SV Hamburg at the crossroads (News Feature)

By John Bagratuni Mar 24, 2010, 11:13 GMT

Hamburg - Complaints from Eljero Elia and an alleged dressing room scuffle involving Ruud van Nistelrooy and Tunay Torun indicate that things are not going well for SV Hamburg right now.

Instead of gunning for a place in the lucrative Champions League, especially after the sensational January hiring of the Dutch marksman van Nistelrooy, Hamburg have slipped to sixth place in the Bundesliga and may not be in Europe at all next season.

'Every game is like a final for us,' warned Hamburg's Germany midfielder Piotr Trochowski in the wake of just two wins in nine league matches.

The Bild daily spoke of 'danger of explosion' on Wednesday amid growing frustration.

Bild suggested that stars were dissatisfied with the training of coach Bruno Labbadia and mentioned Germany coach Joachim Loew as a possible successor.

But Bild also quoted club president Bernd Hoffmann as saying that 'a debate on the coach is unnecessary.' Labbadia came to Hamburg in summer from Bayer Leverkusen, where he slumped from first to ninth in the second half of the past season.

Hoffmann conceded that 'we have dropped too many points over the past six months. That puts us under a lot of pressure in the Bundesliga.

'But we should be able to achieve our minimal goal of qualifying for the Europa League,' said Hoffmann.

If not, van Nistelrooy will unlikely stay. Ze Roberto is said to have a lucrative offer (via former Hamburg sports director Dietmar Beiersdorfer) for a move to the US, Jerome Boateng's future is also uncertain and possibly Elia's as well.

Elia lost his form due to ankle problems which finally led to an operation last week. He told Tuesday's edition of the Hamburger Abendblatt that Hamburg delayed surgery by several weeks and have not been in touch with him since the operation.

'I wanted to be treated in the Netherlands in winter but those responsible in Hamburg didn't want that. If they had allowed it I would be fit again ... No one has been in touch with me since the operation. That makes me sad,' he said.

The only good news for Hamburg right now is that they still have the chance to play the Europa League final in their home stadium on May 12. They are in the quarter-finals, against Belgium's Standard Liege.