27.11.2018

Preserve energy and eradicate mistakes

Hannes Wolf spoke in a press conference after training about the 2-2 draw against 1. FC Union Berlin and the upcoming games.

Review

Despite the freezing temperatures at the training ground, Hannes Wolf remained calm and composed as he spoke to journalists about his views on the upcoming games. He was obviously still disappointed with conceding the late equaliser last night as he believed his team did enough in the game to bag the three points. However the 37-year-old wanted to focus on the positive aspects of his team’s performance and praised the way his players fought back from 1-0 down in the second half. However it was not enough for a home win, which Wolf believes would have been deserved. The boss spoke in detail

about…

…his feelings after the game:

We know that we did not play as well as we could for parts of the game. We knew that Union would start playing lots of long balls at the end. We lost decisive duels in the 90th minute which was hard to take. The lads showed a great reaction in the second half to take the lead and put Union under lots of pressure. We are also happy to have managed to come back into the game.

…Pierre-Michel Lasogga’s injury:

Pierre has a problem with his calf and will be out for around three weeks. Pierre was in good form and trained really well. It is a shame but we will not use it as an excuse in future. We need to get on with it. We hope he recovers well so he can be involved again against Kiel.

…taking off Aaron Hunt:

If we had made it 3-1 or cleared the ball properly in the last few minutes, everyone would have been saying that taking off Aaron was the right decision. Therefore I am questioning myself whether it was the right decision. We wanted to revert to a back five because we were expecting lots of long balls and they had put two up top. I needed to change things at the time and I now have to bear the brunt of my decision.

…Bakery Jatta’s role:

He has made an impact every time he has come off the bench in recent weeks. He had some good spells yesterday and was always a willing runner. There are obviously times when he could have made better of the situation he was in but above all I am happy with his performance. He needs to now keep working hard and improving every day.

…the central defenders:

When I first took over, David Bates started. He then got sent off against Magdeburg and Léo Lacroix played really well against Köln. We always decide game by game. We have got different options and I do not want to pick just two centre backs and stick with them. But a team also needs consistency and stability.

…the upcoming opponents:

Ingolstadt have just changed their manager so it is hard to judge how the game will go. It will be a difficult game despite their position in the league. They have some quality players and therefore will not take the game lightly.

No show from HSV

HSV head coach Markus Gisdol was forced into changing his team ahead of the trip south. Long term injured first choice keeper Adler was still recovering from a broken rib before his understudy Mathenia also got injured and was ruled out of the matchday 31 encounter. Up stepped under-21 stopper Mikel to the fray. Key winger Kostic who scored the only goal of the game between the two sides on matchday 14 was suspended so his place went to Austrian Gregoritsch. Ostrzolek got the nod at left back ahead of Douglas Santos while Walace replaced Jung in defensive midfield. Gisdol made four changes in all to the side which lost 1-2 at home to relegation certainties Darmstadt last time out. The new-look formation struggled early on. Augsburg created three top scoring opportunities within the opening 20 minutes. New keeper Mikel managed to keep out efforts by Kohr and Schmid and was grateful to be able to watch a Stafylidis free kick fizz narrowly wide of target. On 22 minutes the visitors were in luck again as an Altintop effort struck the left hand post with Mikel beaten. It seemed to the capacity crowd including yet another sold out contingent of travelling HSV faithful that it weould only be a matter of time before the home side would break the deadlock and they did as Altintop rounded off two counter attacks on 28 and 41 minutes to make the halftime score 2-0 to Augsburg. Mickel was powerless on both occasions and was HSV’s best man before the break.

Deserved defeat

Lasogga came on for Gregoritsch and Jung replaced Walace at the start of the second half as Gisdol opted for a two-pronged attack. Later Jatta replaced Ostrzolek. The ploy simply didn’t work as the Rothosen had more of the ball than in the previous half but were completely harmless in front of goal. Augsburg played a much more intelligent game and struck the woodwork again through Baier. That superior intelligence was underlined late on as Augsburg struck twice through Max and substitute Bobadilla (76., 85.). It was game over for HSV who failed to threaten until the 84th minute for Lasogga and Wood to miss chances. It was simply not good enough and the Rothosen remain just one point above the relegation play off spot in the table. Matchday 22 sees Gisdol and Co. host Mainz who are level on points but two places better due to a superior goal difference. Only a win will do as the teams lock horns at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg next Sunday (07.05.17, 3.30 PM).

Match details:

FC Augsburg:

Hitz - Verhaegh, Gouweleeuw, Hinteregger, Stafylidis - Kohr, D. Baier (88. Callsen-Bracker) - Schmid, Halil Altintop (80. Bobadilla), Max (87. Ji) - Finnbogason

HSV:

Mickel - Diekmeier, K. Papadopoulos, Mavraj, Ostrzolek (63. Jatta) - Sakai, Walace (46. Jung) - Gregoritsch (46. Lasogga), Holtby, Hunt - Wood

Goals:

1:0 Altintop (28.), 2:0 Altintop (41.), 3:0 Max (76.), 4:0 Bobadilla (85.)

Booked:

Baier (48.) / Mavraj (33.), Gregoritsch (44.), Ostrzolek (51.), Holtby (72.)

Referee:

Manuel Gräfe (Berlin)

Att:

30.660 (sold out)