Hamburg SV Dominate First Half But Fail To Score

It’s been all Hamburg SV in the first half at the Imtech Arena, but the home side have been short of some quality in their final passes and in front of goal, so the opening match to Matchday 19 is scoreless at the interval. Jonathan Pitroipa has been pulling the strings for Hamburg, who played the first half at a very high tempo based on winning the ball back early and quick transitions from defence to attack. Eintracht Frankfurt have conjured up just a pair of half-chances on the break; one shot from Martin Fenin on the left side of the penalty area that was saved by Frank Rost, and another by Fenin from a more central position that was blocked near the edge of the box.

HSV have been spreading the play very well in their 4-4-2 with Zé Roberto and Dennis Aogo making overlapping runs on the left and Guy Demel doing the same on the right. Ruud van Nistelrooy and Änis Ben-Hatira have been close to opportunities on goal several times, but the killer pass from Hamburg has been lacking. Both sides made substitutions because of injuries in the first half; Caio replaced Meier for Frankfurt, and Tomás Rincon came on for Gojko Kacar.