Post Match Thoughts

After a fast-paced ride against Darmstadt - more patience needed in Heidenheim

Yesterday, the Rothosen delivered a spectacular home game against Darmstadt, but had to settle for a point in the end. More patience and cold-bloodedness is needed in the future.

Trailing, equalising, leading, equalising - in yesterday's 2. Bundesliga match between Hamburger SV and Darmstadt 98, the 17,950 spectators in the sold-out Volksparkstadion under Corona conditions as well as the 22 protagonists on the pitch experienced a fast-paced ride. After Sebastian Schonlau (30.) and Moritz Heyer (45.) had turned around the early lead by Tietz (14.), the Darmstadt attacker set the final point of a wild and spectacular first half with his second goal (45.+4). This triggered the concentrated charge of emotions that sport in general and football in particular can unleash: Anticipation, hope, disappointment, courage, joy, ecstasy, frustration, anger - everything was already present in the first 45 minutes and this was to continue. The Red Shorts tightened the reins after the change of ends as well, brought their offensive horsepower onto the pitch again and again, but missed another goal to take the lead and almost fell off the saddle in injury time when the Darmstadt team missed two good counterattacking opportunities against the onrushing Red Shorts.

Head coach Tim Walter demands even more patience from his team around all-purpose weapon Moritz Heyer.

"We need more patience"

"We really wanted to win the game. Then we lost our heads a bit because the spectators also come, because they push us forward and don't always want to have the ball with Ferro," HSV coach Tim Walter alluded to the finally emotionally charged Volksparkstadion cauldron again, which at times acknowledged back passes with whistles. "But that is simply part of our game. We need more patience." This means that his young team, which has been replaced in many positions and which yesterday covered a whopping 121.1 kilometres with a possession ratio of 64:36 per cent - 2.3 more than its opponents and which leads the 2. Bundesliga with a total of 477 kilometres after four match days - must not lose its head despite all its running commitment and will to win. In the hot final phase of a match, the team should also courageously push through its own offensive play in order to create more big chances.

For these are undoubtedly available if one acts with a clear head. The best chances in the second half came in the 62nd and 68th minutes when Suhonen and Glatzel missed the chance to make it 3:2. "It was a great game of football, especially in the first half. Unfortunately, we didn't show the last bit of coolness afterwards. We have to use one or two things in front more consistently and then we will win such a game," the latter attacker summed up on Monday morning. Scattered jeers and whistles did not go unnoticed by the 1.93 tall attacker, who finished the game visibly marked with a forehead bandage. In terms of their classification, however, the 27-year-old newcomer struck the same note as his coach. "The fans want us to play forward and win. That's understandable. We just have to be a bit more patient. We come through possession, that's our game. Our game is risk and chance at the same time, but the direction is right. We create so many chances, we just have to score one more goal, like we did against Dresden. Then it will look different. There are a few small adjustments that we have to improve."

He put everything in against Darmstadt and is really keen on the next game at his old place of work: attacker Robert Glatzel.

Next stop Heidenheim

The next opportunity for the 7th-placed Red Shorts to prove their patience and reward themselves and their supporters with a win comes next Saturday when they face their immediate neighbours in the table, 1. FC Heidenheim. For Robert Glatzel, who played at the Brenz from 2017 to 2019, this is a special game: "I have a special relationship with the club. It was an important step for my career. I learned how second division and men's football works. But now the only thing that counts for me is winning with HSV. After the last two failures, we definitely want to win. I'm really up for the game!"

Naturally, HSV coach Tim Walter is also keen on the next game, as he finds his team in seventh place in the table after four games with five points. "We are not yet satisfied with the number of points we have scored," explains the 45-year-old self-critically. "We are slowly getting to grips with the way we are playing. The 100 per cent goal chances were there against Dresden and Darmstadt. The boys are throwing everything in, they are very, very courageous. Courage means being convinced of your own quality." On this self-confident path, which HSV has chosen tactically and in terms of personnel, spectacular game progressions and emotional rollercoasters like yesterday's 2-2 draw against Darmstadt will be part of the game. It is up to the team to continue its own development in such a way that the points yield is in line with it.