“We will compensate for this as a team”

Football can be a crazy game. Every Hamburger SV fan will likely have wanted a different ending to what happened on Sunday afternoon in Hanover. Despite taking a 3-0 lead thanks to a hat-trick from Aaron Hunt, the hosts were able to comeback to draw 3-3. HSV were able to take home a point, but were left stunned by the result. After watching their 3-nil lead disappear in the span of half an hour, head coach Daniel Thioune said after the game that the draw felt more like a defeat. However, it must be said that the team played well, and the coach is confident they will be able to build on parts of the performance. Here is all the post-match reaction from both sides. 

Aaron Hunt: When you’re 3-nil up away from home and end up drawing 3-3, then it’s not a result you’re happy with. We had two, three clear-cut chances after we were 3-0 up and should have made it 4-0 or 5-0. We made things tense for ourselves in this way. We also gave away possession twice when we didn’t need to, and allowed Hannover to find their way back into the game. We need to do better, and be more in control, be more aggressive and maintain possession to see the game through. We didn’t manage to do this. Today’s performance wasn’t good enough from us, it has to be said. 

Sven Ulreich: We cannot allow this to happen! We need to learn from our mistakes. If it happens once, then it cannot happen a second time. But, that’s exactly what happened to us today. We need to keep learning. We need to remain focused, defend and not make dumb mistakes. We weren’t able to do so today.

“We never should have allowed a lead like this to slip.”

Moritz Heyer: We weren’t alert enough in the key moments and that’s when we conceded completely unnecessary goals. We never should have allowed a lead like this to slip, but we will move on. We’re up against Darmstadt on Friday already. We will take this point, even if we’re not entirely satisfied with it, and will analyse our mistakes in order to prepare ourselves as best as possible for Friday. 

Daniel Thioune: The feeling after the draw isn’t good at all, it feels like a defeat to us. Giving up a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 means that there’s a lot that you’ve done wrong. We had several chances to score a fourth, but didn’t manage it. On the other end, we didn’t defend well at all and made way too many mistakes. It’s very frustrating because the game didn’t have to end that way. We will have to put this game behind us quickly, because we’re back in action on Friday already. Despite how unnecessary and frustrating this draw is, we didn’t drop too much. We will compensate for this as a team, and will move on from this!

Kenan Kocak: We had the game under control in the first half, but struggled a bit in the final third because we were trying too hard to make it perfect. Otherwise, I was very happy with what I saw. HSV were the more clinical side, and we shouldn’t have allowed Aaron Hunt that much the space to shoot. The team reacted well after going 3-0 down and showed great spirit and morale to prove their quality. A comeback like that from 3-0 down is not to be expected, especially when it’s been four weeks since your last game. Every fan can be proud of this team today. Chapeau!