DThirteen wins from the 17 games in the second division, tactically demanding football with the finest remaining defense and counterattack protection, successes with the promoted teams in Darmstadt and Heidenheim: FC St. Pauli and its 30-year-old coach Fabian Hürzeler were on everyone’s lips. It cannot be checked whether St. Pauli would have had a better chance in the relegation than HSV, as has been heard again and again in Hamburg in the past few days. The Paulians might have been a more equal opponent with their consistent defense, which puts two or three players in the pincers of the ball-carrying player. HSV, on the other hand, relied on the well-known and well-established style of play with a focus on offense and ball possession in the extended season – how could it have been otherwise with the dogmatic coach Tim Walter?
The risky system culminated in a duel with VfB Stuttgart, which Hamburg lost 6-1 after two games, more so than any team before since relegation returned in 2009. If you take out partial ratings like the good first half hour at 1: 3 on Monday evening, HSV had no chance and is now expecting a sixth year in the second division.
No chance because the defensive was not solid either individually or in the group. This has been known in Hamburg for a long time, because the team caught the decisive defeats of the season in the second division middle class in Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern and Magdeburg in a similar way. Walter only allowed a system adjustment in the very last part of the season, which secured third place. In the extension of the season, that was no longer enough against the strong Stuttgart individualists, and so it remains unsolvable whether a more pragmatic coach would not have led this team into the Bundesliga. One with less spectacle and more sobriety. Stuttgart saved itself with such a coach.
In Hamburg, despite the warning signs of the past two years, Tim Walter and his high-risk football should continue. Board member Jonas Boldt said that on the hot night after the 1: 3: “We have built a foundation that is very, very good for the club and have come a little closer to promotion.” But that is with a 22 million euro expensive Squad not a success – unlike last year.
There’s plenty of reason to try a new manager and board in the 2023/24 season after Boldt’s four failed attempts to get Hamburg promoted to the Bundesliga. But there is no majority for this on the supervisory board. In addition, Boldt and Walter know the fans behind them: they celebrated the team enthusiastically on Monday evening in the Volksparkstadion, just like in the weeks before. If there had been a whistle, the opinion of the decision-makers would probably have been different.
