The biggest game of the 2. Bundesliga this season took place in a stack of top matches on Sunday afternoon, with Hamburger SV host Arminia Bielefeld at a sadly empty Volksparkstadion. The race for promotion is heating up in the closing stages with Bielefeld holding a seven-point advantage over Hamburg. The two sides enter coming off draws to Greuther Fürth and Osnabrück respectively, both conceding goals in stoppage time.
This tactical analysis, we will assess the tactics used by Hamburg and Bielefeld. How Hamburg was able to create multiple high-quality goal-scoring opportunities, and also take a look at the Bielefeld defence which wasnt particularly convincing.
Lineups
Dieter Hecking made several changes from the side that drew at Greuther Fürth last Sunday. Rick van Drongelen returns to the heart of the defence with Jordan Beyer making way. Sonny Kittel played a half in Fürth; he would return to the starting 11 in a straight swap for Bakary Jatta. The final change saw striker Martin Harnik play in an attacking winger role as Jairo Samperio misses out.
Uwe Neuhaus through a couple of surprise changes which may have caused a curveball in Hamburgs preparation. With Cedric Brunner out due to a yellow card suspension, who would start at right-back? Tom Schütz and Jonathan Clauss seemed the likely options. Yet, Neuhaus opted for former Bayern Munich junior Patrick Weihrauch; this is his first appearance of the season. The before mentioned Clauss was dropped to the bench in favour of Cebio Soukou whilst Nils Seufert was switched for Fabian Kunze.
