Interview

Glatzel: "A local derby has its own rules"

A local derby at the Millerntor-Stadion awaits HSV on Friday evening, which is no ordinary game, but has a cup-like feel to it, as striker Robert Glatzel emphasised when speaking to us.

Robert Glatzel and the Rothosen’s full focus is now on Friday night’s local derby. With 15 goal contributions in just 14 games, the HSV striker has been directly involved in over 50 percent of HSV’s goals so far this season. Glatzel’s ten goals and five assists in the 2. Bundesliga so far this season mean that he not only leads the second-division golden boot race, but also has the most goal contributions in the league.

Given his crucial role in Tim Walter’s side as both a leader and goal-machine, Glatzel is a player who is also particularly important in special games. The local derby on Friday evening is definitely one of those games and HSV.de asked the top scorer for his assessment at the start of derby week ahead of his fifth Hamburg derby (two goal contributions in four games until now).

HSV.de: Robert, you secured your seventh home win of the season against Eintracht Braunschweig, even if it was a hard-earned victory. What can you take from this game?

Robert Glatzel: We picked up three points, whilst we’ve also gained some insights from the game since we’ve analysed the game and looked at the good things as well as the things that we need to improve on. The game’s done now and we’re only looking forwards.

“A local derby has the feel of a cup game”

A very special game is in store for you.

Yes, it’s a game like no other. A local derby has the feel of a cup game – it’s got its own rules. It’s no longer important that we’ve won all seven home games or that the performance against Braunschweig wasn’t our best. The only thing that matters it what takes place on the pitch from 18:30 CET onwards on Friday evening.

You won the last Hamburg derby 4-3 and it was a really special experience for the team and all the HSV fans.

That’s right, and we’re certainly hoping that we can repeat such an experience. However, it’s also true that the previous local derby is completely irrelevant for the game on Friday. It’s got no influence on what’s going to happen because we can’t get anything else out of this game and this emotional win, but instead we have to start our preparation again. Nor does it matter how many games FC St. Pauli are currently unbeaten in or how the last derby at the Millerntor-Stadion went. Everything starts completely from scratch on Friday.

The injury situation has been easing up again, especially in the back four, but you’ll have to deal with Bakary Jatta’s absence. What does that mean for this game?

Of course it’s a real shame that Baka can’t play, but we’ve already dealt with so many injuries and absentees as a team this season and shown that we’ll also be able to deal with it on this occasion. No single game – and certainly no local derby – is decided by a single individual. It only works as a collective, as a whole team, whilst we also need our fans behind us.

They will also be behind you at the Millerntor-Stadion. What kind of atmosphere are you expecting?

There’s going to be a special atmosphere. We need to try to feed off our fans’ support as well as the general atmosphere in the stadium and we have to give everything we’ve got for 90 minutes.

“We’re really up for this clash”

You’ve already played in a few local derbies. Will you specifically address the expected atmosphere as a result, especially for those who are yet to experience such a big local derby?

Of course we’ve been talking about this within the team in order to make sure that we’re ideally prepared for Friday evening. However, we’ve already demonstrated several times that we’re able to cope with special situations and heated atmospheres, and still come out on top. Accordingly, we’re going there with our tails up and we’re coming into this game full of self-confidence and excitement. We’re really up for this clash.

What’s going to be particularly important?

It’s a game between first and second in the league, so two strong teams who both have a clear plan will be facing off against one another. Both sides like to play football and don’t just want to disrupt the opposition’s game plan. It should be a really good and exciting game for the spectators. It’ll be important for us to leave everything on the pitch, implement the coach’s plan and to work hard to get that bit of luck needed in a game between two top sides. We’ll give everything in order to achieve that. If we manage that, then we’ll be successful in the local derby.