Hamburg chief coy over Labbadia's future

A second defeat in four days to a promoted team has Hamburg down in the dumps again. The future of coach Bruno Labbadia is up for discussion after Werder Bremen already acted fast and sacked Viktor Skripnik.

Tuesday's 1-0 loss at Freiburg followed a 4-0 weekend humbling at home to newcomers RB Leipzig. It is the manner of the defeats as much as anything which is worrying Hamburg fans. They barely threatened to score on Tuesday and chairman Beiersdorfer was careful with his words afterwards.

"Our top priority is Hamburg and nothing else," he told Sky Germany. "You have to let a game like that sink in. I will discuss it with the coach. Bruno Labbadia is our coach, I don't need to give him backing every day. But at the moment we are not delivering.

"We were bad, really bad, especially in the second half."

Labbadia tried to limit the damage in his post-match analysis.

"I am the one principally responsible," he said. "The fact is we created too little from our possession."

If Labbadia stays on, his task is not going to get easier. They host champions Bayern Munich on Saturday looking to add to their solitary point.

Hamburg fans are used to upheaval, their side has been frustratingly inconsistent for years and narrowly avoided relegation by winning play-offs in 2014 and 2015. They again sit 16th, admittedly after only four games, with pointless Schalke and Bremen below them.

Labbadia had appeared to have steadied the ship with a 10th place finish last term. But the team who have famously never gone down from the Bundesliga could soon be looking for a sixth new coach since September 2013.

Goalkeeper Rene Adler, whose mistake led to Nils Petersen's 70th minute goal on Tuesday, defended his boss.

"It is ridiculous that I am answering a question about the coach after four matches. He and his staff do a super job," he said.