Joe Gyau has now embarked on what every professional football does early in their career. After debuting for the first team last season and having a good preseason, the 19 year old has joined 2. Bundesliga team St. Pauli on a season-long loan.

“For Joseph this is the right time to move. He must earn playing time in order to further develop,” Babbel said regarding the loan.

The hope is that at St. Pauli, he will get more playing time and a chance to grow as a player with St. Pauli pushing for a promotion spot to try and return to the Bundesliga.

Gyau had been training with the club earlier this week, clearly impressing the staff.

The Hamburg club’s sporting director said, “We have closely watched Joseph-Claude Gyau at this week’s training, but we had a clear picture of him even before that. He has tremendous potential, and is fast and strong runner. Despite his young age, he has a very good understanding of the game.”

St. Pauli play Sandhausen on Saturday and hopefully the American will feature.

It was a disappointing way to open up the season. Coming away from Borussia-Park with the win was always going to be a tough ask and it looked at one stage like we’d get away with at least one point. After Firmino’s equaliser in the 66th minute, the team seemed a lot more comfortable in possession and could’ve held on or maybe even pushed on for the winner. Instead the defence started to get clumsy, as we’re so used to, and allowed Juan Arango to get himself a freekick in an area we know he’s so dangerous in. Still, it’s just the first match of the season and there’s enough time to work on the way we approach games.

A few match notes:

• Volland started in almost an AM position which seemed like a strange decision given Derdiyok is the quicker and more mobile of the two and could drop deep and link up with the midfield better. Both players had a little impact in their roles but it would be best if the two were swapped.
• The 4-4-2 should be allowing more outlets in attack. It didn’t work in this match due to Gladbach’s aggressive closing down but under normal circumstances it should provide the team with more chances. The formation also means that the wingers play deeper and are able to track back more often. This way the fullbacks are able to drop into the middle and the wingers assume their roles on the flanks, creating a very compact and difficult to break down defence. On the flip side, the wingers can drop into the middle when attacking, allowing the fullbacks to overlap and create more width. We saw this at work on a few occasions but again, it’s something that will take some time to get used to.
• Weis was completely invisible the entire game. He’s a bit more direct than we needed during this match. Once Gladbach’s defence was set they proved near impossible to get through and we were restricted to hopeful long range efforts.
• There were some encouraging performances by Boris Vukcevic and Takashi Usami. Vukcevic was involved in almost everything throughout the day and showed how much he was missed early on last season. He didn’t have the best comeback from his injury but now with a full preseason under his belt he should be able to get back to his old form. Usami put in a decent performance coming off the bench. He showed great pace and was taking on defenders with great confidence for a 20 year old.

Ok not everyone. Fans who were present at Hoffenheim’s embarrassing 4-0 loss to Berliner AK in the Pokal will be compensated for the club’s poor performance.

“The people who were there in Berlin will get reimbursed with an away trip bus tickets and a couple of cases of beer by the team,” said Tim Wiese regarding the situation. Unfortunately, the kind of beer involved is still undisclosed.

Despite missing several players to injury and international duty it was expected to be an easy cup tie turned into a terrible performance. With this completely new squad there is a small grace period allowed however. As the first competitive fixture of the season, and with a very short preseason, it’s understandable that the players are still struggling to gel and this form could easily follow the team into the start of the season.

Of course, it’s a good gesture from the club to acknowledge the poor performance and reimburse fans.

Hoffenheim play Gladbach in the opening match of the season on Saturday, 25 August, 2012.

Tim of the Meadows a.k.a Tim Wiese has been given the captain’s armband by Markus Babbel. It’s been a while since Andi Beck stepped down from the role and quite a few players were touted to pick it up, including another new signing Matthieu Delpierre. Delpierre had become Stuttgart captain under Markus Babbel so it seemed that he may have repeated the appointment. The goalkeeper was finally given the nod and with his experience he could bring a lot to the role.

Regarding the decision, Babbel said, “I’ve always said that I would make a seasoned player captain. A professional who has the experience and charisma to take over this important role. To me it was important that the person will be a regular. All this is true for Tim Wiese. ”

Wiese was pleased with his new responsibilities, saying, “This additional responsibility is not a problem for me. I am honoured by the coach’s confidence and I will do everything I can as captain to help this team to success. I would do the same even without the armband.”

Wiese will feature in his first match as captain on Saturday when Hoffenheim meet SV 07 Elversberg in a pre-season friendly. Time to ease up on the karate kicks.

Hoffenheim have announced the signing of Real Madrid striker, Joselu for an undisclosed fee, although that number is said to be around €6m with the possibility of a buy-back clause. Markus Babbel had been after Joselu for only a short time before sealing the deal. There were initial issues over the fee with Hoffenheim refusing to pay an extortionate amount but it was sorted out quickly and the Stuttgart-born player was unveiled earlier this morning.

Babbel seemed enthusiastic about the signing, saying, “Joselu has already shown his class at Real Madrid. He’s also young and has a great deal of potential. He fits in well at Hoffenheim and with this team.”

“For me it’s a great opportunity to play in one of the best leagues in the world. And with a team that has a great perspective and have many good players,” Joselu added.

It’s difficult to judge how good a player he could be since he spent a majority of his time with Castilla. Joselu has only made one appearance for Real Madrid’s senior team but bagged a debut goal.

The striker has already begun training with the team and hopes to take a step towards playing for Germany.

