Team Focus: Slomka Must Restore Defensive Stability to Save Hamburg

A little over a year ago, Hamburg secured a 1-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. Following on from a 4-1 away win at Borussia Dortmund the previous week, the victory helped the club go on to secure a 7th-place finish last season, with many tipping them to land a European spot this term.

However, ahead of the welcome of Dortmund this weekend, the club sits 1 point off bottom after a 4-2 loss to Braunschweig, a defeat that cost Bert van Marwijk his job. The Dutchman was appointed Hamburg manager in September, but went on to win just 20% of his league games in charge and was relieved of his duties following a run of 7 successive losses.

On Monday, the club announced Mirko Slomka as Van Marwijk’s replacement, with the sole aim of staving off the threat of relegation. With Milan Badelj, Pierre-Michel Lasogga and Rafael van der Vaart amongst the players at his disposal, Slomka has the quality available to him to achieve this.

From a statistical perspective though, Hamburg aren’t underperforming and it’s questionable whether they deserve to be in the position they’re currently in. They’re average WhoScored rating this season sits at 6.97, currently the 8th best in the Bundesliga and a marginal improvement on last term (6.9).

From an attacking viewpoint, Hamburg have performed well, with the 35 goals they’ve netted bettered only by a handful of teams in the Bundesliga. Their average of 1.7 goals scored per game is also better than last season’s efforts (1.2), although that's little surprise when taking into account their offensive options.

Die Rothosen are also firing away 14.9 shots per game in the Bundesliga, a return only Bayern Munich (19.2), Dortmund (18.8) and Wolfsburg (15.3) can better. Evidently, the offensive threat of the team, despite their perilous position, hasn’t deserted them, which leaves fingers pointed primarily at Hamburg’s defence.

They are conceding 15 shots per game, one of the worst returns in the Bundesliga, and have shipped the most goals (51) in Germany’s top tier. The lack of stability at centre-back has cost them dearly, especially when considering how little defender Heiko Westermann has featured in the heart of defence.

Only Badelj (7.47) ended last season with a better WhoScored rating than Westermann (7.44) of every Hamburg player, with 33 of the experienced defender’s 34 league appearances coming at centre-back. This season, the 30-year-old has featured just 9 times in his favoured role and a further 9 times at right-back - this lack of consistency in the backline is unlikely to have helped Hamburg. Regardless, Westermann has impressed this term, highlighted in his average rating (7.27), though that’s likely to have been as a result of the ball spending more time in Hamburg’s defensive third.

However, with the defence called into action more regularly, the likelihood of errors being committed increases, allowing for the opposition to capitalise. Having conceded the most goals in the Bundesliga, it’s little surprise to have seen Hamburg develop 5 weaknesses, all of which are focused on their defence. The most telling of those is ‘avoiding individual errors’, with the team committing the most errors that have led to a goal (12) in Germany’s top tier this term. Furthermore, goalkeeper René Adler has committed more than any player (4) in the league, while backup Jaroslav Drobny (2) isn’t far behind.

Obviously, when a goalkeeper makes a mistake, it’s highlighted more than when an attack-minded player does, but the inability of both Adler and Drobny to avoid costly errors hasn’t helped Hamburg this season. The first port of call for Slomka is to correct the defensive mishaps that have regularly cost the team.

The low levels of concentration from both goalkeepers is a problem area that needs to be addressed by the new head coach if they’re to pull themselves out of the current rut and return to winning ways. It’s also of vital importance that Slomka restores solidity in defence in order to rebuild from the back.

Reinstating Westermann to his favoured centre-back role will go a long way to improving this and partnering him with the prodigious Jonathan Tah, the teenager earning a WhoScored rating of 7.09, would benefit the team. With Smolak previously favouring a 4-4-2 formation, fielding Dennis Diekmeier and Marcell Jansen at full-back, provided they’re fit, would allow for the quartet to develop an understanding with one another and first-choice goalkeeper Adler.

While the upcoming encounter with Dortmund is seen as a daunting one, the appointment of a new manager can spur a team on to upset the odds and Hamburg will be hoping this comes into effect this weekend. Ending the 7-match losing streak is the priority for Slomka, thus kickstarting their pursuit of securing top-flight safety and they can do so against a Dortmund side that has performed indifferently on the road this season.

Stability in their defensive line will significantly improve their chances, especially with the team more than capable of scoring goals at the right end, and Hamburg need to solidify at the back sooner rather than later if they're to avoid dropping out of the Bundesliga.

Do you think Slomka can save Hamburg from relegation? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below