Facing Nürnberg with Gegenpressing

Last Friday evening, the Volksparkstadion was more emotional than it had been for a long time: intense duels, plenty of provocations and controversial scenes on the pitch, passionate cheers, emotional shouts, shrill whistles from the stands - the 1-2 home defeat against SV Darmstadt 98 was a chaotic spectacle, including seven yellow cards and three sending-offs and ultimately the better end for the Lillies

On Monday afternoon, the rollercoaster of emotions, in which not only the protagonists inside but also the 40,000 spectators in the vicinity of the venue had been immersed, had not yet been completely shaken off, but the Reds were looking ahead with the first training session in preparation for the match at 1 FC Nürnberg (Saturday evening, from 8.15 p.m. live on HSVnetradio). And they worked no less intensively on their weak points. After a speech by HSV coach Tim Walter, a warm-up phase with athletics coach Daniel Müssig and initial passing exercises to get used to the equipment, the focus was on counter-pressing in several forms of play. Assistant coach Merlin Polzin led the exercises with his usual precise and loud announcements and continuously called for "insensitivity" and "chasing balls". Head coach Tim Walter, meanwhile, was not sparing in his criticism of some of the players' execution. Walter loudly criticised the hesitant behaviour in the game against the ball. "It was precisely this strength that made us stand out last season," complained the 46-year-old, who had to do without Robert Glatzel and Ludovit Reis (both strain management) for today's training session, as well as Aaron Opoku, who was released from today's training to sort out his thoughts. On their way back, meanwhile, are Anssi Suhonen and Xavier Amaechi, who worked on their comebacks with rehab coach and birthday boy Sebastian Capel (37) on the sidelines.