Hamburger
The Entertainers
Goals Galore for Der Dino Fans
Twelfth place, close to £50m transfer profit, and goals at both ends all season long. In Season 27 Hamburg didn’t just consolidate in Division 1 — we entertained.
Season 27 saw Hamburg consolidate our place in Division 1 with a significant improvement across the board.
After surviving by the skin of our teeth in S26, the objective was simple: tighten up defensively without sacrificing the attacking football that had made us entertaining, if occasionally terrifying to support.
By the end of the season, we’d achieved exactly that.
Last Season
In S26 we finished 15th, thanks largely to Dinamo Zagreb failing to win on the final day. The numbers were ugly.
We scored a respectable 63 goals but conceded 85 — the worst defensive record in Division 1. Only bottom club Arsenal lost more matches than Hamburg.
A team capable of scoring against anyone could also concede against anyone.
Usually several.
The Plan: Tighten Up at the Back, Keep Firing up Front
A few tactical tweaks produced an encouraging start.
After six matches we found ourselves sitting 5th in Division 1 and dreaming of qualifying for SMFA football.
That proved slightly optimistic.
The season settled into something more familiar, and at various points we found ourselves looking nervously over our shoulder rather than up the table.
Still, unlike the previous campaign, we never truly looked doomed.
The attack remained dangerous and, crucially, the defence became just competent enough.
Which, by Hamburg standards, felt revolutionary.
Improving the Defence
Much of the work was done in the transfer market towards the end of the season.
Iñigo Martínez arrived from Valencia as part of the deal that sent Marc Guiu to Spain, while Stefan de Vrij joined from Anderlecht in exchange for Mario Pašalić.
De Vrij duly dropped to 90, but both he and Martínez add valuable experience and depth. Remarkably, they’re also younger than Nicolás Otamendi, whom they effectively replace in the squad hierarchy.
Adam Marušić arrived from Espanyol’s so-called “youth” setup to provide cover on both flanks. Expensive perhaps, considering Jordan James headed the other way, but versatility has value.
Marušić joins José Gayá, Nelson Semedo, Juan Jesus, Joe Rodon and Thomas Partey in what now looks like a far deeper defensive unit than the one that started S27.
Indeed, during the final weeks of the season, with survival largely secured, we began experimenting with more conservative approaches against stronger opponents.
The results were encouraging.
We no longer conceded goals like a Trump peace deal, and we even picked up points in fixtures where a high-scoring defeat might previously have felt inevitable.
The Marquee Signing: Enter KDB
The biggest move of all was the arrival of Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian legend joined from Anderlecht as part of the Otamendi/de Arrascaeta deal and instantly became the highest-rated player at the club.
The club shop was particularly delighted.
Ever since Kevin Macedo was sold, staff had been complaining about a warehouse full of unsold “Kevin” merchandise. Fortunately, De Bruyne should help shift a few shirts.
On the pitch, his arrival opens up new tactical possibilities. The familiar 4-2-3-1 remains available, but a 4-3-3 built around Casemiro, De Bruyne and young Kees Smit in midfield suddenly looks very appealing.
In the Black
For perhaps the first time in Hamburg history, I checked the transfer ledger and discovered something extraordinary:
We made a profit.
Hamburg spent £145.9m and received £194.2m, generating a positive balance of almost £50m.
That may not sound exciting, but with facilities now draining money every week, it’s no small achievement.
The accountants were delighted.
The supporters remain unconvinced that balancing the books counts as entertainment.
What the Numbers Say
The improvement was real.
| Metric | S26 | S27 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goals Scored | 63 | 72 | +9 |
| Goals Conceded | 85 | 77 | −8 |
| Goal Difference | −22 | −5 | +17 |
| Points | 37 | 50 | +13 |
| Position | 15th | 12th | +3 |
A +17 goal-difference swing translated directly into 13 additional points.
The attack improved. The defence improved. The table improved.
Most importantly, the Volksparkstadion became a genuine advantage. Hamburg finished with an 11-3-5 home record, collecting 36 of their 50 points in front of their own supporters.
Away from home we remained considerably less convincing, recording just 3 wins from 19 matches.
The contrast was stark.
At home we looked like European contenders.
Away we looked more like a team hoping the sat-nav would eventually guide us back to Hamburg.
The Entertainers
Despite the defensive improvements, Hamburg remained the division’s premier box-office act — and this time the numbers prove it.
Our 38 matches produced 149 goals — 72 scored, 77 conceded — more than any other side in Division 1. That’s 3.92 goals a game, comfortably the highest in the league. By contrast, champions Chelsea kept things far more controlled at 3.55, while São Paulo’s matches limped along at just 2.58.
The Volksparkstadion was the epicentre. Our 19 home games alone served up 78 goals — 4.11 a game, again the highest home figure in the division.
We scored four against champions Chelsea.
Unfortunately, they scored nine.
That fixture alone probably explains the entire season.
Even on the road we weren’t parking the bus so much as driving it into a fireworks factory: our away matches still averaged 3.74 goals. Only Dortmund (4.21 away, the lunatics) caused more chaos on their travels.
Player of the Season: Mason Greenwood
If one player embodied Hamburg’s season, it was Mason Greenwood.
The winger finished with 11 goals, 21 assists, 4 Man of the Match awards and a 7.70 average rating — 32 goal contributions in all.
His 21 assists ranked 7th in Division 1, placing him alongside the league’s elite creators. Only six players registered more.
Combined with Leroy Sané’s 15 goal contributions from the opposite flank, Hamburg possessed one of the division’s most productive wide partnerships.
When Greenwood played well, Hamburg generally played well. When Greenwood played brilliantly, opponents usually regretted it.
Captain Fantastic
The strangest statistic of the season belongs to Casemiro.
The Brazilian defensive midfielder somehow finished with 12 league goals.
Not twelve goal contributions. Twelve goals.
That was more than Greenwood. More than Sané. More than Ekitiké.
For a player whose job description begins with the word “defensive”, it was an extraordinary contribution. Whether we can rely on another twelve-goal haul from a 34-year-old holding midfielder remains to be seen — but for S27, it was a huge factor in our improvement.
Predicted 15th. Finished 12th.
Pre-season projections based on squad strength weren’t particularly optimistic. The model ranked Hamburg 15th for expected finish.
We ended up 12th.
Not enough to trouble the European places. Not enough to make headlines. But comfortably clear of relegation danger and three places above prediction.
For a club that spent much of S26 staring into the abyss, that’s meaningful progress.
Looking Ahead to Season 28
A year of trading up leaves us with a noticeably stronger spine. This is how the first team shapes up — and how far it’s come in twelve months:
First Team Starting XIs
| Position | Season 27 (4-2-3-1) | Rat | Season 28 (4-3-3) | Rat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Bounou | 90 | Bounou | 90 |
| RB | Partey | 90 | Semedo | 89 |
| CB | Otamendi | 90 | I. Martínez | 91 |
| CB | Orbán | 90 | Orbán | 90 |
| LB | Gayá | 89 | Gayá | 89 |
| DM | Casemiro | 90 | Casemiro | 90 |
| CM | Pašalić | 90 | Smit | 86 |
| CM / AM | de Arrascaeta | 91 | De Bruyne | 93 |
| RW | Sané | 92 | Sané | 92 |
| LW | Greenwood | 91 | Greenwood | 91 |
| CF | Ekitiké | 91 | Ekitiké | 91 |
De Bruyne inherits the creative reins, while the de Arrascaeta-shaped hole in the 4-2-3-1 becomes a third midfield berth in the 4-3-3 — and it’s Kees Smit who gets the nod as part of his development.
Partey may have taken a -2 in the latest review, down to 88, but his versatility remains invaluable — priceless cover across defensive midfield and right-back.
And against the division’s stronger sides, we’ll return to the 5-2-3 low block that served us so well late in S27: de Vrij steps in as a third, ball-playing central defender, De Bruyne drops alongside Casemiro, and Smit makes way for the night.
