week 13 - match report
Glut of free-kicks fails to bring victory against HSV
A Schalke side short of a dozen players achieved a creditable 1-1 draw against Hamburg on Saturday afternoon. But in view of the league standings the visitors were happier with the result than the Royal Blues.
Fabian Ernst was available again after recovering from flu but started on the bench. Youngster Benedikt Höwedes stood in for suspended skipper Marcelo Bordon in central defence, while Peter Lovenkrands came in for Mesut Özil, who sustained an injury in the game against Chelsea.
Mladen Krstajic took the captain's armband. And the Serb led by example, bundling in an Ivan Rakitic free-kick with his head and shoulder to give Schalke an 11th minute lead. Having taken their first chance it looked as if it was going to be good afternoon for the Royal Blues. But just ten minutes later it was clear that these hopes were misplaced.
Jermaine Jones, who has advanced to become a key player over the last three months, was taken off injured. And with the Royal Blues waiting in vain for the referee's whistle to sound after "our best move of the game" (general manager Andreas Müller), which was ended by David Jarolim's handball, HSV hit back, equalising through Ivica Olic's header within 60 seconds of the disputed offence. Both sides continued at a frenetic pace and there were lots of niggling fouls, but little goalmouth action for the rest of the half.
"It wasn't a good game but it was very competitive", was HSV coach Huub Stevens's succinct summary. After the interval there were chances at both ends, but almost all resulted from set pieces. "It felt like there were 50 free-kicks or maybe even more", said Schalke boss Mirko Slomka. "After a tough game against Chelsea on Tuesday the task was to create chances against a superbly organised Hamburg team. That was the best option."
Schalke's biggest opportunity fell to Höwedes, whose 63rd minute header was cleared off the line by Jarolim. At the other end Manuel Neuer did well to claw Rafael van der Vaart's 25-metre piledriver out of the top corner (71'). "We would have liked to bring on another striker, but all three were already on the pitch", explained Slomka, bemoaning the loss of a dozen players through injury or suspension. "So we made our changes in midfield because the players did a lot of running on Tuesday and today." But the hoped-for winning goal failed to materialise.
"We can't be entirely satisfied with a point at home against a direct contender in the title race", said Slomka after the final whistle. Stevens saw it totally differently, however, saying: "We're happy with the draw because we've been able to maintain the gap over one of our rivals." The visitors came to Gelsenkirchen more rested than the Royal Blues, but didn't deserve more than a point, the former Schalke boss concluded after his side's failure to go top of the table: "I know a lot of our fans are dreaming of going top but to get there you have to win in Schalke first. And that's not easy, as today's game showed."
Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Höwedes, Krstajic, Westermann - Jones (Ernst 25'), Rakitic (Azaouagh 79'), Bajramovic (Grossmüller 73') - Asamoah, Larsen, Lovenkrands
Hamburg: Rost - Boateng, Mathijsen, Reinhardt (Benjamin 71'), Atouba - Demel (Castelen 60'), Kompany - Jarolim, Van der Vaart, Olic - Guerrero (Choupo-Moting 68')
Referee: Gräfe (Berlin)
Goals: 1-0 Krstajic (12'), 1-1 Olic (35')
Attendance: 61,482 (sold out)
Yellow cards: Asamoah (2), Bajramovic (2), Lovenkrands - Atouba (3), Boateng (2), Olic (3), Castelen, Jarolim (4)
