Polzin: “We’re our biggest critics”

Hamburger SV welcome VfL Wolfsburg to the Volksparkstadion on Saturday afternoon (15:30 CEST) on matchday 8 in the Bundesliga. The Wolves are currently in 15th place heading into the match and have lost each of their last four games, with HSV sitting in 11th. The Rothosen have won both of their last two home games, and were unlucky to fall to a narrow defeat in Leipzig last time out (2-1). Regardless of the current situation in the table, the Wolves still have a lot of quality in their squad, which has a market value more than twice as high as HSV’s. According to the head coach, the Rothosen will need another top performance in order to pick up points this weekend. Hear what the 34-year-old has to say about…

…team news: Warmed Omari is still unavailable. We’ve also been keeping a close eye on Giorgi Gocholeishvili this past week, after he collided with the post last week. Fabio Vieira has been able to increase his workload over the course of the week and has made good progress. He likely won’t ready to start a match yet, given the fact that he has been out and the others have been playing well, but he is definitely ready to return to the squad. Aboubaka Soumahoro was hit in the head while playing for the U21s and has been dealing with a headache. He didn’t train fully today as a result.  

…his expectations for the game: We’re up against a team that doesn’t just have a high market value, but also has plenty of individual quality in their ranks in the form of Arnold, Eriksen, Amoura and Souza. They are all talented, experienced players. Regardless of the fact that Wolfsburg have struggled for results in recent weeks, we will still need to be alert. We know that we have to play to our limits in every game in order to pick up points and wins. Sometimes, even that isn’t enough — for example, when I look back on the game against Leipzig where we were close to perfect. It will be a tough fight characterised by tough duels. We don’t only need the team to be ready from the start, but the fans as well, in order to make it another home atmosphere worthy of the Volkspark.        

"We’re the ones challenging them, but we want to interpret our role in our own way."

…the club’s role in the top flight: In the Bundesliga we’re up against teams of incredible quality every week. We’re facing the best teams in Germany and in Europe. We’re the ones challenging them, but we want to interpret our role in our own way. That’s not to downplay who we are, as we know what we’re capable of. However, we also know what we’re not capable of yet and where we can stand to improve. We’re our own biggest critics. Against Leipzig, we didn’t manage to create chances in the second half, despite having the momentum on our side. That’s why this is something that we addressed during training this week, where we need to manage to generate more of a threat on goal in transition and when we’re building up from the back. 

…the depth of the squad and having to make difficult decisions: I’m extremely grateful to the management team of Stefan and Claus, for giving us coaches the opportunity to put together a starting line-up from a squad with this much quality. At the same time, we are also thankful for everyone in our medical department and our athletic trainers, who have ensured that — with the exception of Warmed, whose injury came following a tackle — that we have every player available to us. That’s not the usual situation. They all do extremely good work in their departments. That’s why it’s not a problem to have to make difficult decisions, but rather a challenge in terms of management and communication. If you take our centre midfielders as an example, then our current style of play means we have too many options. While speaking to this group of players, what I was most pleased with was that they are willing to do everything for the success of the team and that they all want to put in strong performances in games and during training in order to keep the level of competition high. That’s exactly what I want to see.