Post Match Reaction
29.04.18
“We stayed mentally strong!”
Hamburg SV celebrate a 3-1 away victory over VfL Wolfsburg and with it kept hopes of staying in the Bundesliga next season alive. One of the most impressive things shown by Titz and his men was their mental toughness throughout. HSV.de collected the thoughts of the players and coaches after the game.
On matchday 32 of the Bundesliga HSV won the second of their do-or-die games in-a-row and kept their momentum rolling after the 1-0 win over SC Freiburg last weekend. Bobby Wood (43’) and Lewis Holtby (43’) fired the Rothosen into the lead in the first half with two goals in quick succession but Wolfsburg were not going down without a fight and got a goal back through Josip Brekalo (78’), giving the game an exciting finish. Despite the pressure both from the game and the club’s position, the HSV players kept their nerve in the closing stages and Waldschmidt managed to put the game to bed in stoppage time with that all-important third goal, as the Rothosen took all three points with a wonderful 3-1 victory. Hamburg remain in the drop zone with two games to go but the light at the end of the tunnel just keeps getting brighter. The quarter final was won today but the semi final against Frankfurt next weekend awaits. HSV.de presents the players’ and manager’s thoughts after the match.
Luca Waldschmidt: It is a wonderful feeling. The win today was really important. We showed lots of confidence in the game, confidence in our football. Now we still have two important matches that we obviously want to win. The match in Frankfurt is obviously a special one for me but in the end all that matter is putting in a good performance.
Lewis Holtby: I am proud of the way the team played today. Despite the setback we stayed mentally strong and always managed to find a solution with our football. I still believe we can do it. There is a belief in our play. The coach gives me belief in myself and I pay him back. I love playing football, so I had a lot of fun out there today. We have now won our quarter final and the semi is up next week. We need to remain grounded and keep working hard in training. We have two really important matches ahead of us.
Julian Pollersbeck: The goal we conceded is obviously really frustrating but these things happen. The important thing is that we reacted well and remained stable. We kept going forward so Wolfsburg weren’t able to put us under too much pressure. The team played well today and we deserved our win.
Gotoku Sakai: We wanted to be calm on the ball today and we managed to keep it well in the first 20 minutes when Wolfsburg tried to press. The goals then came at the right time. After we went 1-0 up we wanted to strike again straight away and luckily we managed to do that. Nevertheless we remained cool as we had to deal with the setback when they scored. The coach gave every individual player and the team a clear plan and we implemented it. We still haven’t achieved anything yet. Now we move on to the game in Frankfurt, where we need to have the same level of aggression, be ready to battle and willing to run. If we keep on in the same vein then I am sure that we will stay in the top division. Our team never gives up.
Bernhard Peters: Today the team played well for long periods, finding solutions in their play in pressurised situations. At the moment we are building a very positive dynamic, but we know that we haven’t achieved anything yet, The boys now need to rest up well to be able to fight again. In Frankfurt we want to take the next step; to win our semi final. We want to use the massive chance we have.
Christian Titz: Today we have seen what the relegation battle means. In the beginning the game was disjointed but as it went on we gradually started to play better. In the second half we wanted to play on the counter attack but made things interesting with that freekick. Soon enough though, we got the third goal and with it the three points. I need to pay the team a huge compliment of how they managed to master this really tough situation. It speaks volumes about the success of the entire team. Lewis Holtby is a really important piece of the puzzle but I’m also really pleased with Bobby. He has trained really well recently and his good performance was rewarded with his goal.
Bruno Labbadia: We started the first few minutes of the match really well and got the first chance of the game. Our retention of the ball was good but we just lacked that bit of precision. The game had a high tempo on the whole. The problem was that we didn’t manage to win it back often enough. The goals we conceded before the break hurt a lot. The second goal was really unnecessary. In the second half we came out well and rewarded ourselves with the goal. Then after that we didn’t manage to get out of our box. We are disappointed but in the end we have to accept it.