Team

Stalwarts “Bascho” and “Meffo” set to return

Captain Sebastian Schonlau and midfield strategist Jonas Meffert will return to face Eintracht Braunschweig after both serving their suspensions. The two players are key to the way HSV want to play.

“There isn’t a single player that we can do without,” was head coach Steffen Baumgart’s answer to the question of whether regular starters Sebastian Schonlau and Jonas Meffert were indispensable, posed to him during the press conference on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the 52-year-old coach is certainly looking forward to having his two stalwarts of the team back following suspension, as he clearly expressed. “It is tricky having to replace them sometimes. Without a doubt, we need both of them.”

The figures alone give a strong indication of the extent to which Sebastian Schonlau and Jonas Meffert continue to characterise the Rothosen style of play in what are their fourth seasons respectively at HSV. Captain Schonlau boasts the highest tackle percentage in the team at 71.7% and the third best in the league. On top of that, “Bascho” has a successful passing rate of 92.93% (third-best in the league), playing an important role in the Rothosen build-up play as the central centre-half. Jonas Meffert is even more accurate in his passing, with a rate of 93.96% putting him at 2nd place in the league standings in this regard. Alongside Miro Muheim, the midfield strategist was one of only two players to have played every minute of the second-division season until his sending-off in Elversberg ended that run. HSV are winless in their last six matches that they have had to play without Meffert in the side (D2, L4), largely down to the ground he covers as one of the strongest runners in the league, averaging 11.05km per game.

It was in the DFB-Pokal that Sebastian Schonlau and Jonas Meffert were most recently on the pitch together.

220 HSV appearances combined

Both of the 30-year-olds, “Bascho” and “Meffo,” are still going strong, as the statistics show, but their experience also brings a lot to the HSV game. While only in his previous match away to SC Freiburg in the DFB-Pokal (2-1 loss) was captain Schonlau able to celebrate his 100th appearance in HSV colours, Meffert already has 120 behind him. Both delivered a strong performance in that last game they were on the pitch together for, away to the side sitting fifth in the Bundesliga standings, providing both defensive stability as well as a goal threat. Meffert’s header reduced the arrears to make it 2-1. “It’s frustrating that we got knocked out, but we can take a lot of positives from the game and especially the second half,” Schonlau explained after the cup clash. Knowing full well that, like Meffert, he will once again be condemned to the role of spectator for the match against 1. FC Nürnberg, the anticipation is even greater ahead of the next away game in Braunschweig. The side they will face there has been a welcome opponent for the two players in the past, with both Meffert (10 games: W7, D2, L1) and Schonlau (5 games: W3, D1, L0) possessing excellent career records against this opposition. The duo may not be indispensable, but they are certainly both vital regular components of the HSV philosophy.