Pre-Match report

Fight for the fans longing for derby win

Hamburger SV meet St Pauli in the 101st city derby on Sunday, needing a win to keep up the pace in the title race.

Crowds of HSV fans flocked to support the team on Saturday ahead of a game that means so much for this city; 5,000 fans watched on as a focused squad made their final preparations. "It’s about time" HSV took all three points in this fixture, signalled head coach Hannes Wolf on Friday afternoon. 17 long years have passed since Die Rothosen last tasted success against St Pauli – a 4-0 victory in April 2002. There have been three competitive meetings since then, but no wins (two draws, one defeat), which only adds more spice to Sunday’s match. Not only are city bragging rights at stake, three points are also a must in the ongoing hunt for promotion.

Pollersbeck completed training in full and is back in the squad for the derby. Morten Behrens has also been called up as a precautionary measure.

PLENTY OF OPTIONS FOR HSV

Hannes Wolf will be pleased to call upon the services of Julian Pollersbeck, after the HSV keeper completed a full training session upon recovering from an adductor problem. Orel Mangala and Vasilije Janjicic also return to the squad after serving their respective suspensions. Hee-chan Hwang, who picked up an injury last matchday, misses out as expected, as does Josha Vagnoman, Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Jairo Samperio. Despite having a much better selection of players compared to recent weeks Wolf urges caution ahead of a tricky game. "We respect our opponents a lot," he emphasised. "It will be a tight game, which is how we want it. We know we’ll have to give 100% to get anything from the game. We want to play football, but we also need the right mentality, fight and physicality."

Alex Meier joined St Pauli on a free in January 2019.

Nothing less than maximum commitment will do if HSV are to get anything against St Pauli, who sit just four points behind in the table following last week’s 1-0 win against Paderborn. Their promotion ambitions have undoubtedly been boosted by the re-signing of Alex Meier on a free transfer in January. The veteran forward has bagged five goals in six outings since returning to his old club and head coach Wolf has expressed his utmost respect for the former HSV academy graduate. “We need set our players up properly to cope with him. His ability from set-pieces, as well as from open play, is obvious, which is why we have been preparing by watching how he scores his goals and how he gets himself into those positions. That will help us set up defensively – we will do our best to keep him quiet."

Do that successfully and the chances of a first derby win for 17 years will surely improve. "There’s a whole generation of HSV fans who have never experienced a derby win," admitted Wolf. "It’s about time."

HSV squad: Pollersbeck, Mickel, Behrens; Arp, Bates, Holtby, Hunt, Ito, Janjicic, Jatta, Jung, Lacroix, Lasogga, Mangala, Narey, Özcan, Sakai, Santos, van Drongelen

Possible St Pauli XI: Himmelmann - Kalla, Avevor, Hoogma, Buballa - Knoll, Buchtmann - Miyaichi, Möller Daehli, Sobota - Meier

Referee: Dr. Felix Brych (Munich)