“Basic goal: go to Hamburg and win”

It hurt a lot at that moment to be eliminated from the cup in stoppage time. Overall, we put in a very decent performance that gave us a certain chance of winning the game. The team then regenerated on Wednesday and had Thursday off. On Wednesday morning the boys were already full of energy for Sunday.

We are concentrating on a very challenging second division game against a very difficult opponent. After the change of coach, HSV played a little differently in Karlsruhe. They switched from a back three to a back four. And they have brought in an offensive eight with Dompe and Jatta on the wing positions and with Richter. A huge offensive force awaits us. We also expect that they want to confirm their trend at home.

We have gradually increased our variants and flexibility. We can play the back four in different variations – in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-2-2 or in a diamond system. We have recently been playing with a three-man chain both offensively and defensively. So I see us well prepared for the HSV game. And I’m looking forward to a cool game. Nevertheless, we are of course warned against an opponent with very high individual quality.

Preparing for a game is never that pleasant immediately after a change in training. But that cannot be changed. It’s a game in which we have to position ourselves variably. It’s a bit comparable to the home game against Hertha, where they had a lot of suspended or injured players in defense. We have to show a certain degree of variability against HSV, but our basis and principles remain the same. The basic goal is to go to Hamburg and win.

I followed Merlin Polzin during his time in Osnabrück as Daniel Thioune’s assistant coach, but I don’t know him personally. He is technically a very good trainer. I see a lot of good ideas from him about how he wants to approach the game. I’m personally happy for him that he was now able to take the step at HSV. My respect for him is very high, especially when it comes to tactics.

The 2nd league is fascinating. I don’t know if it can get much more balanced than that. But that’s what makes the league so interesting for spectators. Anyone can beat anyone on any day. Stefan Leitl recently said: “If you take your foot off the accelerator by a millimeter, you can lose against any team in this league.” Compared to the first league, there are clearer strengths and weakness profiles in individual positions or situations in each team. If you can find these weakness profiles, you will always have a chance to win games. It’s an incredibly cool league where the competition is very even. Of course, there are two or three teams that have a budget that is significantly higher than all the others – HSV is one of them, by the way. But many teams have a similar collar size. That makes it really exciting.