5 Talking Points from Matchweek 13 of the Bundesliga

#4 Hamburg turn up, Hoffenheim don’t

Fans of Die Rothosen (The Red Shorts) were in full voice and cheered their team to victory

Julian Nagelsmann and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim really needed a win to lift spirits within the club following their Europa League exit on Thursday, but coming up against a fighting Hamburg side was never going to be easy.

An own goal from Kevin Akpoguma after great inter-changing play between Filip Kostic and Douglas Santos down the left promised for an exciting game but for the neutral, it wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing.

However coming into this fixture, Markus Gisdol and Hamburg wouldn’t give too much care for their performance, just as long as they got the three points, which Kostic made sure of with 15 minutes remaining before Gideon Jung got his first Bundesliga goal to make it three.

Even the introduction of Adam Szalai and Andrej Kramaric - meaning Hoffenheim had four strikers on the pitch - couldn’t help Nagelsmann avoid his third defeat of the season.

While that may not seem too bad, it’s the fact they’ve won just one Bundesliga game in seven attempts and with RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund still to play before the winter break, we may well see them mid-table as they enter 2018.

That win for Hamburg means they move out of the relegation play-off, swapping places with Freiburg whom they travel to next weekend.