Post match report
04.02.18
"Important point for our morale"
HSV missed the chance to end their winless streak on matchday 21 against Hannover 96. However, Bernd Hollerbach’s side still managed to fight back from a deficit and earn a point. Read on for all the reaction to the game.
One point gained or two points lost? That’s the question after Hamburg’s 1-1 draw with Hannover. After a hard fought 90 minutes, in which Fossum put the visitors in front before Kostic cancelled it out late on, that question seemed to be answered. Obviously, you would have wanted to have got more for your home fans and to end the seven game winless streak. But at the same time, this is the second game in a row where the Rothosen have come from behind to get something from a game. That’s something that they didn’t do in the 12 games prior. So as a result, the Hamburg players tried to take the positives from the game.
Christian Mathenia: I’m happy that I managed to pull off some good saves tonight. In the one-on-one against Bebou, I waited for him to control the ball before I threw myself on the ground, because I saw that he was looking to poke it through my legs. It was the right decision, even if I also had a bit of luck. My view was blocked when they scored the first goal. I only saw it very late on, and when I did see it, it was already in. It’s an important point for our morale. We managed to come back from behind for the second successive game. That’s a crucial thing to be able to do in a relegation battle. In my opinion, it should have been a penalty when Filip got brought down - the defender made contact with him at high speed.
Gotoku Sakai: We were both lucky and unlucky today – we showed great character, despite going behind. Every point is important for us, even though we always aim for three at home. We need to be a little calmer for this to be possible; we were too hectic today and we need to just be more accurate with our passing. Papa’s suspension is obviously a huge blow, but everyone needs to be prepared. This is what helped us stay up last season.
Aaron Hunt: It was so important for us to get that goal at the end. On the whole though we created too few chances – Hannover on the other hand had a couple of big chances and they should have made it 2-0. It’s always more difficult to prevent chances after conceding, because the gaps start to open up at the back and you start to take more risks. We’d like to have won today, but we have to be pleased with the point we rescued late on. We need to keep working hard and believe that we will escape the relegation zone.
Albin Ekdal: It’s a deserved point, for both teams. It was a tough game against a strong Hannover team. In the first half, we cancelled each other out and we knew going into the second half that we’d need to push forward more after we’d conceded. That’s exactly what we did and we forced the goal at the end. Unfortunately that makes it eight games on the bounce without a win. This is a bad situation to be in and we need to try and pick up three points soon. It’s close at the bottom of the table – two wins and we’re right back in it.
Jens Todt: At first glance that’s two points dropped today. The opening stages were influenced heavily by cautiousness not to make a mistake; we would have liked to gather more momentum going forward, but we can’t expect the team to play this Hannover side off the park. In the second half, we grafted out the goal. The heart and passion within the team is good and in the end a point is better than nothing. Bringing on Sejad Salihovic was a good move – he gave us composure in our passing and set pieces. We always assume that our competition at the foot of the table will pick up points in their games, but there are enough games left for us to catch up.
"The passion in the team is good"
Bernd Hollerbach: Both teams were disciplined in the opening stages and were very stable in defence. We went behind after the guests' first real big chance. Bobby missed an equaliser shortly after and there were also penalties we could have been awarded. We switch to a 4-4-2 formation in the second half and the match became a bit of a battle. Salihovic brought momentum to the team. We got back into the game just as we did in Leipzig, so the spoils were shared in the end. Of course we were hoping three points, but we were lacking the confidence to beat such a well organised team.
Andre Breitenreiter: It’s always important for us as the newly promoted side to pick up points away from home. Nevertheless, we dropped two points today – we were the better team, opened up the opposition well and stopped them coming forward. In the second half we wanted to carry on in the same way, but we failed to double our lead. Bebou, Füllkrug and Klaus all had good chances, then in the end we conceded the equaliser from a set piece. That can happen in football, but it’s still frustrating.