"The team is working absolutely great"

Tim Walter and his team had made extensive use of the international break. A 3:1 test match victory over the Dutch first division team FC Groningen, plus several crisp units in the shade of the Volksparkstadion - the Reds consider themselves well prepared for the evening match on Saturday  in which SV Sandhausen, an interesting opponent, awaits HSV and the 17,950 spectators admitted (tickets from 18 euros are available here). The coach explained at the press conference on Thursday (9 September) how Walter intends to tackle this task and why he believes his team can do so much. In the press conference,  Tim Walter spoke about... 

... The Personel Situation: "We can almost draw on a full complement. Unfortunately, Anssi Suhonen will be absent with a hardened thigh after his two U21 internationals, in which he did very well. Josha Vagnoman and Stephan Ambrosius are also missing, of course. Whether we will include our two newcomers, Mario Vuskovic and Tommy Doyle, in the squad after such a short time with the team, I can't say yet. They are both still very young, very capable of development, and we will definitely have our joy with them, but we have to be patient.

"I see fire and passion and that the boys want to deliver at the weekend."

... the upcoming opponent:  "We expect SV Sandhausen to be a team that is very typical for the Second Division. They will play a lot of long balls, defend well and at the same time press high and try to create counterattacking opportunities. But we're not afraid, we want to have a good counter-attacking defence, keep our backs tight and play forward in a versatile way and score our goals. That is the goal. We have respect for SV Sandhausen, but it's clear that we want to win this game. And we will approach it accordingly.

... the preparation for the game: We made good use of the days of the international match week. We had a very good and very intensive test match, plus a lot of units in which we got down to business. The team is working absolutely top. That's what makes it fun! I see fire and passion and that the boys want to deliver at the weekend. I feel the will to win every game at all costs. That's the maxim and we live it every day, in the dressing room as well as on the pitch. And we want to show that on Saturday as well.

You can see the complete press conference here in the video (IN GERMAN ONLY) as Live on HSVtv.