Press Conference
18.01.24
Walter: “We’re well up for playing there”
In his press conference before the 2024 curtain-raiser at Schalke, HSV head coach Tim Walter spoke about the personnel situation, his expectations for the traditional clash and the preparation his side have made for the game.
After 33 days of quiet, the football is kicking off again – this Friday, the second half of the 2023/24 2. Bundesliga season gets underway. For Hamburger SV, the immediate item on the agenda is the big away game against Schalke on Saturday evening. The excitement ahead of the much-anticipated tie between the two historic clubs, who have faced off 100 times in the top tier, is as big as you’d expect. In Thursday afternoon’s mandatory press conference, HSV head coach and football fanatic Tim Walter radiated that very same excitement ahead of the weekend’s floodlit football festival. The 48-year-old, who will mark his 100th competitive game as HSV coach against Schalke, spoke in detail about...
...the personnel situation: With Masaya Okugawa, it was just a case of training having ended. There will always be players who’ll leave the field with an ice pack after training. That’s how it was with him. With the exceptions of Sebastian Schonlau and William Mikelbrencis, every player trained and is available for selection.
...the big game ahead: The tradition of this encounter and the fact we’ll be playing in front of 60,000 fans will have an effect. We’ve done lots of work. We weren’t hibernating; we spent the winter preparing. We’re well up for playing there and we’re well prepared for it.
"We’ve done lots of work. We weren’t hibernating; we spent the winter preparing."
...his expectations for the game: We always want to have control of the game. But if it’s as much of a spectacle as the reverse fixture and we leave as winners, then I’d take that scenario as well. We want to be the winners by the end – that’s what it’s all about. I expect Schalke to be dynamic and approach the game offensively to be able to launch a series of attacks in the final third. Schalke’s aim is to sit high up the pitch and make the impossible possible. We’re ready for that onslaught. We’ll use every tool available to us against it.
...the preparation the team have made: It’s extremely important that you question yourself. We always want to win and we know that we have room to improve. The critical thing is that we have the desire to improve. Our goal for ourselves is to do things better. And we have to better ourselves; we’ve worked hard on our defending and set-pieces. We showed in both of our friendlies against very good opposition that we can put some of that into practice.