Post match reaction
11.02.19
"Only the points matter, it’s not a beauty competition"
HSV recorded their third home win of 2019 thanks to a late goal from Lewis Holtby against Dynamo Dresden.
It’s happened so often this season: HSV were dominant against Dynamo Dresden for long periods, but had to wait for their goal against an opponent that sat very deep in the second half. Hamburg were patient and finally got their goal through Lewis Holtby. The midfield took advatage of a mistake in defence with an ice-cold finish in the 84th minute. It was the tenth time this season that HSV have won by one goal, proving that you have to be patient and nervy.
Lewis Holtby: It was a victory we had to work for. I’m pleased that we won the game. Dresden lined up in a 5-4-1 formation and sat very deep. We were very patient, had a lot of possession and we tired our opponents out towards the end. We were lacking that final pass for a long time, but I had some luck on my side at the end. Only the points matter, it’s not a beauty competition.
Rick van Drongelen: We know that our games are tight and that the Rückrunde will be hard. We knew that we had to be patient. It’s important that we win games like this. We weren’t good in the first half. We played too slow and didn’t press them enough. We won the ball back a lot more in the second half and we were better in every respect. Now we’ve got a difficult away game ahead of us.
Pierre-Michel Lasogga: That was an ugly match. When you watch our matches, you will see that there aren’t always many goals. However, the most important thing is that we secured all three points. Dresden defended well but still made one mistake which Lewis was able to make the most of. We had to compete until the last second to secure the win.
Hannes Wolf: We didn’t play well in the first half. We lost the battles in the centre of the pitch and we found it difficult to get going in the match. We were lacking the intensity we showed during the Pokal match against Nürnberg and we couldn’t create room to exploit on the pitch. We definitely should’ve been given a penalty too. We hung on in the match and grew in mentality as the match progressed. Our mindset and pressing against the ball also improved and in the end, luck was on our side as we scored a late winner. We take this with us and have a few things that we need to improve ahead of the Heidenheim match.
Dynamo Dresden assistant coach Ovid Hajou: Congratulations to HSV. At the same time, we have to compliment our team for their efforts. They were engaged for the entire match and played very courageously. They performed exactly how we wanted them to but unfortunately a good performance is not always rewarded with all three points. We conceded a very disappointing goal late on.