Behind them, de Vrij, Juan Jesus, Rodon, Marušić and others provide far more depth than we enjoyed a year ago. The challenge now is finding minutes for the next generation — Kees Smit, Bruno Bidon, Alessandro Marcandalli, Joane Gadou and several academy prospects will all be hoping to force their way into first-team thinking in the coming seasons.
The Future
The Youth Cup campaign ended with a heavy Round 2 defeat to eventual finalists Genoa.
That’s probably about where we are right now.
But beneath the first team there are reasons for optimism — and a fair bit of cold, hard cash. The academy did its bit for that record profit: last season’s youth front line was almost entirely cashed in, which rather shows in the drop-off up top.
Youth Starting XIs
| Position | Season 27 | Rat | Season 28 | Rat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Brady | 80 | Whatmuff | 70 |
| RB | Mimović | 80 | Mimović | 80 |
| LB | Espinosa | 80 | Espinosa | 80 |
| CB | Gadou | 78 | Gadou | 83 |
| CB | Simpson-Pusey | 78 | Simpson-Pusey | 80 |
| DM | Smit | 82 | Huguinho | 73 |
| CM | Bidon | 85 | Smit | 86 |
| AM | James | 83 | Bidon | 85 |
| RW | Romero | 82 | R. Messi | 78 |
| LW | Monsalve | 82 | D. Rodríguez | 76 |
| CF | Guiu | 82 | Assomo | 65 |
New-player-lottery arrivals Mba, Assomo, Quintero and Mayans add bodies to the pool, while Lucas Herrington, Huguinho and Rayane Messi will be looking to build on early promise.
And for the first time in a while, Hamburg head into a new season not simply hoping to survive.
We’re hoping to improve.
That feels like progress.
STAYING ALIVE! Hamburg Defy the D1 Drop
Season 26 will always stand out in Hamburg history — not because we suddenly became contenders, but because something not quite as important happened.
This was only Hamburg’s second attempt at Division 1 football in 26 seasons.
And for the first time at this level, we stayed up.
Survival was achieved.
“Season 26 wasn’t fun. It was purely about survival.”
Written Off Before Kick-Off
Pre-season projections were blunt.
Hamburg were tipped for relegation. Newly promoted survival sides rarely receive patience in Division 1, and our history offered little reassurance.
The objective wasn’t glamour football.
It was simple:
Survive. Establish a foothold.
Season 26 performance metrics later confirmed this reality:
- Hamburg finished 7th in the Manager Overachievement Table
- Expectations were massively exceeded
- Survival was achieved against all the odds
Transfer Moves
In time for the first league game of the season, we brought in what I had hoped would be important reinforcements and improvements.
Dani Parejo joined from D5 strugglers Santos with Max Arnold and James Tarkowski going to Brazil. Parejo was a +1 on Aleix Garcia, who was relegated to the subs bench after failing to have any noticeable impact as a 10.
Davide Zappacosta joined from Sassuolo with Hamari Traoré and Benjamin Bourigeaud moving to Italy. Zapp was a +1 on Hamari (who later got a -1 review).
While our results over the first half of the season were pretty good, I felt it was an opportunity to sign a marquee forward for the price of a player on my bench and another who I expected to get a -1 in the reviews (and that’s exactly what happened).
The Fault Line
The moment everything changed: Sané arrives — and the defensive balance goes with him.
Season 26 nearly collapsed because of my own decision-making.
The moment that destabilised Hamburg wasn’t fixture congestion or injuries.
It was the Sané signing.
To bring Leroy Sané in, I allowed Ferland Mendy (and Aleix Garcia) to leave as part of the exchange. This strengthened the attack. And weakened the defence.
Results dropped off a cliff. We scored plenty, but we conceded more. Bono in goal was like a drowning man trying to bale out a sinking ship with a sieve.
I brought in Spinazzola to replace Mendy, and Tadić to replace Firmino.
What finally stopped the slide wasn’t new signings, but tactical adaptation:
- Switching Sané to right wing
- Moving Greenwood to the left
- Deploying Parejo as a box-to-box midfielder, despite his natural playmaker role
It wasn’t elegant.
It wasn’t ideal.
But it worked.
We became harder to break, more balanced in transition, and just stable enough to grind out a couple of massive wins at the death.
That final sequence saved the season.
What Changed (And What Didn’t)
Hugo Ekitiké and Mason Greenwood continued to develop and excel, and I expect more from them both next season.
Greenwood’s end-product remains vital — and the numbers back it up.
At season end, I brought in Thomas Partey for Spinazzola, José Gayà for Luciano Juba and Alejo Sarco, and Mario Pašalić for Tyler Adams (who I’d previously swapped for Zappacosta).
First Team Starting XIs
| Position | Season 26 | Rating | Season 27 | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Bono | 90 | Bono | 90 |
| RB | Zappacosta | 89 | Partey | 90 |
| LB | Mendy | 90 | Gayà | 89 |
| CB | Tarkowski | 89 | Orban | 90 |
| CB | Otamendi | 90 | Otamendi | 90 |
| DM | Casemiro | 90 | Casemiro | 90 |
| CM | Parejo | 91 | Pašalić | 90 |
| AM | Firmino | 89 | Tadić | 89 |
| RW | Greenwood | 90 | Sané | 92 |
| LW | Iwobi | 89 | Greenwood | 91 |
| CF | Ekitiké | 90 | Ekitiké | 91 |
Ekitiké: the forward line’s reference point — goals, assists, and constant threat.
The Long Game Continues
With safety secured, I decided it was time to cash in Parejo and got a couple of decent youths in Luka Romero and Jordan James. Likewise, Alex Iwobi left in exchange for Marc Guiu.
While the youth squad won’t transform the first team immediately, the underlying project remains intact.
I didn’t bother listing my strongest youth XI in my last season review as it was nothing to shout about in terms of ratings. I think we were the 28th best team in the Youth Cup rankings, but somehow managed to reach the Semi-Finals.
Youth Starting XIs
| Position | Season 26 | Rating | Season 27 | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Vítek | 77 | Whatmuff | 70 |
| RB | Serrote | 76 | Mimović | 80 |
| LB | Espinosa | 80 | Espinosa | 80 |
| CB | Gadou | 78 | Gadou | 78 |
| CB | Simpson-Pusey | 78 | Simpson-Pusey | 78 |
| DM | Smit | 82 | Smit | 82 |
| CM | Bidon | 83 | Bidon | 85 |
| AM | Sato | 76 | James | 83 |
| RW | Dani | 73 | Romero | 82 |
| LW | Stojković | 82 | Monsalve | 82 |
| CF | Bojang | 80 | Guiu | 82 |
Season 27 Objectives
Captain Courageous always chipping in.
Realistically it’s going to be all about surviving another season. We’re stronger at the start than last time, and with a bit of luck we might not lose our first three games.
We might hope to get more than 37 points by the end.
A lot will depend on our front three again, and Captain Carlos Casemiro — but we also need to tighten up at the back.
Season 25 Review - Division 2 Champions
Season 25 could hardly have been a greater contrast to the previous two seasons of D2 mediocrity. When we lost all five pre-season games I had a feeling we might start with a win for once, and a 5-1 thrashing of Cruzeiro exceeded all expectations.
We were quickly brought back down to earth with a draw and a defeat in our next games.
Pre-Season Transfer Strategy
We had brought Lacroix back to the club in exchange for Tomas Araujo, an immediate +2 on our starting CB. That undoubtedly helped us to have such a successful season. Araujo eventually got his +2 while Lacroix mysteriously stayed at 88.
We also exchanged Noa Lang 88 for Alex Iwobi 89 and veteran Idrissa Gueye 88. Lang got his 89 by the season end while Iwobi stayed at 89. Iwobi was instrumental in our successful season with 11 goals and 17 assists from the left wing, however, and Gueye proved invaluable as Casemiro’s understudy. Casemiro scored 5 and created 8 goals from set-pieces and Gueye managed 6 and 3 in a third as many starts. Both had superb real life seasons as well, like Lacroix. Must be the Beddows anti-Marsden Mafia at SM HQ!
