skip_navigation

Season

19.09.19

Derby forgotten, focus on Aue

With only a light session on Tuesday and a day off on Wednesday, suddenly the home game against Aue on Sunday is only a few days away. Not necessarily a bad thing, with the focus turning from the disappointing derby defeat to the next home game, a chance to make it better. Head of Sport Jonas Boldt: “We can’t make the mistake of seeing this as an easy game.”

After a day of regeneration on Tuesday and a day of relaxation on Wednesday, the squad were ready and raring to go on Thursday morning, when the preparations for Sunday’s home game against Erzgebirge Aue (kick-off 13:30 CEST) cranked into gear. During the hour-and-a-half session, the players gave the impression that the derby loss on Monday evening was already forgotten, with the attention already having been turned to the weekend’s game against the Violets. “The derby is done now and we are concentrating on Sunday. That’s also the way it should be because it’s a relatively short week of training,” were left-back Tim Leibold’s thoughts after training. 

A few hours later Head of Sport Jonas Boldt was also facing the press, describing his feelings on the first loss of the season. “It always hurts to lose. Then a loss in a derby game hurts twice as much. Monday hurts maybe three times as much, because it was such an avoidable loss,” according to the 37-year-old. “Despite all of the emotion that a loss like this brings, it’s our job to analyse the situation objectively. It’s always decisive what you take away from those kind of games to do better next time.”

“Aue didn’t get these points handed to them on a plate”

One of these takeaways from the derby was clear for all to see; an opening half-an-hour like the one at the Millerntor, where, according to Boldt “nothing worked at all”, can not be allowed to happen again if the Rothosen are to return to winning ways against the Violets. “We didn’t look good collectively during the first half-an-hour, discussed that as a team and have put it to one side. We have to make sure on Sunday that we start the game strongly,” was Leibold’s assessment of the derby, confirming that the team had taken on manager Hecking’s objective and uninterpretable analysis of Monday night’s loss. Concerted efforts will certainly be needed when the current fifth-placed team travel to the Volksparkstadion on Sunday. The East Germans have been able to collect eleven points so far, only two points less than their hosts at the weekend. “Aue didn’t get these points handed to them on a plate and have earned them the hard way, particularly due to the change of manager.” Boldt wanted to make it very clear that Sunday’s opponents cannot be underestimated: “I’ve learnt very quickly here in Hamburg that a name like St. Pauli is treated a lot differently to a name like Aue. It’s seen as an easy game and that’s a mistake that we cannot afford to make at all.” Leibold sees it the same way: “We saw on Monday evening that if we don’t give 100% in every game we’re going to make it very tough for ourselves. Aue is the next awkward opponent. We’re going to stick to our plan and on Sunday the most important thing is getting the three points.”