Season

Polzin ahead of the season run-in: "Raring to go"

The Rothosen used the international break for a friendly against an opponent that had been specifically chosen by head coach Merlin Polzin. After a weekend off, the team will come together again in order to tackle the season run-in.

HSV head coach Merlin Polzin's plans for the international break were centered around a friendly against Regionalliga side Phoenix Lübeck, which his team won 3-0. The match was meant to help sharpen the Rothosen's play out on the pitch, and with this behind them, the focus has now shifted to rest and recovery. On Thursday (20th March), the head coach arranged a varied training and recovery session for the team before giving his charges a long weekend off. "It's the last opportunity before the season run-in to give the lads a chance to catch their breath and gather their strength," Polzin explained. The head coach was able to draw positive learnings from their win against Lübeck, with Polzin having specifically selected them as an opponent due to their strength in possession. "I'm very happy as it was a good test for us," he said afterwards. "We had specifically selected an opponent that would want to have the ball so that we could continue to press." He was also satisfied with how his team put their game plan into action: "The lads did a good job and we were able to see plenty of the things that we wanted to do."

Additionally, several players who haven't seen much playing time recently were also able to feature against Lübeck. Captain Sebastian Schonlau (pictured), Marco Richter, Lukasz Poreba and Fabio Balde all featured for the full 90 minutes, while Robert Glatzel was able to play for an entire half for the first time since his five-month injury lay-off. The striker was able to also get on the scoresheet after converting a penalty that he'd won, capping off a successful performance.

"Bobby was making good runs and goals always do a striker a world of good," Polzin said, having subbed on Davie Selke for Glatzel at halftime. The substitute also went on to add his name to the list of goalscorers, giving Polzin a positive feeling heading into the season run-in. With an array of strong strikers in their ranks in the form of Glatzel, Selke, Ransford Königsdörffer and Otto Stange, Polzin said: "That's definitely a big strength of ours. I wouldn't want to be the defender that has to defend against one of our strikers for 70 minutes and feels relief at thinking 'It's nearly over,' before we then bring on fresh legs up front." This strength is something that the Rothosen will be hoping to use to their advantage as they strive to end the season by achieving their overarching goal of promotion. In order to do so, the team will now use their last weekend off this season to rest and recharge before returning to the training pitch on Monday. "Well-rested and raring to go," Polzin said, "And then we'll continue to work."