"We need to stay focused"

The week is relatively short when a Saturday evening game is followed by a Friday night clash under the floodlights. Consequently, Tim Walter answered the media’s questions in the press conference room at the Volksparkstadion on Wednesday afternoon as he looked ahead towards the next league game against Hannover 96 (Friday evening, 18:15 CET). The Rothosen are desperate to secure their first home win in 2024 following the two away wins at Schalke 04 and most recently Hertha BSC. HSV’s head coach outlined how his team can achieve that in his press conference and also spoke about...

...the squad situation: All the players have been out on the pitch excluding Sebastian Schonlau and they’re all also available for the game on Friday evening as a result. We’re in close contact with the medical team regarding Bascho’s comeback. It’s important that we take care with him so that he’s available to play in the long term. We don’t want to give constant updates on his fitness, but rather eagerly await his return to the group. 

...the home game against Hannover 96: We always expect to win, whether we’re at home or on the road. We’re fully aware of this. Regardless of the opponent, it’s always special to be able to play and win at this stadium and that’s exactly what we want to do on Friday night. Hannover 96 are a very good team who are very ambitious. They’ll give it their all and try to pick up some points here. We want to stop them from doing that with our style of play. We roll with the punches and stay focused. Everyone knows their roles when we’re defending and, at the same time, we’ve found the right balance between defence and attack. We’ve been scoring goals recently.

“I’m glad that we’ve got so many good players. It’s a blessing.”

...competition for places within the squad: I’m happy that we have so many good players. It’s a real blessing for me. I enjoy making the difficult decisions and that shows through in the work and quality produced in training. It’s important that we have this depth and strength within our squad, as there are always players missing due to either injury or suspension.

...possible fan protests: That’s ultimately not within my control, as I have to concentrate more on the actual football. Despite that, I do understand that people want to express their frustration and voice their opinions. It’s vital for me that the players stay focused when protests like this occur during the game. Things happen in sport that you can’t predict. That's the case for what's going on at the moment. It's really about keeping the boys in good physical check, so that they’re warmed up and stay that way. The fitness staff did a great job of ensuring that in Berlin.