Baumgart: “We need the right mentality”

Having hosted 1. FC Nürnberg last Sunday, it’s a quick turnaround ahead of the trip to Braunschweig on Friday night. Ahead of the matchday 12 fixture, the coach talked about his squad, what he expects from the game and what will be important. Steffen Baumgart discussed…

…the squad: Ludovit Reis will be out for the rest of the year. He will be a big miss for us, especially because he was on the way to finding the form that had made him one of HSV’s best players over the last few years. Injuries can always happen, I’m just mainly sorry for him personally. Our job now is to deal with his absence as best we can. The same thing applies to Robert Glatzel, who is also going to be out for a while yet. However, Silvan Hefti, Emir Sahiti and Dennis Hadzikadunic will return to team training today. There’s some light at the end of the tunnel regarding them, though the Braunschweig game will come too soon for them and I’d like to avoid taking any major risks. Sebastian Schonlau and Jonas Meffert will definitely be involved again after serving their suspensions. No player is irreplaceable, but it was hard to deal with their absence. 

"When it comes to success, the most important things are working hard, bouncebackability and sticking at it."

…upcoming opponents Eintracht Braunschweig: They are a tough-tackling team and are good at quick counter-attacks. They have taken the most shots of any team on the break, although we’re yet to concede a goal from a counter this season, which will hopefully not change on Friday. History has shown that you don’t win promotion from Bundesliga 2 by scoring the most goals, but by conceding the fewest. We need this kind of solidity.

…the approach for Friday night’s game: Mentality and duels will decide this game. We have to accept that, otherwise we won’t be able to play our style of football. We need the right mentality and can then worry about playing football. If we do it the other way around, it’ll be difficult. When we get it right, we’re a really good team, but when we don’t, we’re nothing special in this league. We’re working hard on this every day. When it comes to success, the most important things are working hard, bouncebackability and sticking at it. It’s a process and not something that you can achieve in a week. You take two steps forward and then another one back, which you can learn something from. That’s how development works and we’re working on it every day. Hopefully it will then be evidenced in positive results.