An amazing combination of bad luck and stupidity has turned SV Hamburg from a German Bundesliga title contender into a drop zone club.

A 2-1 home defeat against Schalke 04 on Saturday took Hamburg's winless streak to 14 competitive games, including all seven league matches this season. The last victory dates back more than five months to May 2, a 1-0 in the Bundesliga at Cologne.

Rafael van der Vaart heads an injury list featuring six regular starters while David Jarolim on Saturday became the seventh player to be sent off in those 14 games. To complete the agony on Saturday, Boubacar Sanogo failed to convert a penalty against Schalke.

"We have the biggest imaginable (injury) disease, and stupidity on top of it," said club boss Bernd Hoffmann. The Bild am Sonntag Sunday paper offered a different explanation, labeling HSV simply as a "shambles."

Even though the team is classier now, Hamburg are back where they were two years ago when Thomas Doll became coach in the autumn of 2004 in succession of Klaus Toppmöller.

Doll secure in coach's job -- for now

Doll led the club from last place at the time to third at the end of the past season. He still has this bonus and the club is -- for now -- not looking for another man to take charge.

"Thomas Doll was fantastic last year. We believe he has an answer to the current situation. I see no scenario in which we would have to take action in this area," said Hoffmann.

However, the rules of the game also include a change at helm if success doesn't come soon, the next chance coming Sunday at Bayer Leverkusen, followed by an October 28 home game with Hanover. There is also a Champions League trip to Porto next week.

Doll, for his part, has defended his team despite mistakes and misbehavior. "It really hurts to be so far down in the standings. We have taken a big beating. But we must learn from that and regroup," said Doll.

Quality additions need to stand up and be counted

Given the quality of the team featuring the likes of van der Vaart, newly-hired Argentina captain Juan Pablo Sorin, Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany, Hamburg should be playing for the title.

The task is not fully impossible despite the grim situation as no team has so far shone in a strange season in which Hamburg are just eight points behind the leaders Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and Schalke.

Doll has appealed to his players that "we must finally finish a match with 11 players on the pitch" and new German international Piotr Trochowski believes that one win can turn everything around.

"We need success to gain confidence which we badly lack right now. We must finally win in Leverkusen," said Trochowski.