Press conference

"We’ll take it all as it comes"

Head coach Daniel Thioune spoke to the press ahead of HSV’s home game against Darmstadt 98 about the opponent’s strengths, the reshuffled fixture schedule and the Rothosen’s remaining games.

As anyone watching Daniel Thioune at Wednesday’s press conference ahead of the home game against SV Darmstadt 98 would confirm, the head coach was notably cheerful and focused. Clearly, the frustrating 3-3 draw against Hannover 96 had been swiftly analysed and chalked off. "We know the result left some HSV fans feeling very disappointed. We need to remain calm, though," explained the head coach. On Friday (9 April at 18:00 CEST), the Rothosen take on Darmstadt 98 at the Volksparkstadion. "We’re expecting a team that will be looking for all three points," warned Thoine.

Thioune on…

… the squad: Thankfully nothing has happened. We saw that Josha Vagnoman had some trouble at the end of the game in Hanover. They turned out just to be cramp though. So there are only two players missing out. Toni Leistner, who is still in recovery training, and Amadou Onana, who is suspended after his fifth yellow card of the season against Hannover. All the other players trained as normal this week and are expected to do so tomorrow as well.

Daniel Thioune has a full squad to draw from, with only Toni Leistner and Amadou Onana unavailable against Darmstadt.

… the opponent: Things have improved at Darmstadt of late. When we faced them earlier this season, we weren’t as settled. We had lost three in a row and headed to Darmstadt hoping to be compact and settled, in order for the results to start coming again. Now, it’s a bit of a mirror image on their side. I think that Markus Anfang often focuses on the style of play. He has a lot of ideas that haven’t bore fruit just yet. As a result, it’s been the case that his side have played well over the last weeks, but without getting the results they’d wanted. They were unlucky to lose against Düsseldorf last weekend. They definitely weren’t the worse side.

They stick tight, play very compact and don’t allow many chances anymore. They have a lot of quality in their team, for example with Serdar Dursun, with Skarke, Honsak and Berko on the wings, who all have a lot of speed. They definitely need to pick up a few more points in order to be safe. We’re expecting a side which will try to take points from us. However, we are also looking to take all three points.

“You have to give 100 per cent in every game, regardless of who the opponents are.“

… reacting to the positive COVID-19 test results at both Karlsruhe and Sandhausen: For now, it’s got nothing to do with us. We’re prepared. We’ve heard that the games will likely be cancelled, but that hasn’t been officially confirmed yet. For now, I’m not thinking about it at all. We’re hosting Darmstadt just over 48 hours from now. That’s what we’re thinking about. We need to make sure that we’re just focused on ourselves. After that, we’ll see what happens over the next couple of days. We’re taking things as they come and are relatively unconcerned. We will make new plans as of Satueday morning.

… the DFL’s quarantine concept: The one thing I’ve witnessed is that it is extremely dynamic. We were pleased to hear that we wouldn’t have to do a quarantine training camp, as I much prefer sleeping in my own bed and don’t want to be away from my family for too long. It’s the same for many other people. However, we need to remain sensible. I’ve always said that it’s a privilege for us to be able to play. Health comes first. We always need to be aware. We need to act correctly in order to be able to see the season through all the way to the end. It doesn’t need to be forced. We are well prepared and set up. Every team is handling it with care. Now, we will just have to wait.

… the ‘easy’ run-in to the season: If you’ve lost against the last place side, then you have to shut down this kind of talk. You have to give 100 per cent in every game, regardless of who your opponents are. The table never determines the outcome of a game. Instead, it’s down to how you perform on the pitch. That’s the one thing you can best influence. We aren’t focused on whether our next opponent is a few spots below us in the table.