Baumgart: “Do all we can to secure the three points”

League action is back after the first international break of the season and the Rothosen are at home against another promoted side. After the 4-1 victory over Preußen Münster, HSV host SSV Jahn Regensburg on Sunday (15th September, 13:30 CEST) on matchday 5. Head coach Steffen Baumgart feels it’s another tough opponent, one that his strong squad will have to work hard to beat, as he underlined at today’s press conference. The 52-year-old spoke in detail about…

…the squad: Only Bakery Jatta is still injured. Everyone else is available and could be in the squad. We’ve got the luxury of having lots of in-form and fit players, including the ones who were on international duty.

…Jonas Meffert’s contract extension: We’ve fought for a long time to keep him. There was lots of speculation and I’m happy that Meffo didn’t let that affect him negatively and just carried on performing. Meffo is staying with us for at least two more years. He’s an important figure and it’s a clear sign that we want to be successful here together.

"I think it’s a luxury"

…the upcoming opponents: Regensburg fight hard as a team and have a clear plan, even if they’ve not scored many goals so far. We will not approach this game by just saying we’ll easily beat Regensburg. We want to do all we can to secure the three points and to play our own game. Our target is to also continue improving. After all, not everything in our last game against a promoted side was positive.

…competition for places: The players are aware of it. We said at the beginning that we wanted a really big and strong squad with lots of depth. This is because in recent years we saw how difficult it can be to achieve our main target when we lose key players to injury. Our transfers this season have underlined this approach. We’ve got a squad where every player could easily be part of the team, but also quickly not. I think it’s a luxury, even if as coach there are some difficult conversations to be had every week.