen in the Nordderby before finishing of the month against Hertha BSC.

Overal I feel that the matches against Cottbus, Darmstadt and Hertha are all matches that we could win while I would be satisfied with getting a point against Bremen so I am hoping for atleast 10 points in the Bundesliga and progressing to the 2nd round of the DFB-Pokal.

With the season almost underway the board has informed me of their expectations for this season.

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No complaints here, the targets that the board have set are very realistic and should be the minimum targets for our upcoming campaign.

​
 
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August


FC Energie Cottbus - Hamburger SV
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My first competetive match as HSV head coach was a DFB Pokal fixture. We played 3. Liga side FC Energie Cottbus in the 1st round. Obviously with us being the far better team nothing less than a win would be acceptable.

I decided to take this opportunity to test several of our youngsters. Among them was Ashton Gotz and did he take the opportunity to show what he is capable of becoming MoTM with an 8,7 rating.

The rest of the team also played pretty well and so we got the win that was expected from us. With this win we have qualified for the 2nd round of the DFB-Pokal and our opponents have also been drawn;
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On paper this should be a comfortable win for us but we all know that cup ties can have surprising results, still very glad with the draw itself as it gives us a good chance to progress into the 3rd round which is the target that the board has set for us.



SV Darmstadt 98 - Hamburger SV
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Then came our first Bundesliga match. Our opponents, newly promoted SV Darmstadt 98.

After Gotz's impressive performance against Cottbus I decided to give him another shot and I'm glad that I did as he was the only player to score for the entire match.

This match was a very hard fought battle but I'm glad that we ended up with the 3 points after the 90 minutes were over. Our overal performance was pretty satisfying so we'll certainly look to build on this result.


Hamburger SV - SV Werder Bremen

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Our second Bundesliga match was immediately one of the biggest fixtures of the season; the Nordderby against fierce rivals Werder Bremen. This match means a lot to the fans so I was keen to give them the performance that they were expecting from us.

Looks like the team was as well as we absolutely dominated the entire game. I must admit before the match I was worried given that Werder Bremen's first Bundesliga game went very well for them with several of their players making into the team of the week.

Based on this I chose to go with another formation and it worked a treat. Another victory makes it 3 out of 3 so far this month.


Hamburger SV - Hertha BSC

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Our last game of the month was against Hertha BSC. After our excellent start to the season I was hoping that we could pick up another win here.

Unfortunately we didn't start the game well at all and we went into the break 0-0 with us creating not even a single chance, something had to change. I made some slight tweaks to our tactics and told the team that we needed to do better.

While we weren't impressive in the second half either we did manage to pick up a goal after a cross from Ostrzolek somehow managed to end up in the back of the net giving us the lead with a very, very lucky goal.

This goal would also be the only goal of the match and so we ended up with another victory to make it 4 out of 4. I must admit though that we were very lucky to come away with a win from this match as Hertha were probably the better team. Still if we even manage to win these kind of games we could be in for a great season.


August Review

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Well that could have gone worse couldn't it? We played 4 games this month and managed to win all 4 of them. What's even more pleasing is that we didn't concede a single goal giving us 4 clean sheets in the progress. It must be said that Rene Adler did play a huge part in this as he put in some excellent performances.


With August over lets take a look at the table;
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While it is still very early in the season it is very pleasing to see us in 3rd place right now. (Technically shared 2nd with Dortmund...)

We also find that teams like Leverkusen, Schalke and Wolfsburg have gotten of to a mixed start while the mighty Bayern Munich have also already dropped 2 points.



News

2 of our players picked up injuries over the course of the month, luckily they were only minor ones.

First up Sven Schipplock got injured during the match against Darmstadt and looks to be out for 2 to 3 weeks.
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While Emir Spahic picked up a bruise shin before the match against Hertha that saw him out for around a week. View attachment 182731


A Look Ahead: September

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In September we will be playing a total of 4 games, all of them in the Bundesliga.

We will start the month of against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena and I'm expecting us to lose our unbeaten status, still with a bit of luck...

Next up we play 1.FC Koln at home followed up by another tricky away game this time against Schalke 04. Finally we'll play Borussia Monchengladbach in our final fixture of the month.

My target for this month is to pick up 6 points. While that might seem low it is also very realistic in my opinion. The games against Bayern and Schalke are going to be very difficult for us while Gladbach and Koln are also very capable opponents.




​
 
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September

FC Bayern Munich - Hamburger SV
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September started of with the toughest fixture of the season, an away game against the mighty Bayern Munich. Going into this match I knew that we were going to be very hard pressed to get anything out of this match.

