Polzin: “We believe we can win the game and that’s our aim”

Merlin Polzin and HSV have been extremely busy lately. After the 2-2 draw against Darmstadt 98 on Sunday, the 34-year-old coach was in Frankfurt at the start of the week to complete his UEFA Pro Licence course, but he’s been back in Hamburg since Wednesday to prepare his side for their penultimate game of 2024, away at SSV Ulm. The clash with the promoted side is on Saturday at 13:00 CET at the Donaustadion. Merlin Polzin spoke to the media at today’s press conference in detail about…​​​​​​​

…the squad: A couple of lads were ill at the start of the week, but Sebastian Schonlau and Dennis Hadzikadunic have been able to train with the team and are available. The same applies to Jean-Luc Dompe and Jonas Meffert, who are both back in training. We’re unfortunately going to be without Matheo Raab for a while and Tom Mickel for this game due to illness. I’d like to take the opportunity to emphasise that we have complete confidence in our goalkeeping coach Sven Höh and the whole group of keepers, we have no concerns whatsoever. We can rely on our academy goalkeepers. Hannes Hermann will support us this weekend. He’s been at the club for a number of years and has developed massively.

…things to improve on: As a team, we always look to attack throughout the 90 minutes. We want to be brave and create lots of chances, which wasn’t the case in the first half last weekend. There were reasons for that and we tried to sort that out during the break. The lads did better in patches in the second half and we played with more energy. Aside from that, our play without possession is also important. It’s not perfect after the few weeks we’ve had together, but what’s key is our core values and what we stand for. The lads have engaged well. It’s been a short but intense week of training.

"We’re desperate to get the lads playing good football and to be successful."

...the upcoming opponents: Ulm have developed fantastically under Thomas Wörle and have grown as a unit over the years. They have regularly managed to cause problems for their opponents and have lost just one of their last six games. They don’t concede many goals at all and are pretty physical – we’re preparing ourselves accordingly. However, we’re focusing less on the place we’re playing and the club we’re facing, but rather on the things we can impact on the pitch ourselves. We’re really optimistic about this weekend. We believe we can win the game and that’s our aim heading down south.

…his own role: We’re all aware of the unique situation that Loic and myself are in. It’s special to be able to work with such fantastic footballers. At the same time, we also know what HSV means to so many people and that’s something that motivates us. We’re less motivated by what could happen in the future. We’re desperate to get the lads playing good football and to be successful. We want to play a brand of football that gets people wanting to come and watch us. That’s our full focus and that’s what the whole coaching team is putting their energy towards. It therefore helps to not have too many thoughts about other things.