Quest for home run continues against out-of-form Karlsruhe

Focus on the guests

And Schwartz carried the momentum into the new campaign, winning his first three games in the second tier, as his Karlruhe side became early league leaders before the 4-2 loss against the Rothosen stalled progress. Seven (!) draws in a row followed as the early season form disappeared and the team from Baden slowly started to sink down the table. 5-1 and 1-0 home losses to Greuther Fürth and Wehen Wiesbaden just before the Christmas break didn’t do Schwartz’s job prospects any favours, and the writing was on the wall when the first two fixtures after the return of competitive football resulted in a 1-0 loss to Dynamo Dresden and 2-0 loss to Holstein Kiel. 

Despite backing his manager publicly after Saturday’s home loss to the Storks, sporting director Oliver Kreuzer took an about turn and sacked popular manager Schwartz on Monday morning, with Karlsruhe in the bottom two with 20 points to their name. Christian Eichner, who spent the happiest years of his playing career at the Wildparkstadion and has been assistant manager since April 2017, took over the reins and will most likely be interim manager for the game at the Volksparkstadion on Saturday. The 37-year-old’s debut as first-team coach didn’t go as planned, as the Blue and Whites were taken to extra-time by Regionalliga side 1. FC Saarbrücken after a turgid DFB Pokal round-of-16 game on Wednesday evening. David Pisot missed the decisive penalty for KSC, meaning Karlsruhe had to contend with a change of manager and surprising cup-exit within a matter a days.

Three is the key for hopeful Rothosen

There was certainly a palpable feeling of relief on Monday night in the HSV camp after the first away win in nine attempts at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion. It looked as if the away day blues would be returning when Simon Zoller put Bochum ahead in the 65th minute, only for Tim Leibold to thunder in a volley two minutes later before putting Joel Pohjanpalo’s first goal for the club on a plate, a chance that the Finn gobbled up with glee. With Arminia Bielefeld and Stuttgart only able to draw, the Rothosen moved on to 37 points, cutting the gap at the top to one, and are adamant about keeping the pressure on the competition up and generating some forward momentum with positive results, having now won both games after the Christmas break. 

Luck with injuries is certainly playing its part, with the HSV coaching staff once again having the unenviable task of choosing their best XI for the upcoming match. Dieter Hecking was able to report at Friday’s press conference that Jan Gyamerah and Josha Vagnoman are progressing well with their rehabilitation at the moment, yet the gap has hardly been noticed, with Gladbach-loanee Jordan Beyer making a strong start to his Rothosen career. Jeremy Dudziak picked up a slight knock against Bochum but should be cleared for tomorrow’s action, whilst Jairo Samperio was able to fully take part in training again for the first time this week, bolstering Hecking’s options from the bench. 

Dieter Hecking on the mood in the camp: "The atmosphere in the dressing room is good. It's nice to win the first two games after the Christmas break but we know we haven't done anything at all just yet. We need to continue the road we're on and perform to the best of our ability tomorrow."

Important information regarding travel to and from the game: There are a number of events on tomorrow at the Barclaycard Arena next to the Volksparkstadion, therefore we would strongly recommend that you travel to the game using public transport (which is free with your match ticket).