Hamburg SV

From the top three to the bottom three, that was the dismal story in Hamburg in the first half of the season. The team is the Bundesliga's biggest disappointment, and after spending the winter in 17th place, they still have loads of work to do to avoid relegation humiliation.

The team has made a couple of major personel changes, firstly signing keeper Frank Rost away from Schalke to take over from the unsatisfactory duo of Stefan Wächter and Sascha Kirschstein. Secondly, they shipped luckless striker Benny Lauth to Stuttgart and brought in Ivica Olic from ZSKA Moscow.

Otherwise Hamburg are sticking with the players they have and their popular coach, Thomas Doll. Hamburg achieved mixed results in their January friendlies, and expect an emergency shake-up, if they fail to get out of the blocks early in 2007.

Most observers think Hamburg have the quality to stay up, but until they start picking up some wins, the team is facing the most serious crisis in its Bundesliga history.

The Roster

Goal: Frank Rost, Stefan Wächter, Sascha Kirschstein

Defense: Thimothée Atouba, Bastian Reinhardt, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Vincent Kompany, René Klingbeil, Guy Demel, Joris Mathijsen

Midfield: Collin Benjami, Nigel de Jong, Raphael Wicky, Markus Karl, Mario Fillinger, David Jarolim, Piotr Trochowski, Oliver Hampel, Rafael van der Vaart, Alexander Laas, Benny Feilhaber, Oliver Hampel

Strikers: Paolo Guerrero, Ivica Olic, Daniel Ljuboja, Boubacar Sanogo, Besart Berisha

(as of January 2007)