I made some tweaks to my basic tactic to counter some of Bayerns threats but unfortunately they didn't pay of at all as we started the match in terrible fashion. As a result we went into the break 2 goals behind and not a single chance worth mentioning created, something had to change.

And something did, we totally got back into the game and even managed to make it 2-2. For a few seconds I actually believed that we could get something out of this one but Bayern had other plans. They simply put in a little bit effort and within a few minutes managed to make it 4-2. We got 1 back again in the 88th minute after Lasogga managed to beat Neuer but unfortunately that was the final goal of the match and so we lost 4-3.

Overal I have no problems with admitting that Bayern were by far the better team but I feel that we gave a good account of ourselves and we can be proud of the way we played.


Hamburger SV - 1.FC Koln
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After a loss against Bayern I was hoping that we could go back to our winning ways as we played Koln at home. But unfortunately the match didn't exactly go as I had hoped for.

In fact, this match was a very frustrating one. Koln managed to grab an early lead and it took us quite a long time to make the score level again. The fact that it took so long really frustrated a lot of players and quite a few of them picked up yellow cards along the way.

Overal given the statistics of the match I'd say that the result is a fair one though. Both teams had 50% possession while the number of chances created, us 8 them 10, was also pretty equal.


FC Schalke 04 - Hamburger SV
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Then came another very tough game as we played Schalke 04 at the VELTINS-Arena. Our performance against Bayern gave me hope that we could get something out of this one with a bit of luck.

Unfortunately while we didn't play badly at all the quality between the two sides was pretty visible. Despite slightly edging possession wise we created far less than Schalke and so they very deservedly got the 3 points. I have to note that Djourou's red card didn't do us any favours either.

A humbling defeat against a slightly better Schalke side.



Hamburger SV - Borussia Monchengladbach
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The final game of the month saw us play against Borussia Gladbach. If we were to get anything out of this month a win here was vital.

I have to say that we looked much better in this game then we did in our previous ones, we looked a lot more like the unbeaten side from August so it that regard I was very pleased. There are however still some major issues with our way of play and the biggest of them is our terrible discipline. Sakai managed to pick up a red card in the 29th minute leaving us one man short for almost 2/3 of the game.

While the red card didn't affect our performance on the pitch it is still very worrying for me and I'll be looking to make some changes to my tactics as we are not only leading the red card department we are also leading the yellow card chart with 22 cards picked up in only 7 games!

Still we did managed to get the win that we were looking for and so the month wasn't a total failure. If we can continue playing the way that we have and decrease the number of fouls that we commit then I have high hopes for the rest of the campaign.


September Review
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September saw us come up against some very difficult sides and as a result we only managed to get 4 out of the 12 points that we could have gotten. Still our performance against Bayern was very pleasing so I'm not too dishearted by that result.

The major lesson that I learned this month is that we have to find a way to reduce the number of fouls that we are commit each match. If we can do that then we are looking pretty solid.


The table:
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As you can see while September wasn't a great month for us it didn't affect our position in the table too much. We are still in an impressive 4th place ahead of teams like Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Schalke.


News
September saw 2 of our players pick up injuries, this time long term ones unfortunately.

First up Emir Spahic has picked up an hip injury and that will see him out for 3-4 months. Very worrying especially given his age. It'll be interesting to see how much he will decline as a result of this injury.
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Then we have another older player who has picked up an injury, Ivica Olic will be out for 5-6 weeks with a damaged knee cartilage, we'll have to wait and see how much he will be affected by this injury.
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A Look Ahead: October
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October will see us playing a total of 5 games. 4 in the Bundesliga and 1 in the Pokal.

Hoffenheim haven't been performing well this season and I feel that we could well get 3 points out of that one. Stuttgart did have a pretty good start so they will provide tough opposition.

Wolfsburg are a very good team so another tough match is expected there while we should be able to beat FSV Frankfurt in the cup.

Finally the game against Augsburg is also one that we should be able to get something out of.

My target for this month? 7 points in the league and a win in the cup.​
 
Good start in league! I thought Djourou and Hunt is already 30 year old...
 
Great start to the league! keep it up
 
Nnicod55 said:
Good start in league! I thought Djourou and Hunt is already 30 year old...
Click to expand...
Nope, almost but not quite yet, they still have some good years ahead of them, thanks for your support :)

Seano said:
Great start to the league! keep it up
Click to expand...
Thanks, things are going great so far. I certainly hope that we can continue in the same way, glad to have you onboard :)
 
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October


TSG 1899 Hoffenheim - Hamburger SV
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Our first opponents of October was TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim have had a pretty bad start to the season and I was very hopeful that we could pick up another 3 points.

