Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.10 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Ozan Kabak falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
The phone has started ringing about Stefan Peters again, and this time the name on the line is Union Berlin. TSG Hoffenheim are listening politely and promising nothing.
33 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 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. 7.82 at 38, 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 TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Max Moerstedt 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.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
15 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ralf Maier has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dominik Jung has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Tim Lemperle 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what TSG Hoffenheim can pretend not to have heard.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Aug 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ozan Kabak 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadMatthias Wolf is a better footballer than he was
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Stefan Peters again, and this time the name on the line is Union Berlin. TSG Hoffenheim are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Wouter Burger 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
396 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at TSG Hoffenheim heard it as anything else.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bazoumana Touré signs something — a contract at TSG Hoffenheim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Luka Đurić’s negotiating for him
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Luka Đurić 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
Squad19 Jul 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
A month of football, a final, and a flight back with 126 caps and a medal he will never take out of a drawer. He is due at training in a fortnight and nobody at TSG Hoffenheim will mention it, which is its own kind of mentioning it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Tim Lemperle 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.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ozan Kabak 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at TSG Hoffenheim hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Tim Lemperle 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.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ozan Kabak 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Hamburger SV moved on, Gabriel Martin reports back to TSG Hoffenheim, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at TSG Hoffenheim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. TSG Hoffenheim know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Elijah Scott is living that version at TSG Hoffenheim, and it tends to show in the first month.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at TSG Hoffenheim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2038
Ozan Kabak falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Philipp Sonn has agreed terms with St. Pauli for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Philipp Sonn will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 May 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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
SquadOzan Kabak has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Tim Lemperle 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
SquadWords at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
410 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim 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. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. TSG Hoffenheim know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim 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. 9.23 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ralf Fuchs will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 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. 8.63 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
In brief
Player ratingsLennart Karl was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Florian Micheler decided nobody was going anywhere. Werder Bremen had no time left to answer.
A 2‑1 win over Werder Bremen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
8.91. 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ozan Kabak signs something — a contract at TSG Hoffenheim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
9 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings22 Mar 2038
Gregor Thomas could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.23
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.23, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
11 goals and a season average of 7.52. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad22 Mar 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
7 goals in one match, Hayden Hackney on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of TSG Hoffenheim and VfL Wolfsburg.
Player ratings22 Mar 2038
Bazoumana Touré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.78. 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 words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.47 — 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.
15 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.
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.87 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tim Lemperle and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim 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 TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
12 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.68 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ozan Kabak 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.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about TSG Hoffenheim and Borussia Dortmund in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The words a physio says slowly. 121 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 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad22 Feb 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adam Hložek. 2‑1 against Eintracht Frankfurt, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. TSG Hoffenheim know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Lennart Karl
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ozan Kabak 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. Ralf Fuchs will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Feb 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bazoumana Touré 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between TSG Hoffenheim and Köln, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It finished 4‑2, and it was Patrick Wimmer’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to TSG Hoffenheim.
Player ratings15 Feb 2038
Lennart Karl was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.71. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Fabio Baldé 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.
Squad8 Feb 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
Bazoumana Touré had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and VfB Stuttgart were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bazoumana Touré provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabriel Martin did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
5 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shots: 13. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Afonso Ferreirinha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Afonso Ferreirinha 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.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at TSG Hoffenheim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
1‑4 to RB Leipzig, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what TSG Hoffenheim can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Ozan Kabak 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; TSG Hoffenheim are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
13 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.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.73 — 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
10 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bazoumana Touré provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim 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 TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Lennart Karl scored in the 85th minute, St. Pauli had already begun thinking about the journey home, and TSG Hoffenheim took the lot.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.60 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
343 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8‑4, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings30 Nov 2037
A brace, and Lennart Karl takes the afternoon — 10.00
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lennart Karl provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.77 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
Eintracht Frankfurt are out and TSG Hoffenheim go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 8.30 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.72 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ozan Kabak 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. Helmut Hahn will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Nov 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bazoumana Touré 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings23 Nov 2037
Jeremy Arévalo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.86. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Gabriel Martin has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Patrick Wimmer
33 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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.43 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ralf Fuchs will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
Marked 9.31 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.23 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.” Daniil Khudyakov and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 2 years.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Patrick Wimmer. 2‑1 against Heidenheim, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
10 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
428 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 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 TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniil Khudyakov and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 2 years.
