Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 6y

Hamburg sack Bernd Hollerbach following 6-0 loss at Bayern Munich

Hamburg have sacked head coach Bernd Hollerbach less than two months after his appointment.

Hollerbach, 48, won only three points from his seven games in charge, and the Bundesliga strugglers remain without a league win since November.

Hollerbach will be replaced by Hamburg under-21 coach Christian Titz for the remaining eight matches of the 2017-2018 season. He is the third coach in a terrible campaign for the only club to have played in every Bundesliga season.

Titz, 46, will remain in charge until the end of the season, the club said in a statement on their official website.

"We thoroughly analysed and discussed the overall sporting situation following our 6-0 defeat at Munich," CEO Frank Wettstein said. "In the end, it was our conviction that we had to act with a view to our chances in the relegation battle."

Without a win in almost four months, Hamburg are facing their first ever relegation from the Bundesliga. They trail Mainz, who sit in the promotion/relegation playoff place, by seven points. From their first 26 matches this season, they have won 18 points.

Only three of them have come from draws under coach Hollerbach, who succeeded Markus Gisdol in late January.

Hamburg recorded their last Bundesliga win on Nov. 26, when they beat Hoffenheim 3-0.

"Hollerbach never lamented," Wettstein said. "But we could not see major improvements, and positive results were missing on top of that."

Ahead of Saturday's 6-0 defeat at Bayern, Hamburg had already removed CEO Heribert Bruchhagen and sporting director Jens Todt. Bernd Hoffmann returned as club president earlier this year and dropped hints at changes at the club.

New Hamburg CEO Wettstein last week said the club remained "able to act" as it repositioned itself for the future.

Following the defeat at Bayern, Hollerbach had said the changes at the top of the club did not help some players.

Meanwhile, Hamburg police at the weekend confirmed that a banner flanked by several black crosses was discovered outside Hamburg's Volksparkstadion following the defeat at Bayern. It read: "Your time is up. We will get you all."

Police said late on Saturday they did not know who was behind the banner.

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