Mid-Season Reinforcements
During the season, we brought in more depth and youth including Jorge Carrascal, who since joined Flamengo in real life in a big money move. If he’s successful there, he could easily reach 89 rating.
Rafa Mujica joined from external as a like-for-like deputy for Ekitike, and he scored 6 crucial goals and 2 assists in 17 appearances (including just 4 starts). Absolutely vital contributions from an 86 rated player when added to Ekitike’s 16 goals and 10 assists.
For the youth team, Metinho returned for his third stint at the club. He’s now a starter for Basel in real life so expect a nice rise for him at the next review. We also brought young Hakon Volden back to the club for his second spell. I have high hopes for him, and his now a regular on Rosenborg’s bench in real life.
Division 1 Preparation
Later in the season, we started preparing for D1 by signing Roberto Firmino 89, Ferland Mendy 90, James Tarkowski 89, Yassine Bono 90 and Aleix Garcia 90.
We also brought in some younger depth players in Velasco, Krauss and Karlsson, while letting go Al-Dawsari and Forsberg, the able but aging servants.
We added a couple more exciting youth talents in Sato and Mabena.
Player Spotlight: Remy Cabella
A special mention for veteran playmaker Remy Cabella, who returned for his third spell at the club at the end of last season. This season, like Mujica, he was phenomenal when called upon to deputise for Traore and Iwobi, and later when Firmino couldn’t find his shooting boots and seemed to make the team lose when he played, Cabella became my starter, and guided us over the promotion line and to the D2 title. He scored 8 goals in 19 appearances (5 off the bench) with MotMs and a 7.26 average performance rating! He definitely earned himself a new contract.
Rating Changes
Hamari Traore, Azpilicueta, and Bourigeaud all dropped a rating during the season as expected. Greenwood +1, Ekitike +2, Macedo +2 rose to balance things out a bit. I thought the rises for Greenwood and Ekitike were miserly, but their true ratings will come in time.
For the youth team, Volden got a +8, Smit +5, Stojkovic +2, Volden +8, Bojang +4, Serrote +6, Jesus +3, Biden +1, Vitek +2, JSP +7, Dani +3.
Expecting more from all of them, plus Sarco and Rayane Messi. Jakob Brandtner is somewhat under the radar, but playing regularly for Liefering as he hopefully progresses up the Red Bull ladder.
Season Summary
All in all, I couldn’t be happier with this season. What a way to mark Top 100’s tenth anniversary and 25th Season!
Looking ahead, it’s going to be very tough again in D1. I hope to survive and at the very least do considerably better than my previous feeble attempt.
I’d like to add an 89+ RB, and a 89+ AM/winger, but it doesn’t look likely at the moment. So we’ll stick with what we have and know that we made a number of moves to improve the 1st team before the season ended, so there’s no panic.
And while our first team is aging, we have a wealth of younger talent developing through the ranks in the reserves, U21, and Academy.
Squad Evolution: S25 vs S26
Line-up comparisons for S25 and S26:
| Position | Season 25 Start | Season 26 Start |
|---|---|---|
| GK | Armani 88 | Bono 90 |
| RB | Traore 89 | Traore 88 |
| LB | Azpi 89 | Mendy 90 |
| CB | Lacroix 88 | Tarkowski 89 |
| CB | Otamendi 90 | Otamendi 90 |
| DM | Casemiro 90 | Casemiro 90 |
| CM | Bourigeaud 89 | Garcia 90 |
| AM | Traore 88 | Firmino 89 |
| RW | Greenwood 89 | Greenwood 90 |
| LW | Iwobi 89 | Iwobi 89 |
| ST | Ekitike 88 | Ekitike 90 |
Trophy Cabinet (plenty of room still)
The foundation is now set for our return to Division 1 football. From relegation candidates to champions - the Hamburg resurrection is complete.
Next up: Division 1 survival and beyond. The real test begins now.
HAMBURGER SV COMPLETE MIRACULOUS TITLE TRIUMPH WITH VICTORY OVER FALLEN GIANTS
Marsden’s revolutionaries cap stunning season with championship-clinching win at The Hawthorns
The numbers told one story in April. The reality that unfolded over 38 matches told quite another.
When statistical models placed Hamburger SV 17th in pre-season predictions, few could have envisioned David Marsden’s side lifting the Division 2 trophy four and a half months later. Yet that’s precisely what transpired on a rain-soaked evening at The Hawthorns, where a comprehensive 3-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion secured promotion and vindicated one of the most audacious tactical transformations in recent memory.
The irony was rich. West Bromwich Albion, tipped by many as automatic promotion certainties, finished a disappointing 17th – the exact position Hamburg had been predicted to occupy. Instead, Marsden’s revolutionaries claimed the title with 78 points, two clear of runners-up Stoke City, having scored 83 goals in a campaign that redefined expectations.
“The mathematics said we’d struggle,” reflected Marsden after his players had completed their lap of honour. “What the models couldn’t account for was belief, tactical flexibility, and the hunger of a group written off before they’d kicked a ball.”
That hunger manifested immediately. Alex Iwobi’s fourth-minute opener, created by Mason Greenwood’s incisive pass, set the tone for an evening that encapsulated Hamburg’s season-long dominance. The Nigerian international’s 11 goals and 17 assists formed the creative spine of a team that consistently found ways to win.
Rémy Cabella’s 23rd-minute finish, assisted by new signing Aleix García, doubled the advantage before Matheus Nunes briefly threatened to spoil the party. García’s 60th-minute header from a Casemiro corner ultimately sealed both the points and the championship, capping a debut season that validated Marsden’s summer recruitment strategy.
The transformation from April’s relegation predictions proved both tactical and psychological. Where previous Hamburg sides had relied on conservative pragmatism, Marsden implemented a high-pressing, wide-attacking philosophy that maximised his squad’s technical capabilities. The 4-2-3-1 formation became a vehicle for devastating counter-attacks and sustained periods of possession-based pressure.
Central to this evolution was the retention of Mason Greenwood, the Jamaican winger whose previous two seasons had established him as Marsden’s talisman. Despite interest from higher divisions, Greenwood’s commitment provided continuity in a summer of significant change. His 40 appearances, yielding five goals and nine assists, demonstrated the consistency that championship campaigns demand.
“Mason could have moved on,” acknowledged Marsden. “His decision to stay and help build something special here shows the character that runs through this group.”
The summer transfer window reflected Marsden’s vision for tactical evolution. The acquisitions of Yassine Bono, James Tarkowski, and Ferland Mendy added D1 pedigree to key positions, while Hugo Ekitiké’s development into a first choice striker provided the clinical edge that previous campaigns had lacked. The French striker’s 17 goals in 39 appearances proved the difference in tight matches.
Perhaps most revealing was the squad’s depth. Twenty-nine players made appearances, with only three averaging below 6.0 across their games. This rotation policy, initially questioned by observers, proved crucial during congested fixture periods. The seamless integration of players like Rafa Mujica, acquired from Al Sadd, with a stunning six goals in 17 appearances (including just four starts), demonstrated Marsden’s eye for undervalued talent.
The season’s defining characteristic was resilience under pressure. After establishing early leadership, Hamburg faced sustained challenges from Stoke City and Dinamo Zagreb. Their response – a final-day performance against quality opposition – illustrated the mental fortitude that separates champions from also-rans.
“We knew everyone would have their best game against us once we took the lead,” noted Iwobi. “The manager prepared us for that pressure and gave us the tools to handle it.”
Those tools included tactical flexibility that confused opponents throughout the campaign. Hamburg’s ability to transition between high pressing and defensive solidity, often within the same match, made them uniquely difficult to prepare against. The statistics bear this out: 83 goals scored suggests attacking potency, while 50 conceded indicates defensive discipline.
The broader context makes Hamburg’s achievement even more remarkable. Division 2’s competitive balance meant that title contenders emerged from unexpected quarters. Málaga CF and Cruzeiro both challenged for promotion, while traditional powers like Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid struggled for consistency. In this environment, Hamburg’s sustained excellence across 38 matches represented exceptional management.
