Press conference
08.03.19
"It’s about time..."
In the press conference ahead of Sunday’s derby against St. Pauli, head coach Hannes Wolf spoke about the possible return of Julian Pollersbeck, the situation ahead of facing the city rivals and his expectations on the match.
On Sunday afternoon, HSV will face local rivals St. Pauli in the highly-anticipated 101st city derby. Hamburg’s last win against this weekend’s opposition came 17 years ago on 19th April 2002 – the 97th installment of the fixture, when two goals from Bernardo Romeo, and one each for Martin Groth and Nico-Jan Hoogma ensured a 4-0 victory, a result that consigned the rivals to relegation from the first division. Since then, the derby has resulted in two draws and a tough 1-0 loss in February 2011. Ahead of the 101st meeting between the two sides, Hannes Wolf echoed the feeling of the HSV fans as he declared, “It is a special game. Every one of us knows what the game means and there’s no reason we can’t get a win there. There is a generation of our fans that hasn’t ever experienced a derby victory – it’s about time to change that!”
The 37-year-old spoke about…
… Julian Pollersbeck: We’re still not sure whether he will available for Sunday. He hasn’t trained with the team yet and needs to complete at least one full session in order to play. We don’t want to send him straight into a match without having trained. We have a good alternative in Tom, who played well against Fürth last time out and kept a clean sheet, so using him is certainly not a problem for us.
… the current feeling ahead of the derby: There is a special atmosphere here in the city. The rivalry between the two clubs and the significance of the game to the fans is clear to see. It is a special week and a special match. Every one of us knows what the game means and there’s no reason we can’t get a win there. There is a generation of our fans that hasn’t ever experienced a derby victory – it’s about time to change that!
… his expectations on the game: It will be a close game. It isn’t about history, but rather the current form and positions of the two teams – in that sense, its 47 against 43 points. We respect the opponents; it will be a close game and that’s the mentality we will take into the game. We know that we have to give everything in order to get something out of it. We want to play our game and stick to our system, but we also need to show resilience and fight. We need to put up a big fight on Sunday to avoid being hurt by St. Pauli – they are a clinical side and the Millerntor is a tough ground to play at. Aside from all the emotion, we need to keep a level head and stick to our game plan. Previous games have shown that we always do better when we have eleven men on the field.
... Pierre-Michel Lasogga: Pierre is in very good condition. It’s clear to see, even in defensive phases – he’s cleared a lot of corners for us. He’s had some good chances in the past few games which have been similar to the kind of chances that he’s previously scored in his career. It’s important for us to continue giving him the ball and giving him chances to score. Hopefully on Sunday he will have that little bit of luck that every good striker has. He just needs to keep on working and is ready for the derby.
... Alex Meier: We need to keep an eye on him in particular. His abilities from set-pieces and also open play are obvious. We're therefore analysing how he scores his goals and his positioning in the build-up in order to combat the threat. We will try to take him out of the game as much as possible.
... the consequences of the game: I don't want to reflect on the potential result too much beforehand, because getting a positive result is crucial, and thinking too much about it could influence us beforehand. If we do think about it too much beforehand, and question ourselves about our chances of winning or losing, we run the risk of losing sight of the task at hand. We're devoting ourselves to what lies ahead of us, not what happens afterwards. Obviously I would be very pleased if we can look back on a victory come Sunday evening.