Polzin: “It’s about confidence and control”

After spending three-and-a-half years as an assistant coach, Merlin Polzin will assume the role of Hamburger SV head coach for the first time when the Rothosen play Hansa Rostock on Saturday afternoon (13:00 CET). It goes without saying that the 33-year-old was very much in the spotlight as he fielded questions from journalists on Friday morning. True to form, however, Polzin focused less on himself and instead opted to concentrate on the work the team has been doing this week and the task that lies ahead of them. He spoke in detail about...

...this week’s training: It’s been an intense week, particularly as far as our work with the team was concerned, but also on a personal level. On the one hand, we’ve set ourselves a lot of goals and achieved a lot over the past few years as a coaching team. That’s why it’s disappointing that we’ve suffered a setback on our journey. At the same time, making the boys feel secure about what we’ve still got planned is one of our priorities. We’ve definitely got the chance to do things better now. That’s what we emphasised over the course of the week.

...changes to our game: It’s important for me to emphasise that we’ve developed really positively under Tim in the last few years. We want to continue that. As HSV, we want to play brave, attacking football and keep the ball. That’s always the aim. It’s important to target specific areas if we want to give the boys a feeling of control and confidence, especially when the opponent has the ball. We’ve worked on that this week in training and video analysis and we had conversations around it. The aim is to find the right balance.

...the game plan for the Rostock encounter: As I say, we won’t turn everything completely on its head. It’s all about being brave and trying to dominate. We want to bring the things we’ve worked on during the week into the game. It’s about control and confidence, as well as showing a willingness to defend. We’re playing a team with an experienced coach in Mersad Selimbegovic. They have an interesting mixture of youth and experience and a lot of quality in their ranks. We’ve prepared ourselves for that and will analyse the opponents’ strengths and how we can get at them.

"There's a sense of togetherness within the changing room."

…the sense of togetherness within the team: The team is in good working order and the boys are working fantastically together. There is a sense of togetherness within the changing room. The lads are trying hard as they really care about the club. We’ve got a group who stand up for one another and give everything for each other.

...captain Sebastian Schonlau: “Bascho” is once again able to play football at full intensity. He’s made really good progress this week. He’s a really important building block for the team. Nevertheless, we don’t just want to look at the game in Rostock, but rather the whole season. We’ve had to do without him for long enough. It’s all about keeping him available for as long as possible if we want to achieve our goals.

...his personal role: You can find what sets me apart in the term assistant coach: the word coach. For me, it’s all about developing players, improving them and achieving something as a team. In the past, it’s not been the job description, but rather my influence on the boys that has played more of a role. I’m fully occupied with my passion for football. I’m not someone who has a structured plan for the next few years. In football it’s important to live in the here and now and to devote everything to the current task.  This approach has served me well up until this point. That’s what it’s about at the weekend: HSV have got a football match, not me. We want to win this game and I hope that all of Hamburg will be behind us.