Tim Walter must emulate Hamburg SV midfield success with Hull City's £2m bargain: View | OneFootball

Tim Walter must emulate Hamburg SV midfield success with Hull City's £2m bargain: View | OneFootball

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Football League World

·8 June 2024

Tim Walter must emulate Hamburg SV midfield success with Hull City's £2m bargain: View

Article image:Tim Walter must emulate Hamburg SV midfield success with Hull City's £2m bargain: View

Tim Walter's managerial career makes for interesting reading ahead of his upcoming tenure with Hull City.

The former Hamburg SV, Holstein Keil and VfB Stuttgart head coach has had varying levels of performance at all three clubs, with 'Die Rothosen' being the club that he left his mark on the most.


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Hamburg are obviously a club with much greater stature than the environment Walter will soon be thrust into. However, the demand is the same - with Tigers chairman Acun Ilicali demanding a set philosophy and continuing to throw his minimal ambition of reaching the play-offs into the public domain.

The German will also inherit a squad blessed with several high-quality Championship standard players, and he should lean on a previous success story from the Volksparkstadion to continue the fine form already showcased by a £2m bargain within the Tigers' ranks.

Abdus Omur's impact since joining Hull City

Article image:Tim Walter must emulate Hamburg SV midfield success with Hull City's £2m bargain: View

That bargain refers to Turkish playmaker Abdus Omur, who has been nothing but a joy to watch as far as City supporters are concerned, ever since completing his Deadline Day move from Trabzonspor on February 1st.

Unsurprisingly, someone with experience of winning the Turkish Süper Lig just two years ago, whilst making 33 appearances and registering 11 goal contributions, came to the Championship with great expectation on their shoulders.

However, Omur has already surpassed what many fans would've expected by this point, with it so often being the case that players from abroad can take several months to adjust to the capabilities of the second tier.

The 24-year-old playmaker was so often given license to have a 'free-roam' role under Liam Rosenior, always showing for the ball and having the ability to progress the play forward through tight spaces as a result of his impressive agility and fleet of foot.

This is showcased by impressive metrics such as a pass completion ratio in the opposition half of 80%, 42.9 touches per game, and the creation of two big chances in just 11 starts for the club - and the scary prospect is they can still be built on within his first full season.

Therefore, it was hardly a surprise that after registering six assists for Trabzonspor prior to his East Yorkshire move, and adding another two for the Tigers, Omur was called up to the provisional Türkiye squad for the upcoming UEFA Euro 2024 tournament in Germany.

Tim Walter can emulate László Bénes success at Hamburg SV

Article image:Tim Walter must emulate Hamburg SV midfield success with Hull City's £2m bargain: View

A player of Omur's quality in midfield areas will come as no surprise to Walter, who oversaw the upward curve in Slovakian midfielder, László Bénes' trajectory, having acquired his services for Hamburg back in June 2022.

The former Borussia Mönchengladbach man had struggled for regular first-team football for the Bundesliga outfit, but wasn't unknown to the head coach, having worked together at Holstein Kiel in the 2018/19 season.

In his first season with Hamburg, Bénes set some decent baseline numbers with six goals and nine assists in 33 2.Bundesliga outings - only 19 of which were in the Starting XI - as the side missed out on a return to the top flight through a 3-0 defeat to Walter's former side Stuttgart in the Promotion-Relegation play-off.

The Slovak would go on to feature in fewer games overall across 2023/24, but has been one of the standout performances across the German second tier, registering double figures in both goals and assists (13G+ 11A), as well as creating 18 big chances for his teammates.

Whilst it must be noted that Walter was relieved of his duties with Hamburg on February 12th, this mustn't take anything away from his overall influence on the central midfielder, as 19 of his 24 goal contributions were recorded prior to the 48-year-old's last game in charge - a 4-3 home defeat to Hannover 96.

Omur could be the difference when adding goals to his game

Words from the Slovakian when he signed for Hamburg regarding his head coach's style of management will also be music to the likes of Omur and his City teammates, with Walter having a clear and largely successful philosophy, which currently amounts to a 50.25% win ratio in over 200 matches.

"I think he is still the same Tim Walter as back then in Kiel. He has his own very clear idea of how his team should play football. And he's tough as nails when it comes to implementing it. He has proven that time and again," Bénes stated two summers ago.

It is imperative for the overall success wanted by Ilicali in terms of play style and end goal that his latest employer is able to translate such an influence to his compatriot, who has done everything but find the net in Black and Amber.

After a pre-season of adjusting to Walter's highly aggressive but still, possession-heavy ideologies, many supporters will be keen to see how the playmaker adjusts under the new regime, but based off the aforementioned success he's had with midfielders over time, it is a mouth-watering prospect that could make a huge difference to Hull's promotion bid.

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