2. Bundesliga Report – Hannover 3-0 Dresden: Kauczinski’s task gets even tougher after another defeat

Hannover 96 inflicted more damage on struggling Dynamo Dresden with a comfortable 3-0 win on Wednesday evening.

All three goals came in the first half, with Marvin Ducksch, John Guidetti and Edgar Prib all scoring.

Dresden offered very little threat and remain rooted to the bottom with just seven games (including two in hand) left to go.

Dresden difficulties laid bare

This was Dresden’s second game in an incredible run of eight games in 21 days, with Markus Kauczinski naturally having a problem putting a fully-fit team together. He was still without Marco Hartmann, Max Kulke, Baris Atik and Justin Löwe here, whilst Ondrej Petrak and Josef Husbauer were out with injuries sustained against VfB Stuttgart on Sunday.

Kauczinski made seven changes to his line-up but his team looked anything but refreshed. They were lucky that Hannover – beaten by SV Sandhausen at the weekend – weren’t in the most ruthless mood. The home side had it far too easy in the first half and could have really made hay if they had wanted to. Dresden by contrast struggled on the ball and were defensively poor.

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Dresden’s problems were personified in Dzenis Burnic. One of the four players to keep his place in the side, he lost the ball in the build-up to the first half and he sustained what could be a nasty injury in a challenge from Prib. It was confirmed afterwards that he has torn an ankle ligament and will miss the rest of the season. The last thing they needed.

“It was a well-deserved defeat,” admitted Kauczinski after the game. “We gave away a lot of balls in the first half and had difficult getting into the game.” He was happier with the second half effort, but he will know for certain that a win against SV Wehen Wiesbaden on Saturday is simply essential.

Hannover in complete control

Dresden had come out of their defeat against Stuttgart with good plaudits having stood up well to their opponents for so long despite clearly not being as fit. Here it was a different story. They made one good attacking move before Hannover started to dominate. Ducksch had a shot saved by Kevin Broll but scored a few minutes later. Julian Korb crossed in, and he did the rest.

Korb was left out at the weekend with Kenen Kocak saying he had been “exhausted,” and the rest was doing him good here as we would contribute to the second goal as well. Picking up a pass from Genki Haraguchi, this time he picked out Guidetti with his cross, with the same result.

After a draw against Karlsruher SC here last week and the defeat to Sandhausen, Kocak had made five changes, with Jannes Horn, Waldemar Anton, Prib and Ducksch joining Korb in the starting XI. They reverted back to a 4-4-2 diamond, which worked better than the 3-5-2 used against Sandhausen. Nevertheless, perhaps still a little short of confidence after those two disappointing results, they didn’t really threaten again until late in the half.

Guidetti was unable to convert a couple of good chances, whilst only good work from Florian Ballas stopped Ducksch taking another effort. The striker was involved in the third though, combining with Jannes Horn after a good ball from Waldemar Anton. He then crossed in from the left, finding Edgar Prib who headed in.

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Forgettable second half

Dresden made a better impression after the restart. A cross from Niklas Kreuzer, one of the few Dresden players to come out of the game with any credit, was headed into the crossbar by René Klingenburg, who then had another good chance that was poorly executed and sent well wide. Hannover, by contrast, were rather tame in the opening stages of the second half, seemingly happy with the position they were in.

They only really began to pose a danger again as Kocak refreshed his side. Marc Stendera, one of the players to come on, struck wide, whilst two more, Linton Maina and Hendrik Weydandt, combined to set up Haraguchi, but his shot was met with a fingertip save by Broll. Alexander Jeremejeff then almost broke the second half deadlock, but he couldn’t beat Ron-Robert Zieler.

Despite the second half display, Hannover will ultimately be happy with a third home win of the season which propels them up to sixth in the table and, presumably, finally out of relegation danger for good. “There is no question that we had an advantage in terms of rhythm today,” said Kocak after the game, “but none of this would have worked if we hadn’t showed the right attitude.”

On the other hand, Dresden, to reiterate, are starting to run out of time.