The game itself was much closer then I would have liked, Hoffenheim edged us possession wise but we managed to hit them on the counter regularly giving us more chances. We were also far more clinical than Hoffenheim and so we managed to score twice while they didn't manage to get a goal at all.

Overal a very pleasing win, we played some good football and managed to secure another clean sheet.

One thing to note is that Rene Adler managed to pick up a very minor injury during the game, a stubbed finger. While he couldn't finish the match he is expected to be back in the team for our next match against Stuttgart.




Hamburger SV - VFB Stuttgart
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Stuttgart have had an excellent start to the season so going into this match I was aware that it was going to be a difficult one. Still we went into this game unbeaten at home so I was pretty confident.

Like I said Stuttgart have been in excellent form so far this season pretty much the same as us. This was also very clearly reflected in the match itself.

Both teams looked to attack and this resulted in quite a few goals being scored. Unfortunately Stuttgart did slightly edge the game and managed to get away with a win in the end.

While I am obviously disappointed to have lost this one I am not too displeased by our performance. Sure, Stuttgart were the better team but we kept on fighting till the end, sadly for us it just wasn't enough.



VFL Wolfsburg - Hamburger SV
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Following last weeks game against Stuttgart we faced another difficult opponent; last years runner up VFL Wolfsburg.

Very,very dissapointed in the way that we performed in this match. We were simply outclassed in every aspect and for almost 90 minutes it was only 1 way traffic. The only reason why the scoreline isn't reflecting this is because of their poor finishing. We did get into the game in the final few minutes resulting in us getting 1 goal back but it was too little too late.



Hamburger SV - FSV Frankfurt
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Following our poor Bundesliga performances I was looking forward to a change of pace. The DFB-Pokal match against 2. Liga side FSV Frankfurt provided exactly that.

While we looked a lot better today than in our previous matches I am still not completely satisfied. Yes, we got the win and yes we were the better team but the sharp edge that we had at the beginning of the season seems to be gone.

Still this win does see us progress into the 3rd round of the DFB Pokal and so we have already fulfilled the boards expectations in that regard.

The draw for the 3rd round has also been very kind to us giving us another considerably weaker opponent namely 3. Liga side Hallescher FC.
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FC Augsburg - Hamburger SV
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Going into this game I was fully aware of our mediocre away record in the league. What made me even less hopeful was the fact that Augsburg are in rather good form at the moment.

For this game I tried something completely new and I must say that it seemed to work. While the game was still a very close one, as is reflected in the scoreline, I do feel that we looked more like the side that we were at the start of the season.

A persistent negative however is that we continue to do extremely poorly discipline wise picking up several more yellow cards in the progress. As a result we are now leading the yellow card chart by quite margin with 37 cards in only 11 games... I guess I can't fault the team for its enthousiasm.



October Review
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While it might not appear to be so bad on paper I still find myself unhappy with our performances in October. The win against Hoffenheim was good, the loss against Stuttgart was acceptable but our performance against Wolfsburg was simply pathetic.

The cup game against Frankfurt was also a lot closer than I would have liked but the win against Augsburg did give me a glamour of hope that we might be able to recoup our lost form.

So where are we in the table following October?
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That's right we still find ourselves in the top 4. Very pleasing stuff indeed.


News
Several negative things occured during October and one... positive thing I guess.

First the positive (?) thing;
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Every little bit helps right?

Then the negatives;

First up several players including Muller and Ilicevic came to me asking for more first team football. But since I was planning on using them anyway I promised them that they would get it.

And while the board did give me some transfer funds they also did this
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Then the really bad news; injuries

Sven Schipplock has suffered a torn hamstring and as a result he will be out for 3 months.
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Then we have Gojko Kacar, he managed to damage his neck during training and as a result he will be out for the next 3-4 weeks.
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A Look Ahead: November
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November is going to be a relatively short month in terms of the matches that we play but our opponents are very strong teams.

First up we have Mainz 05, the surprise of the season so far, Mainz are in 1st place right now together with Bayern and are in excellent form. They'll be looking to continue this form and it's up to us to stop them.

Then we face Ingolstadt in a match that we should really win and finally we face Leverkusen at home in what is going to be another difficult game for us.