Looking ahead, Division 1 presents different challenges. The financial resources and squad depth of established top-flight clubs will test Marsden’s methods against higher-quality opposition. Yet this triumph suggests Hamburg possess both the tactical sophistication and mental resilience required for such battles.
The transformation from relegation candidates to champions represents more than statistical anomaly. It validates Marsden’s belief that modern football rewards tactical innovation over individual talent, that collective intelligence can overcome superior resources, and that championship mentality can be cultivated rather than inherited.
As Hamburg’s players celebrated late into the evening, few could forget April’s predictions. Sometimes the numbers lie. Sometimes belief conquers mathematics. Sometimes revolution triumphs over expectation.
In Division 2’s most compelling narrative, Hamburger SV proved that football’s greatest victories belong not to the statistically superior, but to those brave enough to redefine what’s possible.
Marsden's Tactical Revolution at Hamburger SV
At the start of any season, predictions are made and narratives are set. For Hamburger SV, the script written by many observers for Season 25 was a grim one. Tipped for a relegation battle by at least one prominent statistical model, the club entered the campaign under a cloud of low expectations.
Now, at the halfway mark of 19 games, manager David Marsden has a defiant message for the doubters — and a league table to back it up.
“DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE!” Marsden declared after a hard-fought 2-2 draw against a powerhouse West Bromwich Albion side.
“A point at home to the strongest team in D2 sees Hamburger extend our unbeaten run to 16 games. It’s enough to see us leapfrog the second-best team in the division and long-time leaders Leverkusen to top the table at the halfway mark.”
He’s not wrong. After 19 games, against all odds, Hamburger SV sit in 1st place in Division 2. It’s a story of tactical identity, squad-wide contribution, and a manager with nearly a thousand games at the helm finally hitting a spectacular run of form.
🔥 A Comeback Story Forged in Frustration
This stunning ascent is made all the more remarkable by the context of the past. Season 24 was, by the manager’s own admission, “another disappointing one,” marked by a poor start that mirrored previous struggles. For a club with the history of HSV, languishing has been a painful reality.
But this season is different.
The numbers tell part of the story:
- Only the all-out attacking Southampton have scored more goals
- Only the defensively resolute Dinamo Zagreb have conceded fewer
This is not a fluke; it’s a calculated and effective campaign.
🎯 The Tactical Blueprint: High Risk, High Reward
The foundation is a confident and aggressive 4-2-3-1 Wide system. While many teams in the division use this shape, Marsden has drilled his side to play with a high-intensity, “Pressing All Over” style, using a high defensive line and fast, direct passing to overwhelm opponents.
But where true managerial quality has shone through is in the adaptability.
- Against Southampton’s gung-ho 4-2-4, HSV shifted to a more conservative “Defensive” mentality with a low block — and won 3-1.
- Against the league leaders Bayer Leverkusen, they went toe-to-toe with their high press and snatched a dramatic 2-1 away victory.
👥 The Whole Squad Mentality
This tactical success is powered by what Marsden rightly calls a “great team effort.” The statistics from the first 19 games paint a picture of shared responsibility:
- Hugo Ekitiké leads the line with 11 goals, earning a leap to 90 SMW rating
-
Alex Iwobi has been the creative fulcrum:
- 6 goals
- 11 assists
- An average rating of 7.82, among the league’s best
- Benjamin Bourigeaud (5 goals)
- Rafa Mújica (4 in 7 games since signing)
- Salem Al-Dawsari (4 goals)
🧠 Smart Rotation, Big Results
Perhaps the most impressive aspect has been the masterful squad management.
Faced with a relentless fixture list of league and cup games, Marsden has used his full squad intelligently. Key players were rested in cup ties—even at the cost of early exits—so they could be fresh for crucial league battles.
The result?
- Wins against Leverkusen and Southampton,
- Game-changing substitutes like Jorge Carrascal, who scored the winner against the league leaders.
🏗️ A Thousand Games in the Making
For a manager whose combined tenure spans nearly 1,000 games, this season feels like the culmination of a long-term project.
Marsden has shaped a squad with the right blend of:
- Veteran presence (Casemiro, Otamendi)
- Rising stars with real-world pedigree:
- Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (PL2 Player of the Season)
- Joane Gadou (RB Salzburg)
- Kees Smit (Golden Boy nominee)
- Pape Demba Diop (Ligue 1 move)
The future isn’t just stable — it could be dominant.
📈 The Road Ahead
At the halfway point, Hamburger SV are no longer underdogs. They are league leaders, title contenders, and the division’s form team.
The hype they were told not to believe has been replaced by results.
The challenge now is to maintain this incredible standard for another 19 games.
If they can, the long-awaited return to the top flight won’t just be a dream — it will be a certainty.
Hamburg's Season 24: Challenges and Future Prospects
Season 24 was another disappointing one. Like last season we started badly, just one win in our first eleven league games.
Bizot was our Szczesny replacement. He wasn't cutting the mustard, so we replaced him with the "very experienced" Franco Armani. The transfer was for cash from Besiktas. Shortly after we had our best run of the season, seven games unbeaten.
Not much else to say except we ended just about where predicted safely in mid-table.
Mid-table Mediocrity
We were safe enough to give Radoslaw Majecki a few games in goal. We also tried out SM's new fangled tactics options. This unfortunate combination led to a catastrophic and hugely embarrassing home defeat to Luuk de Jong and the Manchester United youth academy.
This in turn set off a nuclear chain reaction. David Walsh, new manager at PSG who was doing well and trying to keep them up resigned claiming match-fixing. Despite Dan's best efforts to claim the final relegation place, United stayed up relegating Beddows' not-so-Super Samp by one goal. PSG missed out by five points and five goals in the end, and Frank Hirst has yet another unwanted horse's head to dispose of.
Transfer Tango
On the transfer front, our main signings during the season were Noa Lang from West Brom with Alessio Romagnoli going to The Hawthorns. That allowed Memphis Depay to go to Liverpool with veteran Argentine Nicolas Otamendi coming in to replace Romagnoli.
We also brought in Brazil in winger Kevin and left-sided Dutch defender Jayden Oosterwolde from Southampton with Renan Lodi moving to St Mary's. Kevin helped the youth team to the Youth Shield semi-final where we lost out to eventual winners Flamengo.
We broke the club's transfer record dropping £77m on Talles Magno from external. We hope he can live up to the hype and the promise he once showed!
Next Season
Post-season, we traded Lang for Alex Iwobi and Idrissa Gueye. Lang's a talent, yet unfulfilled, but we needed more depth and Iwobi and Gueye are seasoned PL players doing well in real life.
We let our star player Piotr Zielinski move to relegated PSG under new boss Josh, bringing in the younger, talented duo of Sergio Gomez and Hamed Traore. Also some great versatility there.
In some ways, perhaps our biggest and most surprising move was to bring Maxence Lacroix back to Hamburg, allowing Tomas Araujo go to Bayern. Both are progressive young centre backs, but Lacroix is an upgrade for us now and that was the determining factor in planning for the new season.
Youth Team
On the youth front, we've got plenty to be hopeful about. We signed Luka Stojkovic, Jonathan Jesus, Igor Serrote and Pape Demba Diop all from external, and they will all get rises soon, along with Breno "the Brazilian Pedri" Bidon, Radek Vitek, Adama Bojang, Joane Gadou, who are all playing regularly for their real life clubs.
Comparison
S24/25 starting XIs:
Bizot 87 / Armani 88
Hamari Traore 89
Azpilicueta 89 / Lacroix 88
Romagnoli 90 / Otamendi 90
Lodi 89 / Azpilicueta 89
Casemiro 91 / Casemiro 90
Zielinski 91 / Bourigeaud 89
Forsberg 88 / Iwobi 89
Greenwood 88 / Greenwood 89
Immobile 90 / Ekitike 88
Depay 89 / Hamed Traore 88
We've lost some ratings, but should get some rises in the next couple of months. The first team has a younger age profile, and the youth team is only going to get better.
