FlashFocus: Hamburg eyeing an awaited return to the Bundesliga
The days of Rafael van der Vaart, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Mehdi Mahdavikia and co. have been history for some time now. The great heroes, some of whom terrified Europe with Hamburg, are no more, but new figureheads are raising hopes of a return to form.
One of these is new manager Steffen Baumgart. The likeable coach with his trademark cap took over last season and it was a task close to his heart, as he has been a Hamburger SV fan since childhood.
So close to the sun - spring is a danger
There is a good metaphor for when Hamburg enter spring. It gets warmer, the weather begins to improve, but the sun seems to harm them. Like Icarus, they fly too close and plummet down the league.
Since their debut in the lower league in 2018/19, they have managed to fall to fourth place after a good start three times in a row. In each of the following two years, they then unnecessarily went into the relegation play-offs, where the first division teams came out on top.
Last season, despite the change to Baumgart, it was not a football festival in May, but a return to old habits. Fourth place was the punishment for the club and countless fans who had been looking forward to duels against the likes of Bremen and Dortmund.
Things are now set to change in the seventh year, as the club does not want to fall back into old patterns, but rather aim high - back into the Bundesliga. And that does not seem unrealistic at all.
A breath of fresh air - new faces and youth
Steffen Baumgart failed in his first attempt, and once again HSV ran out of steam in the final metres. Matches against supposedly easy opponents were lost and in the end they were left empty-handed.
However, the focus was not on mourning, but on rebuilding. Key players such as Robert Glatzel, Ludovit Reis and Jonas Meffert remained loyal to the club despite lucrative offers and, unlike in previous seasons, the club made some serious acquisitions in the transfer market.
Marco Richter, Davie Selke, Adam Karabec, Daniel Elfadli and Silvan Hefti are names that could easily play in the Bundesliga, but opted not to in order to bring a fallen giant back to where they belong. Horst Hrubesch's youth work is also beginning to bear fruit. Bilal Yalcinkaya and Fabio Balde are part of the squad and the latter in particular was recently given a new contract for good reason - everything seems to be just right at the moment.
The case of Vuskovic - blessing and curse
The Mario Vuskovic case, on the other hand, is a major drop of sourness. The Croatian had been signed permanently from Hajduk Split in 2022 and should have been the guarantee for a return to the top flight.
But the doping case had the opposite effect. After the verdict was finalised, Hamburg decided to give a new contract to the defensive hopeful who is suspended until 2026, but until then, he will leave a gap that even newcomers Lucas Perrin or Dennis Hadzikadunic will struggle to fill.
There was one positive side to this incident. The team has pulled together and is standing up for "Mario", meeting up with him for lunch and not leaving him to his fate. The bond between everyone showcases that they are a family. An important difference to previous years, when big names were brought in with high hopes. In the end, as we all know, you can't buy success.
International break at the right time
With seven points from the first four games, the side are in seventh place in the table and thus below their own expectations for the time being - but now it's time to analyse their mistakes.
Baumgart wants to bring more control to their play. That has worked so far, but they have far too much attacking quality to rely solely on counter-attacks as the primary method of creating chances.
This will probably be one of the biggest points that will now be addressed and with an offence consisting of Glatzel, Selke, Konigsdorffer, Dompe and the Sahiti, they already have a host of weapons just waiting to be used.
Immanuel Pherai, Karabec and Reis also have huge potential to form connections and chances with their creative ideas - now it's up to Steffen Baumgart to utilise this entire arsenal.
One piece of the puzzle away from the big goal
There are so many positive aspects that can be taken away from a closer analysis of what is currently happening at the club, and yet one wonders why things are not working out straight away. The answer is patience. And the six-time German champions have not shown this for years.
Time and again, the coach was sacked just as he was about to finally instil his system into the team and become one with the squad. Previous manager Tim Walter was a good example of this. It is not without reason that fans suspected that promotion would have been possible under Walter last year.
However, Steffen Baumgart now seems to have the necessary patience around him. After last year's failure, there was no discussion with the ex-Cologne man and he went straight into preparations for the current season, in which things could finally work out.
They face Jahn Regensburg on Sunday in front of a home crowd in perfect Nordic temperatures, so there could hardly be a better time to start doing the right things now and delight the eagerly awaiting crowd with some impressive attacking football.
So everything is actually in place. And provided they don't venture too close to the sun again in the spring, the Bundesliga clock could soon be ticking. Goals such as Europe or even more could return to the minds of the fans and the excitement level in the Hanseatic city would finally rise again in the face of sporting success.
