Hamburg head coach speaks on injury crisis ahead of immediate Bundesliga re-match against Eintracht Frankfurt
Hamburg head coach Merlin Polzin insists his team remain on a positive trajectory despite Tuesday's 1-3 DFB-Pokal elimination against Eintracht Frankfurt. The Hanseatic Reds will have an immediate opportunity to respond when they visit the same opponents in the Bundesliga on Sunday evening, although the club's considerable injury problems continue to complicate preparations.
HSV entered Tuesday's cup encounter without six regular starters and lost a seventh when defender Sebastiaan Bornauw was forced off shortly before halftime. Frankfurt subsequently scored three second-half goals to eliminate the hosts from the competition.
The defeat represented another setback for a Hamburg side that hadrecently recovered from a disastrous start to the Bundesliga campaign. After losing their first three league fixtures by a combined score of 12-0, Polzin's team responded with three consecutive victories, only to find themselves increasingly stretched by injuries.
The situation has become particularly difficult in defense, where the coach has repeatedly been forced to shuffle his personnel. Nevertheless, Friday's pre-match press conference brought some encouraging news.
Polzin sees positive signs despite Pokal disappointment Speaking ahead of Sunday's visit to Frankfurt, Polzin insisted that neither the DFB-Pokal defeat nor last weekend'sunexpected league lossagainst newly promoted Bundesliga outfit SC Paderborn 07 had undermined his confidence in the team's development. "We're currently on an absolutely positive upward trajectory," Polzin explained.
"The process continues, and step by step, you can see what we're trying to do on the pitch." Polzin acknowledged the disappointment of Tuesday's elimination, particularly because HSV had approached the competition with considerable ambition. The 35-year-old also expressed frustration over a penalty decision that went against his team.
"When, three days later, everyone suddenly agrees that a penalty should have been awarded, that hurts twice as much," Polzin remarked. The Hamburg trainer nevertheless stressed that Sunday's encounter would present an entirely different challenge.
While his players could draw lessons from the cup match, he rejected the notion that a Bundesliga victory would somehow reverse the disappointment of elimination. "We can't put anything right because it's a completely different competition," Polzin said.
Rather than concentrating excessively on Frankfurt, the coach wants his players to focus on improving their own performance.