Hamburg Review S23
Not much to write home about this season. We survived. We had the worst possible start (bottom with 4 points in 9 games), recovered with a great run to 9th scoring goals galore away from home, lost our keeper Szczesny to unexpected retirement (or so we thought), then went another nine games without a win before ending with 12 points from our final nine.
We replaced Szczesny with Bizot from external taking a -4 hit in ratings. I tried to compensate for that by signing Romagnoli to replace Kiwior (+2).
Harsh ratings reviews also saw a -2 for Casemiro and a -1 for Mount.
Our star player Muller wasn't really producing the goals or assists I'd hoped for, so I decided to offload him to promotion chasing Schalke for Immobile (who guarantees goals, haha) and Depay (even though he'd just agreed an odd looking move to Corinthians in real life). -1 incoming (and just received), but Muller also likely to drop, and having two 89+ players is better than having one?
Also signed Bellegarde from Athletic Club as a utility player who can cover a few positions.
Came close to signing Goretzka from Spurs, but the deal fell through. Instead I got Forsberg and Silas for Banza.
Brought in Zielinski for Mount and Neco Williams. The speed and joy with which Greg accepted my offer tells me I overpaid, but Mount seems unable to play with injuries, and Zielinski could end up with a +1 at Inter further down the line. Neco obviously will rise, but Hamari is my right back (and might have got a +1 if it wasn't for a serious injury).
Let Adli go to United for Ampadu (who of course then got seriously injured), and Calvin Ramsay.
At end of of season, I took a big short-term risk and ratings hit signing Tomas Araujo from Fenerbahce for Lucas Martinez Quarta and young Antal Yaakobishvili, but he's due a rise....
Replaced Quarta short-term with Azpilicueta for Silas, and swapped Parisi and Malick Diouf for Renan Lodi at left back. Diouf is tearing it up in the Czech league and due a nice rise again, but hopefully Lodi will return to Europe next summer.
Starting XI at start of S23/24:
Szczesny 91 / Bizot 87
Hamari 89
Quarta 89 / Azpilicueta 89
Kiwior 88 / Romagnoli 90
Parisi 87 / Lodi 89
Casemiro 93 / 91
Adli 86 / Zielinski 91
Greenwood 88
Banza 88 / Immobile 90
Muller 92 / Depay 89
Mount 90 / Forsberg 88
Overall no difference in rating, but we do have the likes of Araujo and Ekitike coming through who should be in the first team by the new year. And I've accumulated a bunch of nice youths who are playing regularly or just starting to get minutes, or getting big moves. So reasons to be hopeful, as ever.
Der Dino Dynasty
All the ins and outs, ups and downs and roundabouts of what it takes to manage a club Top 100: must do better.
Marsden Pulls Red Shorts Back Up Again
After last season's final game relegation, I was determined to get Hamburger back into D2 at the first attempt, if at all possible. I knew it would be tough and so it turned out with a tight 1-0 final game win over Flamengo in the Playoffs.
Our first official trophy in Top 100 following Shield defeat at the hands of Feargal Hickey's D5 Stuttgart in S2 and in S19 in the Cup against Paul Masters' Celta Vigo.
Never give up!
We'd been on our best run of form all season in the final ten games or so, following yet another change in formation and tactics and a couple of marquee signings in Carlos Casemiro and Thomas Muller.
But it was definitely a team effort as some of our younger and less regular players produced crucial goals, assists and man a of the match performances when called upon, most notably Alex Collado and Marcos Antonio.
We started the season in the worst possible way with a 2-1 home defeat against Beddows' "Super" Samp. I'd decided not to mess around with silly formations and tactics like I normally do and this was the result.
First seven matches produce a 3-1-3 8-6 10 W-D-L F-A Pts record with 3 clean sheets and 3 games where we failed to score. Not good enough by any means.
In our next 8 games our record was even worse. 3-1-4 3-5 10, 4 cleans sheets and 5 games without a goal! Something was badly wrong. We'd switched from 4-2-3-1B to 4-3-3A slowball and tried different variations of it, but things were clearly going from bad to worse.
I decided to steal someone else's set up from another game world. I'm not proud, but it brought about instant improvement with four straight wins including a 2-0 win at then high-flying Crystal Palace followed shortly after by a 2-1 win at "D1 team" Inter.
At the halfway point our record was 10-2-7 20-15 32, 8 clean sheets and 8 games failing to hit the target at all. Not brilliant, but starting to improve?
Our first six games of the second half of the season were a massive disappointment. 2-1-3 5-8 7 (W-D-L F-A Pts), 2 clean sheets, 2 games without a goal. Worse than ever, consistently inconsistent, we did the double over then runaway leaders Zagreb while eventual champions Swansea did the double over us.
One last throw of the dice to save our season? Another tweak to the formation. To Hell and back!
Galatasaray away was our turning point. Six games unbeaten, a 5-2-1 15-7 17 (3 clean sheets, 1 failed to score) record in the next eight games thrust us up the table and into the playoff places. Our only defeat at in-form Dnipro was probably due to being without our then defensive midfield lynchpin Nemanja Matic who we sold to D5 champions Shakhtar.
Carlos Casemiro joined us from Fenerbahce in time to make his scoring and MotM debut at home to Spurs. We gave up top scorer Breel Embolo and top assister Alfonso Pedraza (I used him mainly as a left winger), so it was a big risk for us.
Simon Banza had been scoring almost a goal-a-game in his substitute appearances, though, and the ever willing Mason Mount switched from midfield to the wing to replace Pedraza.
We won our next three to set up a do or die game at home to Inter. A draw would have been enough for us. I started key man Casemiro on the bench for the preceding Sassuolo game, but he got booked in the dying minutes after being subbed on, and missed the Inter match through suspension. Inter went all out attack, as they had to, and we just didn't have enough quality on the day.
Our final five games saw a 4-0-1 10-4 12 record, with 3 clean sheets.
Second half of the season 11-3-5 30-19 36, 8 clean sheets, 3 games failed to score. 16 cleans sheets in the season for Big Woj! (And two more in the playoffs!)
Galatasaray onwards: 9-2-2 25-11 29, 6 clean sheets, 1 failed to score. More like it!
We started the season with this eleven and bench. Over-reliant on some short-term signings of veterans Silva, Milner, Pogba and Matic, but with enough decent options on the bench, and a few hopes for development potential.
Of that starting eleven, only Woj, Saiss and Mount remain at the club, with Bijol, Malacia and Alario on the bench also leaving.
I replaced Milner with Hamari Traore at right back, Silva with Lucas Martinez Quarta, Saiss with Jakub Kiwior and Pedraza with Fabiano Parisi, the latter three could all get ratings rises in the next reviews (not all necessarily this time, but in future reviews).
Casemiro replaced Matic, and has been absolutely outstanding in the short time he's been at the club. A true talisman. He could well drop, but he's still class even without his legs.
Yacine Adli should get a rise and replaced Paul Pogba, while Mason Mount takes over form Morgan Gibbs-White. MGW should get a rise despite Forest's lowly league finish, and hopefully a real life move to a better club. He was one we really wanted to keep, but we were really short of quality up front after losing Embolo and Pedraza, both going into the home straight and with one eye on S23 whatever division we ended up in.
German legend Thomas Muller joined us in exchange, and scored the winner in the Playoff final! He's another who will likely drop, although still showing his class in the Euros now.
Muller replaces Ritsu Doan, who went to Brugge in the deal that brought Kiwior in.
Mason Greenwood deserves a rise after his comeback season with Getafe, and takes over from Mount on the wing.
Finally, Simon Banza steps up to replace Embolo. He should get another rise after a superb season in Portugal.
On the bench we have the experienced Saiss and Balbuena at centre back, with Ricardo Esgaio and Neco Williams covering at full back.
In midfield we have Ibrahima Sissoko, Nampalys Mendy, Marcos Antonio. On the wings Diego Lainez and Alex Collado, and up front Lassina Traore and Hugo Ekitike. Not nearly as much depth as I'd like, but a couple of rises likely will help a little bit.
