Polzin: "Another great game that we get to contest"

Hamburger SV have had to quickly analyse and put last weekend's 2-1 defeat against SC Freiburg behind them quickly, with their next Bundesliga game awaiting them at home on Tuesday evening against Bayer 04 Leverkusen (20:30 CET). Ahead of the meeting with the league's current fourth-placed side, head coach Merlin Polzin spoke to the media in a press conference on Monday afternoon (12th January). Here's what he had to say on…

…team news: Daniel Elfadli is obviously suspended for this match. Warmed Omari has been able to make good progress, but it's too soon for him to return, same as with Anssi Suhonen and Yussuf Poulsen. Other than that, we've got pretty much a full squad to choose from, as several of the players that were out ill recently have been able to return. Robert Glatzel has been back in training as of today and is theoretically an option. In order to make sure he's 100% match fit, however, it would definitely require some more time training together with the team. That's why we'll consider whether it makes sense to include him tomorrow already. 

…lessons drawn from the Freiburg game: When we analysed the match, it was important for us as a coaching staff to recognise that certain decisions that were made did have an impact on the result, but to not make that the focus of our analysis. At the end of the day, that's not our mindset and not the culture that we have as a team and as HSV. There were several things that we weren't pleased with from the game in Freiburg, especially the first half an hour. We didn't put everything we had into working against the ball. The break in play after thirty minutes then allowed us to find our way into the game. One thing is for certain: we want to start tomorrow's game by playing the same way that we did from that point up until the moment that the red card occurred. 

"It's the reward for all our hard work last season, as these are the games that we were looking forward to having."

…the opponent's strengths: We're hosting last season's runners-up. They are a team that were able to make several large-sum transfers over the summer, and when you consider their success over the past years, they are miles ahead of us. They are a top team with lots of talent in attack. They have the league's best attack, behind FC Bayern, and will demand a lot of us. For us, it's another great game that we get to contest. It's the reward for all our hard work last season, as these are the games that we were looking forward to having. It will come down to being able to withstand certain phases of the game, being willing to suffer a bit at times and also being more clinical with our chances than we were in Freiburg. 

…HSV's game plan: It will be about leaving it all on the pitch tomorrow night. We want to be there from the first minute onwards and are looking forward to the referee getting the game underway. I want us to show what we stand for once more at the Volksparkstadion tomorrow: We want to be aggressive and tough to break down in defence, in addition to trusting ourselves when we have the ball or when we're under pressure. It comes down to these basic things that we need to see in the way we play, in order to be successful. That's why it's always important for us to remain focused on ourselves, even if the quality of the opponent definitely plays a part too. I'm confident that we stand a chance against a side of their quality, as long as we make sure to showcase these attributes.