My target; 4 points maybe even 6 with a bit of luck.​
 
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November


Hamburger SV - 1. FSV Mainz 05
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In last months update I highlighted the fact that Mainz have been very impressive so far this season and as a result they were the league leaders going into this match.

I expected this match to be very difficult but I'm glad to say that it turned out completely different. Following our mixed form last month I finally felt that we were looking more like the impressive side that we were at the beginning of the season during the game with Augsburg so I opted to go with the same tactic that I used in that game and it worked a treat.

While we didn't exactly dominate the match we created a lot more chances and that simply resulted in us scoring more goals. As a result we have gotten ourselves a very satisfying win against a high flying Mainz.



FC Ingolstadt 04 - Hamburger SV
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Then we faced newly promoted Ingolstadt 04. In the media prediction for this season Ingolstadt were named as being one of the worst sides of the Bundesliga and many expected them to be almost assured of relegation. In reality however they haven't been doing badly at all and went into this game lying in 13th place. Still I felt that a side like ours should be able to beat them comfortably.

While the scorline might make it seem as if we were the totally dominant side we actually weren't. Ingolstadt actually had more possession and more shots than us but were as ours were almost all on target (4) they only managed to get 1.

We simply created better opportunities and took them resulting in us getting another win and another clean sheet. Still our performance wasn't what I had hoped it to be.



Hamburger SV - Bayer 04 Leverkusen
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Leverkusen have had a mixed season so far and as a result they find themselves in the middle of the pack. Still they have a very impressive squad and so I expected this game to be a difficult one for us.

As it turned out I was right. Leverkusen decided to take the opportunity to show the world that they are a far better side than what they have been showing so far this season. The entire first half was dominated by them and as a result we went into the break 3 goals behind.

Furious I told my players that I expected a lot better from them, I made some changes and sent them back out there. They responded brilliantly and got 2 goals back. Unfortunately they couldn't get anything more and so we lost 2-3 to a very good looking Leverkusen side.


November Review
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Overal I'd say that November was a pretty good month for us. We had a huge win against a in-form Mainz side and got a decent win against Ingolstadt.

Our first half performance against Leverkusen however was far from decent and it ended up costing us the game. Still 6/9 points isn't bad at all.

The table after November;
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As you can see we are still in the top 4, only narrowly ahead of Dortmund and Schalke.



News
As always several things occured during the month so let's take a look;

First up 2 players came to me wanting to discuss their future;

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Kacar stated that he felt that he had achieved everything that he could at the club and that he wanted a new challenge. Stieber meanwhile wanted more playing time. While I have used Kacar from time to time as a rotation player I almost haven't used Stieber at all so in the end I allowed them both to leave.

Then we have very pleasing news;

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Our current captain Johann Djourou signed a contract extension after his previous one was set to expire at the end of the current season. Djourou has been great for us this season and at 28 I still feel that he has some good years ahead of him. Add to this the fact that he only wanted a very minor salary increase and you've got a no-brainer in my opinion.

Then some more good news:
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Jung is one of our most talented youngsters so to see him doing so well is very pleasing. I really like this lad and have been using him quite a lot this season which obviously contributed hugely to his massive development.

In fact he was selected in the team of the week twice this month;

First for the game against Mainz
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And once more for the game against Leverkusen;
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Finally we got 1 more thing to report and that is an injury

Ilicevic got injured during the beginning of the month and so he missed all of the games mentioned above.
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A Look Ahead: December
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The final month of the year has arrived, December will see us play 4 matches before the winter-break.

The first game is a very tricky one, we play Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park.

Then we face Hannover 96 at home followed by a game in the DFB Pokal, our opponents are Halle.

The final game of the month and the year at that will be an away game against Eintracht Frankfurt.

My target: 6 points in the Bundesliga and progression in the cup.


​
 
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December


Borussia Dortmund - Hamburger SV
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Coming into this game I wasn't expecting much to be honest, we've lost against all the "top" sides so far this season and I couldn't see us pull of any miracles against Dortmund either, certainly not away from home.

Our start to the game was honestly pathetic and that is a massive understatement. To give you a clear idea, we were 5 goals behind after only 30 minutes... No matter what I tried we were just powerless to resist them.

I finally managed to find a way that worked atleast a bit and we got back into the game getting 1 goal before half-time. In the second half we were much better then in the first and it was us that created the better chances but none of them resulted in goals.

Overal a very poor team performance, I had expected a loss sure but the manner in which we were defeated was simply appalling.



