Despite a mixed first half of the season, HSV is close to the promotion places in the second division. In order for the longed-for return to the Bundesliga to work, the Hanseatic League under new head coach Merlin Polzin will have to tackle several issues in their game.
At HSV they long for light. When the club announced shortly before Christmas that Polzin would be promoted to head coach, an explanation from Stefan Kuntz about the decision in favor of the 34-year-old appeared on the club’s homepage. One of the reasons for the sports director was that “Merlin and his team have shown in the last four weeks that they are trying to open the dark doors.”
Transferred to the first half of the season, which was literally “undecided” after seven draws, one could also interpret it like this: There were dominant performances like in Düsseldorf (3:0), against Magdeburg (3:1), in Karlsruhe (3:1) or just before Christmas against Fürth (5:0) some light. On the other hand, with such irritating and sobering performances as in Elversberg (2:4), in Braunschweig (1:3), against Nuremberg (1:1) or in Ulm (1:1) there is also a lot of shade.
Five problems are hindering the HSV game
Or, to transfer the image to the club’s main goal: If the return from the perceived “darkness” of the 2nd league to the “light” of the Bundesliga is finally to succeed in the seventh attempt, more consistency and more determination must be put into the performances. And the “dark doors” are opened.
Polzin started his self-proclaimed “attack” on the climb with the first practice session of the new year on Thursday. Today we’re off to the training camp in Turkey. He and the team have a lot of work to do before the start of the second half of the season on January 18th at home against 1. FC Köln (8.30 p.m., in the NDR Livecenter), because HSV’s game revealed problems despite third place and only one point behind one direct promotion place in the first half of the season.
According to data from the Global Soccer Network (GSN), there are five main areas that Polzin needs to address in preparation:
- the defensive stability in connection with critical ball losses
- the aerial duels (despite twelve own headers)
- the inefficiency in the central attacking game
- the weaknesses in the offensive passing game
- the inconsistency in midfield
Defensive stability and critical ball losses
With 98.29 ball losses per game, HSV is the team with the lowest number of ball losses in the league. According to GSN, this value reflects “the caution and safe passing game that the team prefers in the build-up.” In the club, many people like to talk about “control”. But this is extremely deceptive, because although the total number is low, there is a big problem here: 40 percent of these errors occur in their own half, the highest proportion of any team. These risky ball losses regularly put the defense under pressure and often lead to dangerous transition situations for the opponent.
In addition, there is a continuation of a long-standing weakness of the Hamburg team: extremely weak, almost non-existent counter-pressing. After losing the ball, the North Germans rarely manage to win the ball back quickly. This is particularly blatant in the opposing half. The team did not manage to win back a single ball within five seconds of losing the ball in the first half of the season (18th place). This lack of counter-pressing allows opponents to control the ball undisturbed and build up their own attacks.
Solutions could lie in a clearer structure in the build-up to the game with defined passing stations in midfield. A player like Immanuel Pherai could help hold onto the ball and overcome periods of pressure from the opponent. In addition, a defensive midfielder could serve as a passing option in difficult situations. According to the data, switching to a 4-1-2-1-2 system with a diamond would benefit this.
weakness Air duels
HSV has already scored twelve headed goals, but is in 15th place in the league with just 15.59 offensive aerial duels per game. The GSN analysts state: “Standard situations such as corners or free kicks remain largely harmless.” Especially since the attacking game is much easier to defend “without a reliable presence in the air”.
A similar picture emerges on defense: Hamburg are in the middle of the league in the league (11th place) with a success rate of 49 percent in defensive aerial duels: there is a lack of “dominance to consistently” defend opposing headers. In addition, teams that rely on long, high passes always manage to direct the ball into zones that are dangerous for the “Rothosen”.
Possible solutions: When it comes to defense, the Polzin team is primarily concerned with even more robustness and physical presence. And in attack it’s about using the strengths of players like Davie Selke (and when he’s fit again: Robert Glatzel). On the one hand with stationary balls, but on the other hand also from the game through targeted extensions – or through deposits and shifts in conjunction with a build-up player like Pherai.
