TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
1 Comment
Hoffenheim winger, Chinedu Obasi will complete a loan move to Schalke after the clubs agreed a €5m fee to make the move permanent. His contract at Hoffenheim ends in 2014. Schalke had expressed their interest in signing the Nigerian as a replacement for Jefferson Farfan, whose contract runs out at the end the season.
He joined the club in 2007 from Norwegian side, FK Lyn. He played a big part in Hoffenheim’s single season in the 2. Bundesliga and immediately made an impact in the Bundesliga scoring 6 goals and bagging 4 assists as Hoffenheim finished the season in 7th. This season however, Obasi has failed to find the net in the league. His solitary goal this season came in the DFB Pokal win against FC Köln.
Obasi expressed his gratitude towards Hoffenheim saying, “I love Hoffenheim, because they have helped me as a footballer. But somehow I think that it is time to move on. ” The relationship between Obasi and manager, Holger Stanislawski seemed to have deteriorated during the first half of the season and could have played a small part in Obasi’s departure from the club.
We wish Obasi the best of luck at Schalke.
2 Comments
Hoffenheim have been drawn in a home match against against 2. Bundesliga side SpVgg Greuther Fürth. The quarter final match will take place at the Rhein-Neckar Arena on February 7 or 8, 2012. The dates of the fixtures are yet to be confirmed by the DFB. Elsewhere, Holstein Kiel will face Dortmund, Stuttgart will host Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin and Borussia Mönchengladbach will face off in probably the most even fixture of the quarter finals.
Greuther Fürth beat their fierce rivals, Nürnberg to get to this stage of the competition. After hovering around the top of the table for the best part of a decade, Fürth are now lying in second place in the 2. Bundesliga. On their current form they could push for their first promotion to the Bundesliga. Fürth are the best defensive side in the 2. Bundesliga so far this season, only conceding 14 goals and strike pairing Olivier Occean and Christopher Nöthe have a combined 20 goals between them. They aren’t a team to be taken lightly and could easily cause an upset. The match falls after a home game against Augsburg and so we should be able to send out a full strength squad against the 2. Bundesliga side.
EDIT: The dates have been confirmed and Hoffenheim will host Fürth on February 8th, 2012.
1 Comment
After the disappointment against Hertha Berlin on the weekend, it was important for the team to go into the winter break on a high. A Pokal tie with Bundesliga newboys Augsburg was a great chance to do that. In the end, it was a match day which gave us little surprises. Bayern and Dortmund did their best to lose but somehow managed to squeeze past their lower league opposition, while Nürnberg lost to arch rivals Fürth and decided to attacked their fans. Typical stuff. And it was a fairly typical game from Hoffenheim too.
Add Comments
Hopefully yesterday’s post shed some light on Leverkusen and how their season has been. On the Hoffenheim front however everything seems to be in chaos. With everything that has gone on this week it could cause quite a problem against a team we are still looking to get our first win against. Hoffenheim are still looking for their first win in four games while Leverkusen are on a four game unbeaten run. So it is tough to remain optimistic ahead of this match.
Add Comments
I’d like to thank the brilliant Vampy who agreed to write this in depth look on our opponents for Friday. Enjoy!
Match Preview from Bayer Leverkusen Perspective
Resurging Bayer Leverkusen will welcome Big Stan’s Hoffenheim — who are win-less since their 1-0 victory against ‘Gladbach on 22nd of October — this Friday to kick-off match day 15 of Bundesliga season. Both teams look set to end the first half of the season as higher in the league-table as possible in terms of their respective expectations so that the start of second-half of the season can be less-panic and less catch-up football, and all.
Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment
Freiburg have been one of the poorest teams this season and have been uninspiring even at the best of times. In fact our game plan could simply consist of two words, ‘Stop Cisse’. They rely on the Senegalese striker far too much and his 8 goals so far this season have kept Freiburg from falling into complete turmoil. Stopping them offensively should be fairly straightforward as a result. That being said, we may have taken Kaiserslautern’s weak offence for granted and we all know how that one ended. In the last meeting, under Robin Dutt, high flying Freiburg were tough to beat, especially the way Hoffenheim played in the second round. However, this time at home and new manager Marcus Sorg’s tactical changes not working out, this is a great chance to find some form once again. Read the rest of this entry »
Add Comments
With decision day on Kevin Volland’s future closing in there are quite a few things to consider. Volland had agreed to join Hoffenheim in the summer of 2010. The club allowed him to stay on at his current employers 1860 Munich for two more seasons with the hope that he would develop a lot more with regular first team football rather than struggling to break through the Hoffenheim squad as a teenager. Hoffenheim ended up adding a clause allowing them to cut short the deal and bring Volland in before the winter break in 2011.
Add Comments
What we saw on Saturday was simply not good enough. A poor performance against a team we really should have been at least dominating, even if the score was going to be low. But instead we were probably lucky to come out of that with the draw. Still, defensively the team was quite solid and it took a truly amazing goal to finally beat Starke. It was also great to have Salihovic back and it might take him a while to get back into the groove of things after facing a few months on the sidelines. He replaced Roberto Firmino for this match and frankly the young Brazilian needs a rest, he’s been very active this season. Especially after Salihovic’s injury, the team relied on him to produce something from midfield. So this does take the pressure off a bit and allow him to develop without the spotlight on him all the time.
Add Comments
Kaiserslautern are very much a team on the up. After a poor start to the season they have managed to pick up their form in the last few games even if they have been scrappy affairs. Last week’s away outing for them ended in a draw after a very defensive performance by the Red Devils. Looking at this match it is very possible that Lautern will employ the same tactics.
Against HSV, Kaiserslautern threw most of their men back in defence and proved to be quite difficult to break down. They don’t heavily rely on attack and stating it like that might just be a bit of kindness on my part. It’s clear to see that it’s a major area they struggle in. They are only saved the embarrassment of being the worst team in front of goal by newly promoted Augsburg. While they might not win any goal scoring competitions, Kurz’ men lead the charts for indiscipline. A place not too unfamiliar for the Hoffenheim fan so we can expect yet another physical match at home. With the match against Gladbach showing the steel that this team has, there’s definitely going to need to be the same level of fight to beat Lautern. Read the rest of this entry »
Home 
