Our next opponents: TSG in a tight spot

Position

Hoffenheim have not won any of their last seven Bundesliga matches. Qualification for European competition for the fourth time in succession appears remote with two games to play. TSG are six points behind FC Köln in sixth place and five behind Union Berlin in seventh. Nevertheless there is still hope for TSG. "It's still possible mathematically and we’ll give our all right to the end," said a defiant Sebastian Rudy.

The 32-year-old Hoffenheim record appearance holder (271 league games) suffered his 100th defeat in a TSG shirt last weekend. The holding midfielder scored a goal in the spectacular 4-3 defeat against SC Freiburg. The match symbolises the current frustrating end of the season for Hoffenheim. They looked uncertain despite being 2-1 up in front of their own crowd and the leveller at 2-2 soon followed. "Of course, we conceded the equaliser much too quickly and that was the turning point in the game," was the analysis of David Raum. "We made too many simple errors that get punished straightaway at the top level."

After an impressive first half of the season for TSG, where they were level on points in fifth place with Bayer 04 in fourth, this year has seen them lose ground and that is in part due to the many absences through injury and coronavirus. Despite that, Hoffenheim have played some outstanding football at times after the winter break. Between the middle of February and the start of March, the team under head coach Sebastian Hoeneß clocked up four wins in succession and moved up to fourth place. But then they lost their rhythm. David Raum: "We were rarely able to get into the game and couldn't really get going. Now everything seems to be going against us."

Personnel

The TSG coach Sebastian Hoeneß is trying everything in the run-in to reverse the negative trend. He made his goal-getter Andrej Kramaric captain against Freiburg. "It was about providing a boost to stimulate and change things with Andrej taking responsibility and leadership," said Hoeneß in explaining his move. Of course, that was agreed with Oliver Baumann the deputy of the injured captain Benjamin Hübner. And the coach was proved correct in retrospect. Kramaric, who scored 20 goals last season, finally scored again after ten weeks for his fifth goal of the season. He also provided an assist.

In terms of defence, Hoeneß will again be able to call on Stefan Posch after his suspension against Freiburg. But the list of absentees remains long. In addition to Hübner, injury also rules out Chris Richards, Ermin Bicakcic, Dennis Geiger, Marco John, Fisnik Asllani and Havard Nordtveit. Hoeneß did not say whether the recently injured Florian Grillitsch would be available.

It is possible that Posch would play against the Werkself in a back three alongside Kevin Vogt and Kevin Akpoguma. Germany international David Raum, enjoying an outstanding first season in the Bundesliga, will play on the left flank for Hoffenheim. "David's development is breathtaking," said TSG general manager Alexander Rosen about the 24-year-old international. Raum again stood out against Freiburg as a provider with assists number 12 and 13 to set a new club record that was previously held by Kevin Volland with 12 assists. If Hoeneß again opts for a 4-3-3 formation then Kramaric would probably play up front alongside Munas Dabbur and Ihlas Bebou. Young star Georginio Rutter (20) is an alternative here. Bebou and Rutter are the most prolific TSG goalscorers with seven each. The latter is the only one in the squad to have played all 32 Bundesliga games to date this term.

Performers

The Hoffenheim attack is their greatest strength. TSG have scored 55 goals so far and that puts them sixth in the Bundesliga rankings. The fact they haven't scored more is also due to bad luck in front of goal – the Hoeneß team have hit the woodwork 16 times (the second highest number in the league). In addition, Andrej Kramaric has only netted a quarter of the goals he scored last season. But the Croatian World Cup runner-up has already provided nine assists. Hoffenheim are in the top third in terms of clear-cut chances and converting goalscoring opportunities. These chances mainly arise from the wings where David Raum and Pavel Kaderabek feed their teammates with crosses. You should never write off TSG as a look at the following statistic demonstrates: Hoffenheim have picked up 22 points after being behind which is by far the best return in the league. Hoffenheim came back from a two-goal deficit at the BayArena to earn a 2-2 draw. And it's no wonder that the team has the most goals (19) in the final 15 minutes.

Problems

While Hoffenheim are strong on the flanks and put so many crosses into the opposition box: They lack a specialist header up front to make more of those opportunities. And TSG have conceded too many goals this season (51). That could also be due to the fact that the defence is often weakened by numerous one-match bans. 72 yellow cards and 10 one-match bans is by far the most in the Bundesliga. "We've discussed it because it's not doing us any good," said Hoeneß.

PREDICTION

A lot has to go right for TSG to be able to book a ticket for Europe. They lost the six-pointer against SC Freiburg last weekend. Now they have to get two victories in the last two games. The challenge on Saturday should be difficult enough as the Werkself could seal qualification for the Champions League with a win in Sinsheim. But even maximum points for Hoffenheim requires FC Köln and Union Berlin to slip up. So it appears most probable that TSG Hoffenheim will not play in Europe next term.

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