Madness with method – Hamburg’s last glimmer of hope
Stand: 04.06.2023
In the first leg of the Bundesliga relegation, HSV disappointed across the board. There are no arguments to believe in a miracle against Stuttgart. Only the choleric nature of their coach provides the team with an example of how it could work.b
Et isn’t easy being a HSV coach these days, maybe it never has been. The setbacks Hamburg had to and still have to process emotionally in the final of this season is extraordinary even for the unfortunately tried Hanseatic League. First the Bundesliga relegation, which was only snatched away after the final whistle of their own game on the last day of the game, then on Thursday the disillusioning first leg of the relegation.
Immediately after the defeat at VfB Stuttgart, Tim Walter revealed how mental life is in view of the fact that he once again narrowly missed the goal of the season. The second division third boss pulled on his hoodie and had his dejected players form a circle around them with a motivational speech ahead of Monday’s second leg (5 June, 8.45 p.m. in Hamburg) to swear
A difficult task. The team had not given him any arguments for initial help after the defeat. Nothing to start with. No statistic worth highlighting. The offensive harmless, the defense vulnerable not only in standard situations. The class difference became visible in terms of play, and VfB also pulled the tooth out of the challenger in terms of fighting, as 57 percent of lost duels impressively illustrated. It was only thanks to goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes that Hamburg did not experience a debacle in their fourth participation in the relegation. So what to do? Where do you get the basis for the necessary words of courage and motivation that sound like more than just whistling in the woods?
A reminder of the previous year was only an option when the score was 0:1 at half-time. In 2022, Hamburger SV had dominated the first leg in the relegation against Hertha BSC as clearly as Stuttgart now, but, like VfB, could only insufficiently express the balance of power in the result and received the receipt for it in the second leg. The problem: In 2022 the first leg ended 1-0 for HSV, this time it was enough for Stuttgart despite usury chances including a missed penalty to a 3-0. So what should Walter say? Where would he start?
You should give Tim Walter an award
Questions that some players may have asked themselves when they laid their arms on the shoulders of their neighbors on the Stuttgart lawn and witnessed a remarkable scene. A cameraman who caught the Hamburg round in pictures became Walter’s target. Like a wisp, he scolded the TV man with a terrifying grimace. And even those who did not hear the words saw that the intruder had better flee quickly than slowly and never come back.
If the coach hadn’t long been known for his outbursts of anger and choleric attacks, he would have had to be awarded a prize for his didactic excellence after the final whistle. No, the scene didn’t follow a script and the TV worker wasn’t a paid actor, but Walter’s facial expressions reflected in that brief moment everything it takes for the eleven players in Monday’s second leg to turn the trend and after five years it does nor to make the return to the Bundesliga perfect: commitment, anger, determination, aggressiveness and an excessive amount of madness. Walter’s uncontrolled madness turned into madness with method.
VfB should do the same as the cameraman immediately canceled his plan and quickly left. This plan could also be heard a little later in a TV interview when Walter was asked what exactly made him hope for a successful conclusion to the relegation games. The 47-year-old spared the interviewer and cameraman this time and answered minimally: “the people’s park”.
This is how you build a fortress. Spectators, team, coaches, a whole city – together they should rebel against Stuttgart, the differences in quality and all the other signs, ultimately also the reality. “It’s not always about football,” Walter tries to make believe: “Sometimes love is greater. We’ll throw everything in, mobilize everything again. We will not give up. Something happened between us and the fans. And that is very, very big.”
If that is not enough, there is also the possibility to readjust at least after 45 minutes. With a cameraman, just in time for the speech in the home dressing room.
