Bundesliga Preview: Hamburg - Schalke

New-Look Hamburg Set Sights On European Return

The 2009-10 season was a shaky one for Hamburg, who had a great squad and started well, but had their title hopes stymied by recurring injuries to several key stars. Jose Paolo Guerrero missed almost the entire season with a knee injury, star signing Eljero Elia barely featured after Christmas, and the likes of Ze Roberto, Marcell Jansen and Mladen Petric, among others, were also regular absentees from the squad sheet. As a result, die Rothosen finished seventh in the Bundesliga, and failed to qualify for European play.

Heading into 2010-11, it is not entirely clear whether Hamburg have taken a step forward or backwards, although their goal is to return to European competition at the very least. Jerome Boateng has left for Manchester City, rising star Sidney Sam has moved to Leverkusen, and promising talents Marcus Berg and Tolgay Arslan have left. However, versatile defender Heiko Westermann has joined, as have youngsters Dennis Diekmeier, Gojko Kacar and Son Heung-Min. It’s a different squad, but whether Hamburg will be a better side this year remains anything but certain.

The team will be encouraged by success in pre-season, including a 2-1 victory over English giants Chelsea as well as their 5-1 victory in last weekend’s DFB Pokal opener, in which Ruud van Nistelrooy scored a hat-trick and added an assist. Still, Schalke will be an altogether different challenge, and it will require a top class performance for Hamburg to come out the better side.

Schalke Aiming For First Title In 52 Years

Last spring, Schalke’s hopes of winning silverware ended with consecutive defeats to Bayern Munich in the DFB Pokal semi-final and then in the Bundesliga. The Gelsenkirchen side had made improbable but impressive runs in both competitions, but in the end did not quite have enough to secure the coveted silverware.

This summer, coach Felix Magath demanded funding for squad improvements, and was allegedly given a transfer kitty in excess of €30 million. He made clear his ambitions, and attracted La Liga stars Raul and Sergio Escudero while allowing out-of-contract striker Kevin Kuranyi and wantaway full-back Rafinha to head abroad. There remains time in the transfer window to make purchases, and it is likely that within the next week a striker and/or playmaker will head to Gelsenkirchen.

For Schalke, the majority of pre-season was nothing short of stellar. A dozen consecutive victories suggested that die Koenigsblauen were prepared to take the Bundesliga by storm. However, a week after beating Bayern in the LIGA Total! Cup final, Magath’s men lost to their Bavarian rivals in the German Super Cup. More recently, Schalke laboured their way to a 2-1 Pokal victory over Aalen, which underlined their room for improvement.

Another week of training has passed, and as almost every Bundesliga fan can attest, that is more than enough time for Magath to bring the best out of his team. Schalke will be ready, which should make for a mouth-watering encounter.

TEAM NEWS

Hamburg

Dennis Aogo, Romeo Castelen, Dennis Diekmeier and Tunay Torun have been ruled out of coach Armin Veh’s line-up. However, Hamburg will not be short of defenders as they were in last week’s DFB Pokal match: Marcell Jansen is fit again, and will likely start at left back. The only real question mark over Veh’s squad is whether Jose Paolo Guerrero will start behind Ruud van Nistelrooy in a 4-2-3-1 formation, or if Jonathan Pitroipa will play as a right winger in Guerrero’s stead, pushing Mladen Petric from the right flank to a centre forward role.

Possible Starting XI: Rost - Demel, Westermann, Mathijsen, Jansen - Jarolim, Ze Roberto - Petric, Guerrero, Elia - Van Nistelrooy

Schalke

Tim Hoogland, Levan Kenia and Christian Pander are unavailable, and there are three selectional question marks for Felix Magath’s squad. Either Raul or Erik Jendrisek will start up front; Sergio Escudero or Lukas Schmitz will fill in at left back; and Christoph Metzelder or Joel Matip will partner Benedikt Hoewedes in central defence.

Possible Starting XI: Neuer - Uchida, Hoewedes, Metzelder, Escudero - Farfan, Jones, Rakitic, Hao - Raul, Edu

PREDICTION

Hamburg are in better form at the moment, but Schalke have the superior coach. A key factor might be Schalke defender Christoph Metzelder’s form on the day. If he does not improve upon his previous performance, Van Nistelrooy could be on his way to another hat-trick. I’ll pick Hamburg as slight favourites, but would not be the least bit surprised by a draw.

Hamburg 1-0 Schalke