Hamburger SV - Hannover 96
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Following our heavy defeat at the hands of Dortmund it was vital for us to get a good result against Hannover. Hannover haven't been very impressive this season and if we want to stay in the top 6 then we need to win games like this.

Luckily we looked much better than we did in our last match. We created far more then Hannover did unfortunately we only reaped the rewards of this very late in the game. Ivica Olic, whom had been brought on an a sub, opened the scoring for us the in 70th minute. That goal would also be the only one of the game and so we gotten the win that we were looking for.

Not much to say about this game, we had to win and we did exactly that. It wasn't our best match but it certainly wasn't our worst either. Hannover didn't really look threatening at all and so I feel that this is a fair result.


Hallescher FC - Hamburger SV
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Then came our cup game against Hallescher FC. Halle are a 3. Liga side and we were huge favourites to win this one...

Like I said we were huge favourites to win and this should have been an easy match, it didn't exactly turn out that way. Halle were very determined to give it their all and as a result the game was very evenly balanced. We did create more chances but unfortunately this did not result in more goals.

After 90 minutes had been played the scorline was 1-1 so we headed into extra time. Unfortunately our achilles heel of getting too many cards continued on and so in the 99th minute we were left one man down after Ostrzolek got his second yellow of the evening. Despite being a man short however we did manage to take the lead through Olic.

In the second half of extra time Halle decided to go all out and they got the reward that they were looking for; a goal making things even again.

With extra time over it was all down to penalties and Halle just got luckier in the end. Really sad to see us go out of the cup against an opponent considerably weaker then ourselves. Still the boards target has been reached but I really believed that we could have gone much further... if only.



Eintracht Frankfurt - Hamburger SV
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3 days after our game against Halle came our Bundesliga game against Frankfurt. The final game of the first half of the season and of the year 2015. Could we finish of the year in style?

Unfortunately no, with many of the players still tired from the cup tie against Halle we simply didn't look good. Frankfurt were the better side but they weren't great either. All in all it was a very boring match that saw no real spectacle and no goals.

Not a great match from us, it wasn't as bad as the Dortmund game but this was still one of our weaker performances of the year. Maybe fatigue is to blame, or could it be something else?



December Review
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Poor, very poor. Our game against Dortmund was the worst game that we played this year. The game against Hannover was decent but still not what I would have liked it to be.

Our early cup exit against Halle is also very dissapointing and the game against Frankfurt wasn't our best either.


So how does the table look after such a meager month?
View attachment 181837
Still looking rather good for where we where expected to be. 5th and only 3 points behind 2nd placed Dortmund.



News
The month of December saw quite a few things happen;

First up the first managerial casualty of season turned out to be Hoffenheim's Huub Stevens.
View attachment 181835
His replacement was announced a few games later;

View attachment 181834
Those players must be happy...


We sold Stieber to Basel for 1 million euros. Only a small part of this can be used to bring in new players however due to our debts.
View attachment 181833
One of our breakthrough talents of the season Gideon Jung has signed a new contract, he is now set to stay at the club until 2020.

View attachment 181832
His new contract does have a release clause in it unfortunately, for 30 million Champions League clubs can come and pick him up. Still since I don't see this happening in the near future I am not particularly worried about that.

Finally another one of our players has been making pleasing progressions in his abilities;
View attachment 181831


A Look Ahead: The Winter-Break
With the first half of the season over we will now have a couple weeks to refresh ourselves for the 2nd half of the season. Personally I am very glad for this rest as our recent form hasn't been great.

The break will give me a chance to test out some new tactics and hopefully we can come back stronger as a result.

The board has managed to find some many despite our debts and so we will be heading to Portugal for 2 weeks, hopefully this will give the players some time to relax.
View attachment 181830


​
 
View attachment 181530

Winter Break Recap
With this post I wanted to give you all a quick recap of how our winter break went.

As you all know our form during the final months of 2015 wasn't the best, sure we still got some very impressive results but sometimes I felt that this was more due to luck than to us playing well. During the winter break I sat down and came up with a few new tactics for us tro try out.

We played 3 friendlies during which I tested these tactics, this is how they went:

View attachment 181527
As you can see the results are pretty pleasing. Obviously Salgueiros and St. Pauli are teams that we are expected to beat but the manner in which we did was very comfortable despite the St. Pauli result not really reflecting that.

During the game against Red Bull we received a red card and so were one man short for almost the entire match, still my more defensive counter based tactic also proved to work really well and we ended up getting a deserved win.