We don't have much of a youth team any more, although I hope there are a few decent prospects. But they're a long way from my first team, and from most people's youth teams!
All in all, though, I feel pretty happy with things at the moment and I'm not planning on changing too much unless I need to or I can improve the first team quality or depth. It would be good to improve my centre back and left back options, and the same in midfield and attack, but right now I'm happy with the squad as it is.
Let's see how the new season pans out. It looks like being a very exciting one in D1 and D4 for sure. I just hope we can continue where we left off last season and avoid any serious injuries. Then we can certainly finish in the top ten if not challenge for the playoffs again.
Der Dino Down
Hamburger were relegated on the final day of the season, a creditable 0-0 draw at home to a very strong automatic promotion seeking Levante side wasn't enough. In the end, even a win would not have saved us as both Sporting and Celta Vigo, the two teams above us both won.
We return, again, to Division Three.
Back where we started in S2 (although hopefully not rock bottom with zero points after seven games).
Worst team in Top 100
Power Rankings at the start of the season
Not much progress, then, and disappointing to say the least. Plenty of other clubs, under the guidance of more capable managers than me, have zoomed up the divisions in that time. Some have zoomed back down again under new stewardship, too. So it could be worse.
And to be fair to myself, I did start the season with the worst team in Top 100!
So to finish 17th in D2, 63 places higher than I had any right to, wasn't a bad effort at all. It's all about context, you see. And balance.
Balance was the one thing I didn't have. At the end of last season, I had sacrificed all my ratings for youth, in a futile effort to stop the evil Salvo and his crazy demonic Levante youth team from destroying Top 100 once and for all!
Levante won then, and they won again this season, too. Yet another Youth Cup Semi-Final defeat for me. I did stop Levante getting an automatic promotion spot, though.
So, I played most of this season with a very young team, by far the youngest I've ever put out. A few did get small ratings increases towards the season's end, but it was always going to be too little, too late.
Of course, I could have tried to trade up during the season, but having brought in some lovely young players I did want to have another go at the Youth Cup.
By the time we were knocked out, it was too late. We were rock bottom of D2, and although we put together a good run in the final six or seven games, it just wasn't quite enough. A defeat in the Nordderby was probably the killer blow.
So now we face another season in D3, but with hopes of a quick return to D2. I'll take nothing for granted, though, as there are going to be some very good teams and managers in D3.
We do have a stronger team again now, though.
In my defence...
We brought in Szczesny from CSKA to replace Lafont, who went to Kazan in exchange for Ekitike. Woj should be good for a few seasons, still, while young Hugo will hopefully get his real life career back on track soon.
Thiago Silva joined from Flamengo, with Antoine Semenyo going to Brazil.
Tyrell Malacia replaced Quentin Merlin, and Hamari Traore and Romain Saiss reinforced our back line further still.
Jaka Bijol remains at the club, and I see him as a longer term option.
We also brought in James Milner and Neco Williams, who can provide short and long term cover at both fullback and wingback positions.
And we brought back Alfonso Pedraza, who can play left wing, too.
We let go of our two youth centre backs, Kaiky and Orozco, but we've replaced them with Mihajlo Ilic (who I think has just moved to Bologna in real life), and Alessandro Marcandalli, who's playing really well for Reggiana (on loan from Genoa) in Serie B. I think they could both be better long term prospects.
In the engine room...
In midfield, we replaced Angelo Stiller with Nemanja Matic in the short term, with Nampalys Mendy and Ibrahima Sissoko providing cover.
Emile Smith-Rowe, who left as part of the Szczesny deal, was replaced by marquee signing Mason Mount. While Mount's had a torrid time with form and injury in real life (and somewhat harshly reflected in an immediate SM ratings drop), he's young enough and good enough to return to fitness and form sooner rather than later.
One of my favourite signings this season was bringing back Yacine Adli. He's such a lovely player to watch, and finally he now seems to have got his chance with Milan, so I'm hoping for big things from him.
We've retained Albert Sambi Lokonga, who I hope is regaining some form in real life now he's playing regularly again. We also brought in Mohamed Kaba from external, and he's having a great season with Lecce in real life.
We let go of Fidel Ambriz from our youth set up (part of the Pedraza deal with Orozco). We replaced him with Jose Caicedo (also playing in Liga MX). We're a bit light in midfield in the youth ranks, but we do have some exciting younger prospects in Breno Bidon, Kees Smit and Luke Harris, as well as Mohamed El Arouch, Jumpei Hayakawa and Ayanda Sishuba.
Up front...
Up front was where we had the biggest problem. Lack of goals was ultimately the reason we couldn't stay up.
For most of the season we played a front four of Mason Greenwood, Ander Barrenetxea, Georginio Rutter (all in our youth team as well), and Morgan Gibbs-White. They all did well enough, but they are just too young to reliably produce enough goals.
Rutter (another lovely player to watch) left with Stiller and young Samu Omorodion as part of the deal for Mason Mount, and Summerville went to Cruzeiro for Breel Embolo. Embolo failed to score in seven games, so that definitely didn't work out short term, but I'm confident he will score plenty in D3, and hopefully recover from his real life ACL and return to form with Monaco later this year.
It's always hard to part with talented youth, and Rutter and Summerville look fantastic in the Championship. Summerville was on Level One concerns, though, and he was never going to get into my first team, so he had to leave.
That's what we've always said.
Once upon the other side
It's best not to look back
That's what we say
About farewell
We've retained Greenwood (our player of the season with most goals, assists and MotM awards), and Gibbs-White (another lovely player to watch, and who was criminally played out of position for much of the season in real life, but who now looks to have a new lease of life under the new management at Forest).
Ekitike replaced Rutter, and we brought in Ritsu Doan to replace Ander Barrenetxea. Another small ratings boost short-term, and a little more positional flexibility and a natural left-footer, which I like.
As part of the Barrenetxea deal, we also brought in young Momodou Sonko, who I hope has a very bright future.
We also brought Diego Lainez back to the club from external, and he seems to be rediscovering some form playing again back in Mexico.
We also brought in a couple of promising young wingers in Lainez's real life team mate Marcelo Flores, and Raul Moro and Ahmed Qasem, although we had to let Brazilians Pedrinho and Goncalves go as part of deals for Hamari and Ekitike. We also managed to sign young South African talent Adam Bojang from external.
We're definitely not going to be challenging for the youth competitions again any time soon, but we do have a better balance between ratings while still having some younger players with good potential to improve. I'd still like another centre back and centre forward, but I'm not desperate, and we may go with what we have now for next season, or bring in a lower rated player or two as cover from external, if need be.
So while we're back to square one in one sense, we're definitely in a much better position overall in terms of first team ratings with a sprinkling of exciting younger talents, and a decent crop of youth prospects.
Review of Hamburger's season
At the start of Season 20, I had a team half full of 89, 90, 91 and even 92 rated players.
Unfortunately, they had an average age of 93, and a tradeable value of about £94 each.
And even with their decent ratings, my side's average was still better than only four or five teams in Division Two.
STICKY SITUATION
I was in a sticky situation.
I could stick with what I had and maybe challenge for the playoffs (if I got my tactics right more times than not).
Or, if the SM gods were against me, I could spend the season fighting relegation.
Or I could make the most of what little player exchange value my players still had and rebuild.
TEA AND BISCUITS
With the end of contracts thrust upon us, I felt that I had to be bold.
It was now or never.
If I didn't move them on now, my players would only decrease in value (and ratings).
They would cost a fortune in tea, biscuits and nappies, before retiring and leaving me with nothing.
To allow me to focus on some kind of rebuild, I brought in a previously unknown but extremely precocious tactical coach, Guglielmo Bardelli.
IMAGINARY FRIEND
My imaginary friend would take over control of all match preparation, team selection, formation and tactical decisions for almost all of the season.
On the few occasions I intervened, we lost.