Not to mention, matches were (and still are) difficult to watch without the Bundesliga really being televised in Canada. Decent streams don’t come around very often either and it all got very frustrating.

It will definitely take some time to catch up on everything I’ve missed in the last few months. And, it also might be tough to keep up the same level of Hoffenheim coverage, primarily the Scouting Reports, as I managed through 2011 due to other commitments but here’s hoping Round 2 is successful!

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.

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.

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.

The match in its entirety was quite uneventful but there were moments that worried and moments that gave hope. Hoffenheim’s main issue is that we play a strong first half and then fail to build on that in the second half. So when the master himself, Sejad Salihovic, smacked in that brilliant freekick, the hope was that we would push on with it and finish Augsburg off. The chances did come, but they were terribly wasted as usual. Instead, the expected Augsburg goal followed and it was very lax defending to allow Torsten Oehrl to sneak in and finish the rebound. In a way the goal coming before the half was a good thing. That allowed Stanislawski to adjust and it looked to have paid off.

It didn’t take long for Salihovic to strike again. Instead of scoring from the freekick however, he provided a perfect near post ball for his compatriot, Ibisevic to squeeze in. The team was able to push on well from that but unfortunately no chances were put away.  We also saw Babel pick up a knock after a clash with Callsen-Bracker and he had to be replaced by a rejuvinated Boris Vuckevic. Hopefully the injury wasn’t anything severe and he was just taken off so as not to aggravate the knock.

The most interesting move of the half was actually a tactical one by Stanislawski. He took Peniel Mlapa off and brought on a much more defensive minded Daniel Williams. It ended up giving Hoffenheim much more solidarity when the eventual Augsburg assault began in the last five or so minutes. It was a very important win that ensures a spot in the quarter finals of the Pokal, where Hoffenheim lost to Energie Cottbus last season.

And as Andy Black said in the post match conference, “In the Cup, it’s all or nothing.” With just a handful of teams remaining, it is our one realistic chance of winning a trophy. Hopefully, the team takes the competition more seriously than it has in the past and pushes towards a much better result in this years tournament.

It is a difficult ask though, especially since we could most likely have Isaac Vorsah out until March. He picked up a three match ban after being sent off against Hertha, which is a curious decision in itself considering professional fouls only warrant a one match ban. He will also be leaving for the African Cup of Nations soon and if Ghana do get far in the tournament he won’t be back until at least late January or early February.  With Compper also out injured you never know if he could face a set back on his return and leave us in a very sticky situation. Even with Dietmar Hopp’s chequebook firmly shut we could still bring in a player on loan. Much like with David Alaba last season, having a fresh young defender could provide great cover should we find ourselves in the worst case scenario.

Either way, as difficult as the last few months have been, we can look forward to 2012 with a lot of optimism. Sometimes we forget that this is the youngest team in the league and they need time to gain the mindset of some of their veteran teammates. The fickleness of fans does shock me though. While the team has given up easy points we aren’t in any sort of real danger. All this can be corrected by a strong Rückrunde.

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.

The problems started after the very frustrating draw against Freiburg when Tom Stark criticized Ryan Babel. Even though he claimed it was a morale boosting act it could have gone horribly wrong but luckily Babel took it on the chin. The criticism itself was a bit harsh. The team has struggled as a unit and pointing fingers isn’t going to help change that. Add to that the fact that along with Firmino, Babel has been one of the few who have consistently performed well in the last few games and so the comments really were unwarranted. Initially, manager Ernst Tanner had agreed with Starke about Babel’s form and confidence but then Starke was eventually fined for his comments and rightfully so.

Then Stanislawski announced that he would be dropping both Obasi and Firmino from the squad because both players were late for training. While it’s good to have a decent level of discipline, the team often overdoes it. Last season we were on the verge of losing Salihovic because of the fallout from a training ground bust up. There were several incidents before that as well that involved important players and sometimes it really seems like the players are being treated like children, being given timeouts in the form of individual training sessions away from the rest of the team.

So when a player like Firmino, who is an all important game changer, gets suspended on what is presumably his first offence, you have to question the management’s thinking. At a time when the team is struggling, it just comes off as a foolish move. Now we’re going to most probably see Salihovic in the attacking midfield role. A role which requires a lot of mobility that Salihovic lacks. The tactic revolves around players like Firmino and Obasi who are very mobile and more importantly interchangeable, another quality that the attacking replacements lack, throwing a spanner in the works. There is always the possibility that Sigurdsson will be given the call ahead of Tobias Weis, meaning that we will actually have a proper attacking midfielder, allowing Salihovic to sit back and play his game the way he does it. Sigurdsson has struggled with form for a while and could be the main reason for him not being picked and if last season’s top scorer does get picked for this match he needs to prove himself and force his way back into the team. When Sigurdsson and Firmino played as a duo, we saw Hoffenheim play some of their best football, the only thing that was lacking was that of a finisher. That problem has continued even with Ibisevic back in the team so there’s really not much you can say about how we can improve that situation.

We’ll continue to play our 4-2-3-1 with either Weis and Sigurdsson coming in for Firmino and Musona most likely replacing Obasi, although Boris Vukcevic, who has finally made his way back into the first team since his injury last season, could make the start. However the team lines up this looks like a very difficult clash and you couldn’t blame a person for being pessimistic. Still, Leverkusen’s home record isn’t the best and for a team long overdue for a win, this could just be the chance to end that streak.