Inefficiency in central attacking play
If he gets the trust and finds a rhythm for the first time in his HSV career, the Dutchman could help solve another glaring problem. With a success rate of just 30 percent when attacking through the middle, the North Germans are in last place in the league. The dependence on wing attacks – the left side with Miro Muheim and Jean-Luc Dompé is at the top of the league with 41 percent of successful attacks – makes the game predictable.
Pherai could act as a fulcrum in the middle. A role that he already successfully fulfilled at his previous station in Braunschweig. His main task: to pull the opposing defense apart with precise passes. According to GSN, a 4-1-2-1-2 could also help here. With a midfield diamond, two “eights” could use the half spaces while Pherai orchestrates the central attack zone. Here too, the interaction between Selke and Pherai could make chip balls more effective.
If he gets into form, Immanuel Pherai could take on an important role in the HSV game.
Weaknesses in the offensive passing game
To do this, Polzin also has to get another weakness under control. HSV hardly tries to move the game deeper quickly. With only 35.88 long passes per game (18th place), the team plays the fewest long balls – and is also inefficient (only 18.59 successful passes, also 18th place).
If you add the low number of passes into the final third (42.71 per game, 14th place), the result is a game that is overall too slow and predictable – and on the surface seems unimaginative – that opponents can easily adapt to. Of course, the injuries to players like striker Glatzel or midfielder Ludovit Reis are serious in this regard, but they cannot be used as an excuse.
New head coach Polzin will have to rely on more “precise vertical passes, the connection between defense and attack,” to be played from the central midfield in order to attack the opponent. In addition, a possible solution here would be more long and high passes to a player like Selke in order to make it less predictable.
HSV midfield: Defensively inconsistent, little offensive impulse
This also has to do with the fact that the offensive game as a whole is lame. If you look at HSV’s midfield as a whole, the report card is: limited creativity offensively, inconsistent defensively. Documented in data: With only 1.18 “smart passes” (twelfth place) and 3.59 key passes per game (seventh place), the offensive impulse from the middle of the pitch is poor. And with only 40.47 ground duels won per game (13th place), the players find it difficult to stop opposing attacks.
Hamburg will have to define their roles more clearly in order to better balance their game in both directions. Should they make a switch to a 4-1-2-1-2 with a “six” (protection), two “eights” (box-to-box players) and a “ten” (creative players) could be combined with Selke makes the midfield more effective as a link player.
System conversion or training?
The difficulty of a system change, as Polzin’s predecessor Steffen Baumgart tried in one of his experiments, could fail due to the need for short-term success. Changing formation, spacing and processes takes time. Time that the club doesn’t actually have. Especially since the squad is missing a real box-to-box player – most likely Lukasz Poreba, Marco Richter or Reis.
If Polzin sticks with the 4-3-3, he will have to fix the five problems in the system through individual and team tactical training. Midfield clearer Jonas Meffert is convinced that the 34-year-old will succeed: “He has changed certain things and processes and also tried to put the players in the positions in which they feel most comfortable.”
But if the club continues to have to rely primarily on the individual quality of individual players and if Kuntz’s “dark doors” remain closed under Polzin, there is once again an acute danger for the club, which has now mutated into a second division dinosaur The “light” of the Bundesliga, which everyone at HSV longs for, will once again be seen by others.
Possible HSV lineup without Robert Glatzel: 4-1-2-1-2
This year Fernandes – Muheim, Schonlau, Hadzikadunic, Hefti – Meffert – Reis, Poreba – Pherai – Selke, Königsdörffer
Possible HSV lineup with Robert Glatzel: 4-2-4
This year Fernandes – Muheim, Schonlau, Hadzikadunic, Hefti – Meffert, Pherai – Dompé, Richter, Selke, Glatzel
This topic in the program:
Hamburg Journal | 01/03/2025 | 7:30 p.m
