Squad update as HSV begin sixth week of pre-season

20 outfield players and five goalkeepers took part in Tuesday’s session. Warmed Omari was absent for personal reasons, while Emir Sahiti also missed the session before completing an individual training programme later in the day. Albert Grønbæk, who was forced off with a cut during the friendly against Lille, trained individually. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Jannes von Diczelski is back with the team after recovering from injury, while Fabio Balde worked in the gym.

The Rothosen began the training session in front of a large crowd of HSV fans with a warm-up and rondos. They then moved on to a passing drill using small goals, with the players split into two groups. Polzin followed that with a small-sided game before finishing the session with an 11-a-side match on a reduced-size pitch.

Polzin: “I love seeing how the boys are putting things into practice”

After the roughly 90-minute session, the head coach praised his players for the work they have put in so far this pre-season: “I love seeing how the boys are doing everything they can to put into practice the things we identified as a coaching team in our analysis of last season. When you see the energy and passion they’re showing out on the pitch, then we’re definitely heading in the right direction. We’ve still got two weeks until the season starts and we want to make good use of that time.”

Polzin has already indicated that the final pre-season friendly will provide some clues as to what to expect for HSV’s competitive opener away to SC Verl in the DFB-Pokal on 24th August. Before taking on Ligue 1 side Toulouse, HSV will train three more times behind closed doors as the start of the new season draws ever closer.