Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hamburger SV will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rayan Philippe and Hamburger SV agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Damion Downs was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadKlaus Horn is a better footballer than he was
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hamburger SV will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hamburger SV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.95 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Albert Sambi Lokonga signs something — a contract at Hamburger SV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hamburger SV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jahmai Simpson-Pusey provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hamburger SV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hamburger SV and Eintracht Frankfurt, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Samuele Inácio at his very best
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rayan Philippe and Hamburger SV agree another 2 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Werder Bremen the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Hamburger SV will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 9.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hamburger SV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Heidenheim kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Hamburger SV will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Marked 8.84. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hamburger SV.
Player ratings30 Nov 2037
Callum Olusesi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.57. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It needed Alexander Røssing-Lelesiit to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Heidenheim, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hamburger SV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hamburger SV know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Damion Downs was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Words at Hamburger SV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolai Remberg is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hamburger SV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hamburger SV can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hamburger SV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Samuele Inácio decided nobody was going anywhere. Werder Bremen had no time left to answer.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Hamburger SV support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hamburger SV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hamburger SV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hamburger SV they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Hamburger SV and Union Berlin, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
Player ratingsSamuele Inácio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Callum Olusesi at his very best
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. AEK kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Hamburger SV will be asked about the last half hour all week.
4‑5 away to the standard of AEK. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑1 away to the standard of Inter. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hamburger SV they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hamburger SV and Köln, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hamburger SV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Azem Yortaç has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Olivier Deman and Hamburger SV agree another 2 years.
1‑2 to VfB Stuttgart, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings9 Feb 2037
Malek El Mala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
St. Pauli will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Taichi Hara has pre-agreed a move to Hamburger SV, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
It needed Peter Arnold to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Borussia Mönchengladbach, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Damion Downs was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ikenna Festus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hamburger SV the goodbyes have quietly begun.
5‑1 against CSKA 1948, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Randers will want this one forgotten quickly: 7‑3, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hamburger SV were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
3 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Jannes Wieckhoff will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Hamburger SV escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samuele Inácio provided it, and the 9.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Hatayspor will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hamburger SV were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1‑2 away to the standard of Cukaricki. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Player ratings1 Dec 2036
A brace, and Malek El Mala takes the afternoon — 8.95
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Malek El Mala provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
25 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at Hamburger SV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Sambi Lokonga is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
MatchDamion Downs among the goals in a wild afternoon
3‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hamburger SV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hamburger SV will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
25 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Damion Downs was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hamburger SV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hamburger SV will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.62 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamburger SV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑3 to Bayer Leverkusen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings20 Oct 2036
Samuele Inácio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.49. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The goal that put Bayer Leverkusen ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Hamburger SV equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.