Bardelli pulled off some audacious wins - Sao Paulo home and away, Genoa in the Shield, Sporting away, Chelsea and Barcelona in the Youth Cup.
We topped the table early on.
But as the season progressed, I was selling ratings for youth and he had less and less to play with (except in the Youth Cup, of course, where he had more and more).
CLEAN SHEETS
More importantly, perhaps, than a few big wins against big teams and big managers, Bardelli ensured victories over teams we knew we had to beat to have any hope of avoiding relegation - including double 1-0 wins over Zenit and River Plate.
Peter Gulacsi was a revelation in goal and between him and his replacement Kepa they kept 12 clean sheets.
We started the season with a 90 rated team of pensioners - Gulacsi, Clauss, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Alba, Naby Keita, Cabella, Luis Suarez, Ashley Young, Slimani, The Ox, Willian, and Enzo Perez.
ALL GONE
They've all gone.
Gulacsi (somewhat unfairly I felt) got a -1 in the reviews, as did Vertonghen, Alba, and Luis Suarez.
Naby somewhow retained his 90 rating, but expect he will be at 88 next time.
In their place, I've got Kepa (who got a +1 and is now Real Madrid's new goalkeeper), Marcus Pedersen, Jaka Bijol (who somehow didn't get a rise this time despite being one of the best performing CBs in Serie A), Quentin Merlin, Sambi Lokonga, Jose Cifuentes, Angelo Stiller (to complete move next season), Emile Smith Rowe, Morgan Gibbs-White, Ander Barrenetxea, Georginio Rutter, Yann Karamoh and Cameron Archer, among others.
NO THOUGHT
I also let go of Willian Pacho (for Smith Rowe), Savio and Ratkov (for Tom Krauss for the Youth Cup effort), and Asllani (for Turati, again for Youth Cup). When I let Pacho go, I had no thought of getting beyond the second round of the Youth Cup, but really did need to strengthen our midfield options for the first team.
My team now has an average rating of 87, which is a huge drop. Alessandro at Ajax tried something similar and unfortunately paid with relegation and his job.
TERRIFIC ACHIEVEMENT
So I was over the moon to finish in 13th place for the second season running, with two more points than before.
We also finished third in the Youth Cup, which was a terrific achievement considering we started with a 67 rated goalkeeper, and a team average of 79 for the opening group game. We're well set for next season, too.
CRAZY TACTICS
Next season in D2 is going to be very tough. I took over tactical operations again for the final few games of the season, as Guglielmo Bardelli started conceding huge amounts of goals with, frankly, some crazy tactics. He's now the Technical Director of Football.
Hopefully I can find the right combination to win enough points to stay up, and buy some time for my players to develop in real life and in SM ratings. I'm not saying we have world beaters, but I think the club overall is in a much better position for value and potential going forward than it was at the start of the season.
Dear Gino
Dear Gino,
I am writing to you today to ask for your advice on a matter of great importance to me. I am a new coach in the esteemed custom game world “Top 100”, where - I’m told - only the best, most knowledgeable and expert fantasy soccer managers are worthy of residence.
My team has three young Brazilian players. All three players have great potential, and I believe that they could all play at the highest level.
We have recently been offered a deal for all three players by a club in Serbia. The club is offering a package deal for all three players (“Hey fofo, anything for your three Brazilian kids”). However, I am not sure if this is a fair deal for our players.
I have been following the Top 100 newsfeed recently, and I have seen how players have been changing hands in the transfer market. Some players have been sold for really good players, while others have been sold for really poor players. Is this offer from the Serbian club fair?
I would like to know what you think is a fair price for my players. I would also like to know if you think it is a good idea to sell all three players to the same club. They don’t have any good players to exchange (they are all Glen Mullan’s cast-offs at Espanyol). I would appreciate your advice on this matter.
I’m a new coach in Top 100, in my first season, and it’s been tough getting results as my manager has sold all our best players for younger, weaker players. (He previously sold all his brightest young prospects for older stronger players… go figure!).
I feel like he probably knows a lot less than most other managers, who seem to know exactly how much everyone else’s players are worth, so I would be grateful for any guidance that you can provide.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Guglielmo Bardelli
First team coach at Hamburger SV
Hamburgers of the future
A couple future pre-agreed, multi-player transfer deals, for the record.
The Miracle Of Istanbul!
Hamburger rocked the Top 100 universe last night with a stellar 3-1 victory against Galacticdisarray in Istanbul. The victory saw Der Dino launched into the final D3 playoff hyperspace, in what Skywatchers' and Top 100 veterans are now calling The Miracle of Istanbul, evoking memories of the Red Shorts' miraculous final game ascension to D1 in Season 11.
An unlikely series of cosmic implosions meant that the Red Shorts jumped from 11th to 7th in one night.
We're over the moon
Hamburger gaffer Marsden
Where did it all go right?
It was clear to me that if we carried on with our trajectory we were at risk of getting sucked into the relegation black hole, from which we might never emerge.
Drastic action was required. And that meant entering the vacuum of interstellar space itself - otherwise known as the Top 100 transfer market - usually occupied only by fading stars older than life itself.
Is there anything out there?
Looking into the future
We also managed to secure a couple of Future Transfers - not something I normally like to do, but with my telescope firmly pointed at next season....
Out of this world
We also did a few 'under the radar' deals with external clubs, partly to create squad space.
Sessa will take the RB slot in my youth cup team next season (hopefully Tomas Tavares will get a positional update to let him play LB).
Cetkovic was a tip from Gentleman James as compensation for removing my shorts and Gaga Slonina from my youth squad.
Romero will hopefully stay injury-free and get a run of games for PSV next season, while Joveljic has started well in MLS with The Galaxy (player of the week with two goals and two assists in a thirty minute substitute cameo last time out).
Towards a theory of everything
Following last season's effort, no season review would be complete without some attempt to explain the unexplainable.
I'm none the wiser, and lost an hour of my life in the process.
Here's to the playoffs and Season 18!
Flipping Hamburger
We're one third of the way through S17, so it's as good a time as any for a quick review and update of how things are going here in northern Germany.
This is Hamburger's second season back in D3 after relegation from D2 in S15. It feels like a long time since we hit the heady heights of promotion to D1 all the way back in S11.
We had a miserable time in the top flight, finishing bottom with a record low points total. Not entirely unexpected, and not much fun.
We lost in the playoffs in S13, and then avoided relegation to D3 in the final game of S14, before plunging back down the following season.
We knew back then that we needed to do some work flipping an aging first team - an aging first team that had been assembled from trading younger players for higher ratings to get promotion after years in the D3 midtable wilderness.
Since our D1 (mis)adventure, I'd been building my youth team (which I'll come back to), while trying (and failing) to maintain a aging higher rated first team to sustain at least D2 football. Our first season back in D3 saw my aging team floundering in midtable again, so I sold off most of them for some younger lower rated players... and then also started getting better results.
Which got me thinking....
Now, most seasons I like to start with some new-fangled formation and tactics that is finally going to blow the notorious SM match engine wide open, before reverting back to the tried and trusted 4231B attacking-direct-down-both-wings formula that staves off inevitable relegation and puts you back in with a decent chance of promotion, but not quite.
Last season was no different. 4222 (which I've used successfully in one other game world) was my stupid, stupid choice for S16.
In a nutshell, my stupid formations yielded a weedy 28 points from 26 games, while good old-fashioned 4231B produced a sturdy 27 points from just 12 matches - title-winning form!
It was a no-brainer. Like DP 91 before me, I had proved what everyone already knew. S17, therefore, I would stick with 4231B, with a few tactical variations for playing home or away against stronger or weaker teams and collect my D3 title. Mission accomplished!
Thankfully in SM, nothing ever works out quite like you expect it to, and with just 9 points from 8 games religiously sticking to Plan 4231B at the start of this season, something had to change.
We switched to Plan 442 (short passing), which we used successfully in friendly games at the end of S16. Can't remember who I stole that idea from, but fairly certain it's not something I can claim any credit for.
