Training camp

Pherai: "I would like to show even more"

HSV midfielder Immanuel Pherai explains why looking back he is dissatisfied with last season and what he wants to achieve this season.

There was a concerning moment on Wednesday morning, with Immanuel Pherai suddenly lying on the turf. The team doctor attended to HSV’s midfielder and head coach Steffen Baumgart also looked on very carefully and asked how the 23-year-old was doing. Only a few minutes later, Pherai was back to his feet, though, and he also made his way back to the training pitches for the afternoon session, where he not only again took part in most of the training session, but also spoke to travelling journalists from Hamburg after the session. Pherai spoke about …

… the nervy moment on Wednesday morning: I unfortunately slipped in the last moment of training in a challenge with Bakery Jatta, but seemingly I was lucky and am trying to continue to train absolutely as normal. In any case, nothing too serious seems to have happened.

... the current stage of pre-season: We have already been training for two weeks, are working well and also have a few new players in the team that have added a lot. In my position as well. Adam Karabec, for example, can really play. Because of that, we have a lot of competition for places in the team, which I actually think it really good. That helps all of us to push on.

... his own role: I have to and would like to show a lot more than last season, I was unhappy with myself. I can do a lot more and would like to do a lot more for the team. Last year, unfortunately, I had problems here and there with a few niggles, so I never really gathered any momentum. Now, I absolutely want to get into the flow of things again and show what I can do.

… aims for the season: We always play to win, that’s absolutely clear. But we have to take it game by game and always focus on the next challenge. You could say that the path is our goal, but it is also clear that at the end of this path we want to be standing on the top of the mountain, to put it metaphorically. That is the ultimate goal.