Stand: September 30, 2024, 1:13 p.m
Von: Jan Christian Müller
PressSplit
The 3:4 against Werder Bremen is a symbol of the state of the Bundesliga club at all levels. Dynamo Kyiv is now a guest in the Europa League. A celebration day? Not at all.
It’s a topsy-turvy world at TSG Hoffenheim Fußball-Spielbetriebs GmbH. Let’s take the game from early Sunday evening against Werder Bremen as an example. On the occasion of the effort to celebrate the 125th birthday of the village club, which was founded in 1899, a number of guests of honor were invited, who were rewarded with three goals from the hosts in the early stages of the game. Because their own ultras are still working on the club’s leadership, which is actually difficult to understand, they stayed away from the start of the game until the 19th minute. The irony of history: without the support of the fans, things went like clockwork, as soon as there were noisy people on the standing blocks, goals were conceded. Hoffenheim first lost defender Stanley Nsoki, who was purchased at far too high a price, because of an emergency stop and then the game 3-4.
In its Monday edition, the trade journal “Kicker” therefore felt compelled to ask the pressing question: “Was that it for Pellegrino Matarazzo?” After all, the coach had not managed to develop a defensive strategy together with his team that would defeat the guests from Bremen wouldn’t have exactly invited you to score goals. In any case, the head coach’s standing is not the best after four defeats in a row, which pushed TSG to 16th place. The fact that Matarazzo recently gave an interview to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, which he only informed the media department about late, has not necessarily increased his acceptance at the club despite reaching the Europa League.
On Thursday the Kraichgau Dynamo Kiev are expecting their home game in the Sinsheimer Arena. Without any knowledge of Hoffenheim’s inner workings, one would have thought that a game like this would bring about a football festival in the anniversary year. But it won’t. The TSG is expecting a maximum of 17,000 spectators, and almost every second seat will remain vacant. This bleak scenario should pretty much reflect the atmosphere that currently prevails in the beautiful training center in Zuzenhausen, which would be described very kindly as “autumnal”. Things are likely to cool down even further on Sunday evening: an away game in Stuttgart promises more goals conceded than points won.
The “kicker” was already thinking out loud about a Matarazzo successor and came to David Wagner, who, according to FR information, will not be. The crux in Hoffenheim: Basically, an adequate replacement for the ill-timed sports director Alex Rosen would have to be found before the search for a coach can be started. In fact, a Rosen successor is being sought at high speed. The interim junior manager Frank Kramer, who was appointed to deal with player transfers and whose shopping spree, which cost around 60 million euros, shows certain deficits in the expense and income statement, could then devote himself again to what he knows more about: promoting talent.
There are probably too many stones left in the once so homely Hoffenheim that are not stacked neatly: the sports director and two assistants have already left, two other managing directors are leaving their positions soon, the spectators are staying away, the coach is likely to follow. The crumbling fractures in patron Dietmar Hopp’s life’s work are obvious.
