Struggling Hamburg sack coach Hollerbach

Hamburg (AFP) – Bundesliga strugglers Hamburg have sacked coach Bernd Hollerbach just seven weeks after he was appointed, the club announced on Monday.

Hamburg have replaced Hollerbach, who used to play for the club, with Christian Titz, the coach of their under-21 team, until the end of the season.

Hollerbach failed to win any of his seven matches at the helm, with Saturday’s 6-0 capitulation away to leaders Bayern Munich proving the final straw.

The former European Cup winners lie in the relegation zone, seven points from safety with just eight games remaining.

A first ever relegation from the top flight of the Bundesliga is on the cards for a club who have sailed close to the wind in recent years — they needed to win relegation play-offs to survive in 2014 and in 2015.

“We are convinced we have to do something to preserve our chances of staying up,” said Frank Wettstein, the temporary club chief after president Heribert Bruchhagen and sporting director Jens Todt were ousted last week.

Hollerbach, 48, had been appointed on January 22 after the sacking of Markus Gisdol but under his charge Hamburg picked up just three points from a possible 21.