Two goals and a mark of 9.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.58 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether TSG Hoffenheim can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.58 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 TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lennart Karl signs something — a contract at TSG Hoffenheim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
12 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
270 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.59 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at TSG Hoffenheim hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
13 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with FC Augsburg the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that TSG Hoffenheim will enjoy reviewing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.89 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ozan Kabak 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Werder Bremen for Ralf Fuchs was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lennart Karl signs something — a contract at TSG Hoffenheim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Adam Hložek could not do
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.85 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Union Berlin for Stefan Peters was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Patrick Wimmer had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Borussia Mönchengladbach were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.49 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 TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Helmut Hahn will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
The offer from Hamburger SV for Vincent Müller was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Mainz 05 moved on, Gregor Lehmann reports back to TSG Hoffenheim, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Boardroom9 academy players handed senior numbers at TSG Hoffenheim
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim 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 TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ozan Kabak 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. Gabriel Martin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Deniz Zeitler and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 3 years.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
107 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Helmut Hahn will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Aug 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Mainz 05 will make the call about Gregor Lehmann this week. TSG Hoffenheim have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuele Carlaccini and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 3 years.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim 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 TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at TSG Hoffenheim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Avdullahu 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.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Hamburger SV for Gabriel Martin was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefan Peters and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 5 years.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at TSG Hoffenheim hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Jul 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Robert Busch damages knee ligaments — 128 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
Ozan Kabak 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. Vincent Müller will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Union Berlin for Stefan Peters was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Robert Busch damages knee ligaments — 137 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 137 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what TSG Hoffenheim can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Max Moerstedt 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Tim Lemperle 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.
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.
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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Bayern Munich for Bazoumana Touré was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The name of Helmut Hahn has come up in conversations TSG Hoffenheim were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
406 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Ozan Kabak 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. TSG Hoffenheim know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 May 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
Ozan Kabak 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.
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.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 May 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim 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 TSG Hoffenheim 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 TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
SquadWords at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
SquadOzan Kabak has become a man the manager trusts
Boardroom89% of the income goes out in wages at TSG Hoffenheim
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim 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 TSG Hoffenheim 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.
There were 14 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Richard Horn damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Albian Hajdari 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about TSG Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 Apr 2037
Richard Horn damages knee ligaments — 113 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 113 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” TSG Hoffenheim have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fisnik Asllani provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between TSG Hoffenheim and Mainz 05, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Adam Hložek 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. Yannick Eduardo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. St. Pauli spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Bazoumana Touré had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Werder Bremen were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.73 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 TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wouter Burger signs something — a contract at TSG Hoffenheim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” TSG Hoffenheim have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Yannick Eduardo 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.
Marked 9.21 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1‑4 to Union Berlin, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fisnik Asllani and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 2 years.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felix Uduokhai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at TSG Hoffenheim.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Bazoumana Touré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between TSG Hoffenheim and Heidenheim, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
51 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.85 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ozan Kabak 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.
A 2‑0 win over Borussia Dortmund, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Adam Hložek 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Patrick Wimmer and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 2 years.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Adam Hložek 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.
Squad9 Feb 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.74 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Patrick Wimmer and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 2 years.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yannick Eduardo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Adam Hložek had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Hamburger SV were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings26 Jan 2037
A brace, and Adam Hložek takes the afternoon — 8.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adam Hložek provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.74 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad26 Jan 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.75 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. David Lelle is living that version at TSG Hoffenheim, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
VfB Stuttgart held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. TSG Hoffenheim answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim 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 TSG Hoffenheim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Felix Uduokhai 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.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Avdullahu 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.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. TSG Hoffenheim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bayer Leverkusen will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. TSG Hoffenheim were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
359 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.38 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Helmut Hahn will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1‑4 against RB Leipzig, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad29 Dec 2036
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Ozan Kabak 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.
Squad22 Dec 2036
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bazoumana Touré 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; TSG Hoffenheim are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ozan Kabak signs something — a contract at TSG Hoffenheim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
27 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
22 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.
Mainz 05 will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. TSG Hoffenheim were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Helmut Hahn will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around TSG Hoffenheim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.88 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Lennart Karl at his very best
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Lennart Karl decided nobody was going anywhere. St. Pauli had no time left to answer.
349 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at TSG Hoffenheim heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1‑3 against Eintracht Frankfurt, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.75 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shots: 17. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
It needed Patrick Wimmer to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Werder Bremen, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 38 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Adam Hložek 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fisnik Asllani provided it, and the 8.24 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. 8.84 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ozan Kabak 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Nov 2036
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bazoumana Touré 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about TSG Hoffenheim and Union Berlin in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsLennart Karl was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason TSG Hoffenheim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 9.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.81 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ozan Kabak and TSG Hoffenheim agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Nov 2036
Words at TSG Hoffenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Wimmer 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.
Max Moerstedt 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.
6 goals in one match, Leon Avdullahu on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of TSG Hoffenheim and Heidenheim.
17 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 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. 8.71 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
13 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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Max Moerstedt could not do
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 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. 8.50 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at TSG Hoffenheim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at TSG Hoffenheim 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 8.38 — 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.