06.11.2018

“You have to stay in the mix”

The day after the 1-0 win against FC Köln, HSV boss Hannes Wolf spoke about being top of the league, the upcoming game in Aue, and the teamwork in the squad.

Review

“Aue reads like it’ll be easier, but it isn’t. It’ll be just as difficult. We’ll have to have a good attitude during the week and keep our edge. We can’t just press a button to repeat today’s performance,” said Wolf. HSV’s win last night to send them top of the table provoked huge celebrations in the Volksparkstadion, but Hannes Wolf was already focussed on the next match in his post-match press conference. “I’m happy this evening, but it might not look like it,” he said, laughing. He described his team’s performance as “very good,” and some might even call it the best performance of the season. The mood was similar with the players, who were just as happy to win the game and go top of the league. However, just like with the boss, their attention turns towards Aue straight away. “Sometimes it isn’t so difficult to get to the top. The challenge is staying there,” said Julian Pollersbeck. Hannes Wolf spoke

about…

Khaled Narey’s clearance off the line was “just as important as scoring a goal”

(Kopie 6)

… yesterday’s game:

It was a good, exciting game for us. The boys played really well. They were very hard-working and disciplined, and they didn’t let the opposition get to them. I’m talking about the penalty that wasn’t given for handball, or when Khaled cleared off the line. It was just as important as scoring a goal. Overall, we fully deserved the win. It was a good night for the fans in particular, you could feel that in their reaction.

… being top of the table:

You’ve got to stay in the mix whether you’re in good or bad form, because there’s going to be set-backs in the future. Obviously I’d rather stay in the mix with three points in the bag, but without would be fine, too. Every point and every win is important, but being top of the league isn’t an excuse to settle or do anything differently. If you start to take things for granted, you lose them. I’ve experienced this a thousand times. The only thing that matters is hard work.

… the upcoming game in Aue:

We carry on. Aue might read as though it’ll be a bit easier, but it won’t be. If we play really well, we can win there. That’s the reality, and we’ll have to prepare ourselves well. The players have to use their day off well tomorrow so that they come back in perfect condition on Thursday and they can perform at the top level. It’s about focus, emotions, and keeping yourself fit. If you just start on matchday, that’s too late.

The players have a day off on Wednesday. Hannes Wolf will continue to work with the team on Thursday.

(Kopie 7)

… squad depth:

We don’t just have 11 players, we also have the guys behind them, who trained very well today. We need this competition for places. For example, Christoph Moritz played well after coming off the bench yesterday. He played some good football. We have to decide who’s going to start from game to game. We don’t want to make any dramatic changes, but we’ve not had really had a week with more than two games so far, so we’ve not had any reasons to rotate.

… his work with the team:

When you take over as manager of a team, there’s a lot of stuff left over from what was done before. If I’d have done badly at Stuttgart for a year and a half, they would’ve been bad after I left, too. The team is working well and we’re communicating both with ourselves and to the outside. That’s the truth. My aim here is to win as many games as possible and to improve and develop the HSV players. We want to move forward and I hope that our fans enjoy the journey that we’re on this season.

… Pierre-Michel Lasogga:

Pierre is very important for us and he scored again. He’s very hard-working and he’s always there, pressing the defenders. He might not win many balls, but he puts the opponents under pressure to make decisions and play the ball forward. He can often occupy two defenders and he’s an important player when competing for the second ball. He doesn’t need to be all over the place, just be in the right moment at the right time.

… Douglas Santos:

He’s a left-back, but he also has the quality of a No. 8. He was very influential in the game yesterday, and obviously I’m hoping that he can stay at this level. He defends very well and is calm on the ball when going forward.

… Hee-chan Hwang:

Chan has had some muscle problems recently and came off the bench for around 20 minutes yesterday. We reduced his workload a little today. We think that there’s a heightened risk with him, so he didn’t take part in shooting, sprint, or block training today. He was ready to play yesterday, so we brought him on. We won’t risk the health of a player.

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)