Walter: “We want to continue our good form away from home”

After the spectacular 5-3 win against FC Schalke 04 in the opening game of the season, Hamburg face their first challenge away from home during the second week of the 2. Bundesliga season (kick-off at 1:30 CEST). The Rothosen, who showed themselves to be the strongest team away from home in the 2022/23 league season with a tally of 30 points, are the guests at Karlsruher SC. Walter’s men were defeated in their last away clash there in a extremely heated game which ended 4-2 to the hosts. It’s no surprise that the previous encounter with KSC once again came up in today’s press conference in the build-up to this Sunday’s game. Head coach Tim Walter gave his thoughts about not only this but a number of further topics and spoke in detail about…

… the state of the squad: Sebastian Schonlau misses out as he is still struggling with his injury. He is, however, getting better. Immanuel Pherai was able to train on the pitch today. I expect that he will also train as normal tomorrow. William Mikelbrencis was back on the pitch for the first time yesterday and today and has been putting in some leg work. He is progressing.

… the last game in Karlsruhe: It’s always an emotional occasion for me when we play in Karlsruhe. I come from the area and worked for the team for a very long time. During the last clash, my emotions, which are normally my greatest strength, were perhaps my greatest weakness. I know that. Consequently, we want to handle things more effectively this time around. We had a bad day as a whole and KSC played a very, very good game at the same time. We are trying to change that this time around. 

“KSC has been thrown into the hat as one of the favourites for promotion by football experts such as Lothar Matthäus and Winfried Schäfer.”

... the opponent: KSC have been thrown into the hat as one of the favourites for promotion by football experts such as Lothar Matthäus and Winfried Schäfer. I see things similarly. They have strengthened significantly. They have gained an older, but still outstanding footballer in Lars Stindl. Moreover, Marvin Wanitzek registered a lot of goal contributions last season and also showed in the opening game of season how dangerous he is in front of goal. We are going to face plenty of quality as a result. At the same time we were the strongest team away from home last season and we want to back that up this year.

… his own plans for the match: The basis for our game is that we are gritty, passionate and willing to work hard. These are always the most important factors that we need to take onto the field with us. Beyond that we have many different elements to our game. The boys always make the decisions as to when to employ certain tactics and the extent to which they utilise different strategies.