Hamburg – Schalke 27.11.2012

Hamburger SV slipped to bottom half of the standings as they were beaten by Fortuna Dusseldorf, while Schalke missed the opportunity to beat Eintracht Frankfurt at home.

Both sides now hope to return to winning ways and improve their position ahead of the final battles in the first part of the season.

Hamburger SV are regarded one of the biggest underachievers in German Bundesliga and they are struggling to shake off the unwanted tag. Many people believed the heavy summer recruitment and arrival of players like Van der Vaart, Jiracek, Adler, Rudnevs and Badelj would finally pay off, but that just did not happen. While showing glimpses of quality in some games, HSV have been unable to find any sort of consistency, with their home showings especially disappointing. With the team yet to properly gel, Hamburger SV are struggling to fulfill their potential and the game against Schalke clearly comes at a bad time. Not only are the players out of confidence after winning just one of last four games, but key players Rafa van der Vaart and Heung-Min Son are out of contention, which is a big blow for the hosts. Having lost three of first six home games this season, HSV could be in for yet another disappointment.

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Schalke’s rise began last season, when the team reached Champions League quarter-finals, although the draining European campaign prevented them from giving their best in Bundesliga. However, having signed a number of quality players in the summer, the Miners have succeeded in balancing between two important competitions this season, proving they are slowly becoming a great team. While already securing their place in the next stage of the Champions League and on the verge of winning the first place in the group, Schalke also enjoyed a lot of success in Bundesliga, climbing to third place in the overall standings. Their league campaign did suffer a bit of late as Huub Stevens decided to fully focus on the Champions League, but with the qualification already in the bag, we can expect the Miners to give their best to try and beat severely weakened Hamburg.