Training camp

“Every small step is important in order to be successful in the end”

HSV have travelled to Belek in order to be able to prepare themselves as best as possible for the upcoming second half of the season. Head coach Merlin Polzin spoke about what the team hope to accomplish during their time in Turkey.

While the team and staff headed back to the hotel following their first training session in Belek, head coach Merlin Polzin stayed behind. He first met with and took pictures with the fans that had also made the trip, before speaking to members of the media. Topics included the team’s time in Belek, an injury update and the upcoming second half of the season. Hear what Merlin Polzin had to say about…

…preparations for the training camp: We were in close contact with Claus Costa, Stefan Kuntz and the coaching staff, but it was also important to take the time to rest and recharge. After all, we now want to be able to tackle the next steps and every day ahead of us with as much energy as possible, in order to be successful with HSV. We want to grow as a team and will have several training sessions to work on our game, which includes being variable in attack and defending aggressively, something which begins in front of our opponent’s goal. We were able to implement several of these things in December already: now, we want to build on this and continue to improve. We’re looking forward to our first game in two weeks in a sold-out Volkspark against a strong 1. FC Köln side.

…current absences: We have a very strong team with us here, although Sebastian Schonlau and Jean-Luc Dompé have remained in Hamburg due to illness. Hopefully, they will be able to join us soon. Robert Glatzel is back with us, however. I was very happy to see him back on the pitch today for the first time, and with a ball at his feet. It will still be some time before he’s able to fully return, but the most important thing is that he’s back with us. We will continue to increase Ludovit Reis’ workload over the course of training camp and the remainder of January, but with a certain degree of caution as well. We are also able to slowly reintroduce Ransford Königsdörffer’s workload, and in a best case scenario, it should all progress well.

…the squad overall: We’re pleased to have plenty of options at every position. Absences are part of the sport — it’s not possible to avoid this. We also have several young players from our academy with us and there’s a healthy level of competition in each individual position. For myself, it’s about more than this individual competition and we’ve made this clear to the team as well. The aim of every player shouldn’t just be to win this head-to-head for a spot against the players that share their position, but to instead give it everything in every training session in order to help the entire team improve and be successful. We always want to be focused on the big picture as a team.

…the development they want to achieve as a team: It’s not about where we come from, but rather about where we want to go. Our focus is on what’s ahead of us, and that’s our approach. That’s what we’re working towards every single day, because every small step is important in order to be successful in the end. As coaches, we work closely together within a clearly defined and holistic structure. That covers a lot of areas, and extends beyond the work on the training pitch. We’re convinced that we can develop ourselves further as a team. That’s why I don’t want to talk too much about what changes could still happen within our squad, but would rather prefer to focus on how we can improve every day.

…goals for the second half of the season: We have clear expectations of the commitment we want to see from every single player and from the team, and about what we want to achieve together. Part of that is making sure that there’s an attacking focus to everything we do and that we want to push up the pitch — that should be the basis of our game. But, the lads also know that it’s not only important to be excellent in attack, but that they also have to throw everything into defending our goal. If we manage to do both, then we will be successful. As a team and as a club, we want to stand for a style of play that represents HSV, coupled with success. But, we don’t want to just talk about doing it — we want to work towards doing it, which is what it’s about. We have been able to lay the groundwork for this by getting off to a good start with our first sessions as part of this training camp.