Horst Hrubesch put the poverty of three seasons into a simple sentence: “The others wanted it more.” After this season there will also be a great analysis of those responsible;
A set-off that, as experience shows, is disguised with terms such as “relentless”, “open-ended”, “honest” or “no make-up”.
That always sounds very dramatic, while the results are often banal.
The people in charge at HSV Fußball AG will probably get their heads hot during a closed meeting. The analysis should, however, be based closely on Hrubesch's sentence from Sunday afternoon. Then the prospect of improvement would be greatest: "The others wanted it more."
At the Bremen bridge to Osnabrück, HSV had just thrown away their last chance of promotion at 2: 3 - VfL had previously lost 13 times at home.
In the second half of the season, Hamburg got exactly one point against Würzburg, Sandhausen, Regensburg and now Osnabrück.
For a week it was said that one would be there if Fürth in Paderborn should go wrong.
And then that. “We didn't deserve it.
We just have to do more, everyone has to question whether that's all we've done here, ”said Hrubesch.
He himself looked surprised, even perplexed, at how defenseless his soccer team had surrendered.
Pressure resistance and variability
Board member Jonas Boldt and Hrubesch's predecessor Daniel Thioune wanted to give the team and the whole club two things: pressure resistance and variability. The whole organization should develop. For this purpose, Boldt and head of sport Michael Mutzel put together a team that anyone, with this mixture of experienced and hungry, would have made a promotion favorite - no wonder with a budget of around 23 million euros, the highest in the second division. Sven Ulreich and Simon Terodde with Josha Vagnoman and Amadou Onana: it had to work. It worked until matchday 19. Then HSV collapsed like in the two years before.
Now that a coach had to leave and the interim coach is desperate because of the lack of a winning mentality, Boldt and Mutzel inevitably come to the fore as the ones who put this squad together and failed, as in the previous year. Professionals like Jürgen Gjasula or, before that, David Kinsombi and Jeremy Dudziak were brought to Hamburg with comparatively high salaries; The plan was to use them to import the necessary second division experience and resilience (Gjasula) into the squad. The leitmotif of development took a back seat, because the great inner pressure of having to climb dominated the considerations.
Now Boldt and Mutzel have to admit that the squad is expensive and nominally good, but in terms of earnings it is average and characterized by overconfidence. In addition to Terodde with his 23 goals, only one person managed at least one solid performance over the entire season: Moritz Heyer, from whom little was actually expected. Others who were supposed to be supporters, such as Jatta, Kittel, Leibold or Dudziak, only showed their skills.
Boldt likes to point out that expectations shoot up in the event of success, and a depressive mood follows after defeat. The expectations put a great strain on the players. That may be, although many fans only want "their" HSV not to embarrass themselves as a whole and to remain competitive in the core sporting business. In these pandemic times, HSV experienced the “most pressureless” season of all time, especially without spectators. In this respect, Boldt's consideration leads nowhere.
He is more on the right track when he criticizes the professionals, i.e. his own work of sifting and commitment: “You now have to see who is ready to accept the situation in Hamburg. So don't just talk about pressure, but not take off and stick to yourself during the season. Not to dream of promotion, but to work hard on this dream. ”When he talks about pressure, Boldt works on the one hand like a coherent part of the analysis - but on the other hand as an alibi for the failure of the players and ultimately also his commitment policy.
The management team should be grateful to Hrubesch that the core problem is now so open: The others wanted it more. Boldt is the first HSV man to be criticized, but it is still right to trust the 39-year-old. The next change in leadership at the top level would be fatal. And Boldt wants to continue to lead the way, to provide guidance and support.
In his third year in the second division, the fourth at HSV, Boldt and Mutzel have to ask more than ever the question of the right character when selecting coach and squad. Half-heartedly, Boldt has already gone this way by raising six young players together with Thioune, making Vagnoman and Ambrosius regular players. Robin Meißner could be next. If the HSV really wants to make the topic of "development" the guiding principle of action, it should try to build a young team from its own ranks. None that is interspersed with supposed "star players" in the second division. Fürth showed the way.