[FM21] Hamburger SV - Die Rothosen

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The great sleeping giant of German football is at an absolute low-point, having suffered their first relegation from the Bundesliga in 2017/18 and missed out on promotion under humiliating circumstances in the last two seasons. The club is at a turning point, managers have been sacked, boards have been reshuffled, sponsors have left and a new direction is needed, will you be the one to lead Hamburg back to the promised land?

The board led by former HSV player Marcell Jansen have a slight preference for signing players under the age of 23, but beyond that HSV is a blank canvas that the manager is free to colour however they wish.

With excellent facilities, a 57,000 capacity stadium and situated in one of the wealthiest cities in Europe die Rothosen have all the conditions to challenge Bayern and Dortmund at the top of German football, all that is missing is the leadership.

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Starting my save without transfers in the first window and running a database where pre-existing injuries are removed, so no ACL injury on Van Drongelen for me.

Hamburg's transfer activity last summer was pretty unremarkable, new manager Daniel Thioune brought Moritz Heyer with him from Osnabrück, a couple of high-earning flops left on free transfers, Julian Pollersbeck was sold to Lyon and Sven Ulreich joined from FC Bayern to replace him. The major piece of business was bringing in the 2. Bundesliga cheat code that is Simon Terodde on a free transfer:

Terodde has been the top scorer in the 2. Bundesliga three times and I certainly hope that he can add a fourth title to his resumé this season.

 

Our tactical approach will be a 4-1-3-2 inspired by one @Rashidi showed in one of his streams, but modified to suit the strengths of this squad. Van Drongelen and Ambrosius form a combative (but short) centre back pairing, Leibold will bomb down his flank and serve up crosses for Terodde, Jatta is free to run at defenders and Wintzheimer forms a strike partnership with Terodde.

[Ewan0404]

I had a great save with Hamburg last year. Jatta as a winger was an absolute monster for years. 

 

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Hamburger SV 2020/21

2. Bundesliga: 1st

DFB-Pokal: Quarter-final

Table:

Spoiler

Fortuna Düsseldorf threatened us at times, but in the end we won the league in resounding fashion, setting new 2. Bundesliga records for both points (81) and most matches won in a row (10).

Matches:

Spoiler

 

Players: 

Spoiler

 

Terodde started every league match and scored 23 goals which was good enough to add a 4th title as 2. Bundesliga top scorer to his CV, while Wintzheimer finished 2nd with his 21 goals. Will be interesting to see if this slow strike partnership can keep producing goals in the Bundesliga next season.

Ulreich was solid in goal, despite missing the first two months with a hip injury. In front of him our defensive unit of Ambrosius, Van Drongelen, Vagnoman and Leibold had an excellent season as a collective, with Leibold as the real star, having effectively run our left flank contributing both in the attack and the defense. Van Drongelen is the real question mark, he had some howlers but I am not sure if his season really was as bad as the average rating would indicate given the broken tracking of stats like key tackles.

Jatta had his season derailed by a torn hamstring in November but started to regain his form towards the end of his season. Narey did a fantastic job filling in for him and even managed to score 4 goals in a single game against Eintracht Braunschweig in January.

Hunt had an excellent first half of the season and despite playing just 19 games his 13 assists were good enough for 2nd in the league. Playing in a 20th league game would have activated a clause that would have extended his contract an additional year, since he is a very high earner who will be 35 next season and is starting to show significant physical decline I opted to bench him in favour of Onana for the second half of the season.

Transfers:

Spoiler

Our only January signing was young prospect Claudio Gomes from Man City, while we loaned out a player from the reserves and sold Klaus Gjasula after he asked to leave for more playing time.

Looking ahead to next season I am going to stay frugal and only add a handful of players. I want to add a better defensive midfielder and I need to find long-term replacements for Terodde and Ulreich, beyond that I am mostly pleased with the squad as it is. Might add a taller centre back if I find a good option for a reasonable fee. In terms of sales there are a few bad influences in the squad like Kittel, Dudziak and Gyamerah that I would like to get rid of, it would take a very good offer for me to consider selling anyone else.

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On 22/01/2021 at 11:47, Ewan0404 said:

I had a great save with Hamburg last year. Jatta as a winger was an absolute monster for years. 

 

Jatta has an interesting set of attributes, his technicals are pretty much non-league, while he has great physicals and a mix of mental attributes that are mostly good to great, but with some really poor ones like 7 composure thrown into the mix. Someone trying to play possession football would likely find him extremely frustrating, but played as an attacking winger running down his flank he does great, just as you said.

Unfortunately he was set back by a major injury in my game, I hope he can recover from it because he is a really interesting player to have, watching him ceaselessly run at defenders is great fun!

[Ewan0404]

Yeah his physicals are about all he had going. 

But as a winger I found his speed got him in behind the back line so much that his goals and assists numbers were great. But he also missed a hell of a lot aswell. 

[namlas]

Just started my Hamburg save really enjoyed your write up. Btw what kind of transfer budget are you given in your second season? as i am also  playing on no transfer first season .

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On 24/02/2021 at 15:03, namlas said:

Just started my Hamburg save really enjoyed your write up. Btw what kind of transfer budget are you given in your second season? as i am also  playing on no transfer first season .

Not a lot, a couple of million at most I think, before I sold a couple of players.