Team
12.05.20
Hunt on excitement and responsibility with Fürth in sight
In a virtual meeting with journalists, the HSV captain Aaron Hunt spoke about the quarantine training camp in Herzogenaurach, the continuation of the 2. Bundesliga under special circumstances and the upcoming opponent from Fürth.
Since yesterday evening, the Hamburger SV squad has been in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, to prepare for the upcoming away game against SpVgg Greuther Fürth whilst also adhering to the quarantine training camp set out in the DFL’s hygiene concept. Before lunch, Dieter Hecking’s team completed their first training session at the Herzogspark hotel, which will be their base until Sunday’s trip to Sportpark Ronhof. After the session, Aaron Hunt was able to answer a number of journalists’ questions as part of a virtual meeting with the press, speaking amongst other things about…
… the quarantine training camp: We’ve realised on a number of occasions that it’s a training camp in unusual circumstances. Our trip here yesterday was different from usual. We had a bigger aircraft where everybody sat on their own and travelled to the hotel from the airport in two buses. Everyone has a single room here. The conditions here are very good and the hotel staff are putting in a lot of effort to see that the hygiene standards are adhered to. The same can be said for us. Sometimes in some places it takes a bit longer, because we need to get used to the new methods, but I think that will become easier for us over time.
… the atmosphere amongst the squad: The atmosphere in the team is good. Martin Harnik and Timo Letschert returned to training today, meaning apart from Jan Gyamerah we’re at full strength. You can see that everyone’s happy that we’re finally training again and have a match to look forward to at the weekend. The excitement is there for every single one of us.
… his expectations from the games: It’s certainly a lot different mentally. Playing 11-a-side in an empty stadium is unusual and has the feeling of a friendly. But at the end of the day we’re playing for points. The team, that is able to process that the best and can grasp the new situation, will fare best during the remaining games. That doesn’t always have to be the favourite, there will be some unexpected results. We’ve got a big goal that we haven’t lost sight of. We’ve got a number of interesting games in front of us, with match-ups against Bielefeld, Stuttgart and Heidenheim, but we also know about the quality we have in our squad, which is one of the best in the league.
… the upcoming opponent: Fürth have a good team, who like to control possession and build up from the back. With Paul Seguin, who I know from my time in Wolfsburg, they have a good central midfielder, who demands the ball and organises his troops. Apart from that, it’s difficult to predict what we can expect in Fürth, because of the unusual situation we find ourselves in.
… how goals can only be celebrated with feet and elbows: It’s difficult to take the emotion out of a goal celebration. If we score the goal that takes us up in extra-time, then I’ll find it difficult to celebrate in this way. It will be at the back of our minds, but in football there are so many emotions, meaning that you can sometimes lose control. In that respect, you shouldn’t be too harsh on the players, even if we want to reduce the chance of the virus spreading through goal celebrations.
… the most recent corona cases in the league: The politicians considered the DFL’s concept and decided that we could play again. If this concept was found to be good by the politicians, then it will have been checked thoroughly. Personally, I don’t have any fears or worries to play football again. At the same time, I can understand the people who think differently. We aren’t immune from the fact there could be additional cases. The DFL have provided a possible solution with replacement dates. We shouldn’t worry about that too much though and prepare ourselves as best we can to play football. We’ll do everything to do our job to the best of our ability.