week 24 - match report
"Sloppy goals" conceded as Schalke lose 0-2 to HSV
Schalke again showed in Friday's home game against HSV how much they want to win the title - but as against Bayer Leverkusen five days earlier their endeavour was not rewarded. Hamburg exploited two moments of defensive hesitation late in the game to win 2-0 with goals from van der Vaart and Olic.
As had been hoped, the Royal Blues were able to recall Mladen Krstajic, who declared himself fit to play despite a broken rib. Levan Kobiashvili returned to the team after suspension and took over the position of the suspended Lincoln. Having recovered from a muscle injury, Søren Larsen was also in the squad, however the Danish international began the game on the bench.
"We had high hopes for this game," said Mirko Slomka after the match. "We were aiming to build up the same sort of pressure in the first half as we did in the second against Leverkusen." And the coach's instructions were indeed followed. "There was some really good closing down and some great passing," recalled Slomka. In the same breath, HSV coach Huub Stevens bemoaned his team's early difficulties. "We had problems in the first half with the pace, and that really shouldn't happen," he said. "But we got away with it." That was due to the fact that although Rodriguez (on 3 minutes) and Bajramovic (34) only narrowly missed their target and Rost pushed Halmit Altintop's free kick onto the post (9), the Royal Blues - despite all their good approach work - were not productive enough. "We were too often lacking a good end product or final pass", said Slomka.
Schalke's failure to score increased the visitors' belief in their ability to cause an upset against the league leaders. "We knew that the longer it stayed 0-0, the more risks Schalke would take," said Stevens. Especially "as our game didn't get any better after the break, in fact it got worse," added Slomka, "even though the statistics show that we put over 41 crosses and had 22 shots on goal." In the second half, however, there was only one good goal opportunity for his side, which came just before the first HSV goal, when on 70 minutes Krstajic failed to get enough power into his header from just four metres out. "We had hoped to make more of dead-ball situations, as Hamburg have had a weakness there recently", said Slomka. "But we weren't determined enough in going about it."
By contrast, Rafael van der Vaart purposefully exploited the opportunity as Fabian Ernst and Darío Rodríguez left it to each other to head away a Frank Rost punt (71) and then Ivica Olic took advantage of Schalke's failure to clear the ball decisively from the edge of the area (81). Inside ten minutes Hamburg had shot themselves into a 2-0 lead. "They were both sloppy goals to concede," said Slomka later. "Both situations were down to us not having any luck up front. Hamburg were clever: They kept things tight and coolly exploited our mistakes. That's two home games from which we'd hoped to take a lot more. Now we've got to concentrate on winning the next away game." Missing from that match, however, will be Darío Rodríguez, who picked up his fifth yellow card against HSV.
"It was a lucky win", said Huub Stevens, offering at least some consolation. "But when you're in our position you're glad of every point and proud of wins at places like Schalke and Bremen. However, I still think that Schalke will win the title. That was my view even before the start of the season, and everyone knows that I don't alter my opinion in a hurry!"
Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Rodriguez (Özil, 75) - Ernst, Bajramovic, Kobiashvili - Hamit Altintop (Larsen, 70), Kuranyi, Halil Altintop
Hamburg: Rost - Abel, Reinhardt, Mathijsen, Atouba - Demel (Mahdavikia, 59), Jarolim, Laas, Trochowski (Sanogo, 73) - van der Vaart (Wicky, 79), Olic
Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Landshut)
Goals: 0:1 van der Vaart (71.), 0:2 Olic (80.)
Attendance: 61,482 (sold out)
Yellow cards: Hamit Altintop (3), Rafinha (5/2), Ernst (3), Rodriguez (5) - Jarolim (10), Olic, Reinhardt (2)