News
Several things happened during the winter break, here is a rundown of the most important ones;

View attachment 181453
That's right, only half way through the season and I've already earned myself a contract extension. My new contract is now set to expire in 2018.

View attachment 181452
Following Stieber's exit to Basel we have now let another player go, this time it was Kacar who left for Deportivo La Coruna. While we didn't get any money for him he did give us some room in the wage department.

With 2 players leaving the club I felt that we were getting a bit thin so I also brought in one player on loan;

View attachment 181449
Now Kliment isn't the most impressive player but he was loan listed and can play in a coulple of positions. Add to that his impressive work rate and teamwork ratings (something which is very important for me) and it just felt like the right choice.

Here are his full stats:
View attachment 181444
Then the last event of the winter break;

Nicolai Muller got injured during a training session and as a result he will be missing the first couple of games of the new year.

View attachment 181443

A Look Ahead: January
View attachment 181442
Our first post winter break games takes place against rivals Werder Bremen. We won the last Nord Derby, can we do it again?

Then we face Darmstadt 98 at home and finish the month of against Hertha BSC at the Olympiastadion.​
 
Doing well keep it up Europe would be great if you can get it this year
 
View attachment 181441

January

SV Werder Bremen - Hamburger SV
View attachment 181440
Our first game after the winter break, our first game of the new year and immediately it is one of biggest games of the season for our fans; the Nord Derby. Last time out we won, can we do it again?

The match was very even, both teams seemed really up for it and as a result it was a very entertaining match. Werder Bremen had far more possession then us but we had more chances then they did. Unfor

Obviously I would have liked to start the second half of the season with a win but like I said we played well so I am very optimistic for what the future holds.



Hamburger SV - SV Darmstadt 98
View attachment 181436
This is a game that we should win.

Darmstadt haven't been bad this season and have been performing better then people expected them to at the beginning of the season but if we are serious about getting a top 6 finish then we must be able to secure the 3 points.

Our performance against Bremen was very good and I am glad to say that we continued this match in the same way. We were by far the better team. Especially our first-half performance was very good and Jan Kliment immediately managed to make an impact in his first match for us by scoring the 2nd goal of the game.

Darmstadt did get back into the game in the second half and managed to get a goal back but they never looked like getting anything more out of this match and as a result we end up with the 3 points.


Hertha BSC - Hamburger SV
View attachment 181434
Next up we went to the capital to face Hertha BSC.

This game we didn't start off well at all and it took us a while to get into the swing of things, at that point we were already 1 goal down. We did manage to equalise before half-time making my team talk a little bit easier.

We started the second half of in much better fashion and as a result managed to get 2 goals to put us in a comfortable lead. Hertha weren't planning on giving up however and their efforts paid of after Kalou managed to score the anschlusstreffer.

This would prove to be the final goal of the game however and so we ended up with another 3 points.



January Review
View attachment 181429
Overal a pretty satisfying month, getting 7 more points from the 3 games that we played. We played very well in all 3 games and we haven't been looking so good for quite some time.

Our good performances also meant that we were now unbeaten in 5 Bundesliga games in a row;
View attachment 181428

So how does the table look 1 month into the new year?
View attachment 181427
That's right, thanks to our good start we now find ourselves in 3rd place. There is only 3 points between us and the 6th place however so it is all still very tight.


A Look Ahead: February
View attachment 181425
February is going to be a difficult month for us. We start of against Bayern Munich, Bayern have been very impressive this season and there is already quite a considerable lead between them and the 2nd place, can we retain our unbeaten status?

Next up we face 1.FC Koln before facing Schalke 04 at the Volksparkstadion. We finally finish the month of against Borussia Gladbach.

Can we continue our good form? I certainly hope so...​
 
ninjaskill said:
Doing well keep it up Europe would be great if you can get it this year
Click to expand...
Thanks, yes getting European Football this year would certainly be very good for the club as I feel that that is where we belong given our history. Still there's a long road ahead and we have to keep working hard if we want to make that dream a reality.
 
Very good job my friend still looking very good and the team is high in the league table ! How come Mainz remains so high as well ?
 
kolas79 said:
Very good job my friend still looking very good and the team is high in the league table ! How come Mainz remains so high as well ?
Click to expand...
First up thanks for your support, really appreciate it. About Mainz... not really sure to be honest, when we faced them we absolutely demolished them (we won 4-0) and they didn't seem impressive to me at all but they have been playing really well this season I guess that their manager must have a good tactic for them. Again thanks for the support ;)
 
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