Since then, we had four straight wins, including at then second placed Wolfsburg, prompting disbelief and self-loathing from the Wolves' gaffer.
Anyway, early doors to get too carried away, and disappointed to manage only a draw at home to second bottom Napoli on Sunday when a win would have put us in second place. Especially after being two goals up. But delighted to be up there and in contention at this stage.
Back to my youth team. Another good start in the Youth Cup. We've sacrificed a lot to try to build a strong and successful youth setup over the past five or six seasons (youth squad highlights from a year ago: U21, U20, U19, U18).
But it had to be done, and while there are others who could have, and have done, better jobs - and faster - at their clubs, I'm still pleased with the work here.
We got to the Youth Cup semi-final last season, and the aim has to be the final this season. Even though this looks like the strongest Youth Cup competition I can remember. No doubt SM will now have me heading for the Youth Shield at the earliest opportunity!
Marsden's Red Shorts Drop Down
Die Rothosen were relegated back into Division Three on goal difference on the final day of Season 15 despite winning 3-0 at St James's Park against Newcastle's reserve team. North German rivals Werder Bremen lost at Schalke, sealing der Dino's humiliating fall.
It was the culmination of a poor season overall, of course, even if there was some bad luck along the way.
Only Swansea in S5 have won more games (13) than Hamburger this season (12) and been relegated. Swansea are also the only team to have finished with more points (45) than Hamburg and still been relegated to D3. Only Wolfsburg in S12, and Hoffenheim in S14 have accrued 44 points and gone down. 43 points is usually enough to avoid the drop, but not this time.
The season fell roughly into four quarters. HSV failed to win in their first ten games, and managed just three draws, no clean sheets, and were bottom of the table. Lucas Alario missed all of these games with an injury he picked up at the end of S14.
We dominated matches against relegation rivals Sevilla and Schalke, but recorded just just one goal and one point in those two games. Most of the others were close games on the stats, but losing by odd goal. Played mostly 4231B with Alexis Sanchez filling in at CF in place of Alario, and Zakaria Labyad coming in on the wing.
Upon Alario's return, the next nine games were a complete contrast, winning seven, all with clean sheets. We'd started playing the same 'slowball' system that had seen Hertha Berlin get off to such a great start in D1.
The turning point in our season really came when our much sought after youth prodigy Maxence Lacroix forced his way into the team. He'd been training hard, then one day (6 June to be precise) he suddenly (83 to 87) started to look like a much better option than Fortuna Wallace, who had hitherto been a mainstay at the back.
Half-time
In the return fixtures beginning at the halfway stage of the season, we managed two wins and three draws from the next ten games, but just one clean sheet (in a defensive masterclass at Benfica).
On 20 June, we got two red cards at Ajax (both first choice CBs, Fernandinho and Lacroix). Went 352 for next few games to try to compensate with quantity for lack of quality at CB.
By 18 July, things were looking desperate. We went all out attack playing oldskool Der Dino 343 and dominated the Nordderby with 'kick and hope' Bremen, only to concede a late equaliser.
The same tactic backfired catastrophically the following week when we lost 4-0 at home to a poor Lazio team. A mistake from the manager, when reverting to 4231B would surely have seen three points and safety?
The final nine games saw three wins and two draws, a slight improvement, and despite a late season trip to a motivational boot camp, it was too little too late. Young Lacroix played 18 games, during which time we had five wins and five draws (including four clean sheets), and was sent off three times!
Not many positives to take from our season as a whole. We knew it was likely to be tough following S14's 16th place escape, but felt we had made improvements with Rui Patricio and Luis Fernandinho coming in towards the end of S14.
Alexis Sanchez played all across the frontline and scored eleven goals - not a bad effort considering scoring goals was our problem all season with only bottom club Dynamo Kyiv managing fewer. And despite that run of seven clean sheets in nine games in the second quarter of the season, only Ajax, Newcastle and Kyiv conceded more than us over the season.
Although we reached the semi-final of the Youth Shield (thanks to DP 91 for including the final results in his must-read whole of Top 100 season mega-review), we had hoped to do better in the Youth Cup itself with our best ever team. But it never really clicked, much like for the first team in the league.
We did win a few new player lotteries this season, and hope that one or two will develop into players we can use in the first team or for trade in the future. We also made a couple of changes with next season's Youth Cup in mind.
Work to do next season. We came close to bringing in a new keeper and striker (but were informed by the manager we thought we'd agreed a deal with that we had 'the wrong Tavares' to offer as part of the exchange).
In the end, we've decided to stick with what we have for the most part (unless anything changes, and we've been there before). Apologies to Glen at Napoli for sticking with the plan for so long and ultimately suffering disappointment.
Back in D3 where it all started for Marsden in Top 100 in S2, where we will be up against some higher rated but to date underachieving teams. No easy games or divisions in Top 100. Long may it continue!
Hamburger U21 Development Squad
Cristhian Cásseres Jr.
Another uncontested cash pick-up from an external club in Top 100.
Maxence Lacroix
Another one picked up for cash from an external club in Top 100, while still at Sochaux irl. Probably my best ever find.
Sead Haksabanovic
Another lad signed from an external club in Top 100.
Alessandro Plizzari
A rare internal deal - Lynaco and Mihailovic in exchange - and a good rated keeper for my Youth Cup team.
Ante Palaversa
Part of an internal deal that saw Lucas Alario, Tony Jantschke, and Moussa Djitte move to Hamburg in exchange for Stephan El Shaarawy.
I've got a few other 21 year olds - Bordeaux winger Mehdi Zerkane, new RB Salzburg keeper Nico Mantl, new Vancouver Whitecaps winger Deiber Caicedo, new NYRB CB Andres Reyes, and - newly recovered from an ACL injury - River Plate winger Benjamin Rollheiser, all acquired for cash from external clubs in Top 100. Not saying they're all world beaters, but some decent real life potential and playing time among them.
Hamburger U20 Development Squad
Abner Vinicius
14th most promising 2000-born player in the world... Signed in Top 100 from Ponte Preta (before he signed for Athletico irl), uncontested (iirc).
Alessandro Cortinovis
Another one I'm very hopeful about, from the Atalanta Academy. Great hair, too... Signed in Top 100 as a free agent, uncontested (iirc).
Odilon Kossounou
Big lad in defence, big future ahead of him... Signed in Top 100 as a free agent, uncontested (iirc), while he was still at Hammarby irl.
Richard Ledezma
Breakout season stopped by ACL injury irl. Signed in Top 100 from Lyon for cash when The Godfather was manager there (possibly as part of a larger deal, but I honestly don't remember).
Milutin Vidosavljevic
Looks a neat and tidy player, bought in Top 100 for cash (uncontested, iirc) after let go by Anderlecht, mainly for this season's Youth Cup.
Tomas Tavares
Youth right backs are hard to get hold of in Top 100, so I was happy to negotiate hard in for Tavares (along with Tanganga, Sibley and Zarzana) as part of my sale of Diogo Dalot to Levante last season.
Brenden Aaronson
Didn't have to think too hard, or too long, when accepting Adam's generous offer to swap goalkeepers with me in Top 100.
Hamburger U19 Development Squad
Mohamed Taabouni
Another AZ youth product, high hopes for him in the coming season... Signed in Top 100 from Dr Martinez when he was at Basel, in an exchange for Taras Stepanenko.
Moises Caicedo
Signed for Brighton U23s rather than Manchester United in the end, but still hopeful he has a bright future ahead of him... Signed in Top 100 for cash, uncontested.
Alejandro Gomez
On loan at struggling Boavista this season, but still very young and has time on his side... Signed in Top 100 for cash, uncontested.
Antonio Zarzana
This lad hasn't done much, yet, but seems to be highly rated at Sevilla... Signed (along with Tanganga, Tavares and Sibley, below) in Top 100 from Salvatore as part of an exchange deal for Diogo Dalot.
Louie Sibley
The youngster perhaps hasn't quite lived up to very high expectations in his second season, but he's English... Signed in in Top 100 as part of the Dalot deal with Zarzana, above.
