Hamburg head coach cites progress despite second consecutive 5-0 Bundesliga defeat | OneFootball

Hamburger SV head coach Merlin Polzin attempted to draw a clear distinction between Sunday’s 5-0 Bundesliga defeat away at RB Leipzig and the equally heavy loss against Mainz one week earlier.

The result itself offered precious little encouragement. HSV remain without a point after three Bundesliga fixtures and have now conceded 12 goals without reply. Leipzig also scored three times in the space of just five second-half minutes to turn what had briefly looked like a potentially competitive encounter into another rout.

Polzin nevertheless insisted that the performance contained signs of progress.

“I think there are two possibilities,” Polzin noted in his opening statement at the post-match press conference. “Either one can look at the end result and say that it was just as shitty as last week. That’s on the one hand. On the other hand, I saw a team today that tried to do significantly better than last week from the very beginning.”

Hamburg showed some signs of improvement

HSV, handicapped in defense, did indeed begin aggressively and disrupted Leipzig’s buildup during the opening stages. The promoted side also emerged from the interval with renewed intent and created several opportunities to reduce the 2-0 deficit. Zakaria El Ouahdi twice threatened from the right while Patson Daka passed up perhaps the visitors’ best chance of the afternoon shortly after the hour mark.

HSV ultimately failed to convert their strongest spell into a goal. Leipzig subsequently punished them ruthlessly at the other end.

“It’s certainly quite humbling,” HSV sporting director Claus Costa told DAZN in his post-match interview. “We envisioned things working out differently. After talking it over at halftime, we came out with some momentum and had one or two opportunities to pull a goal back. It didn’t happen and then, of course, one cannot concede three goals in five minutes.”

Polzin nevertheless viewed Hamburg’s attempts to take the initiative as something from which his side could build.

“We started and emerged from halftime trying to apply pressure, to be aggressive, and present in the duels,” Polzin continued at the press conference. “That’s important and I liked it very much how the lads came out in the second half trying to score our opening goal. There were four or five opportunities in which we could have gotten more out of it. Substantively, this is what will help our process.”

Polzin struck a similar tone during his post-match interview with DAZN. The HSV trainer readily acknowledged that attempts to highlight positives after consecutive 5-0 defeats could sound hollow, but maintained that the performance itself had been different.

“I told the lads before the game that we needed to show a different face for our tricot and for the fans that supported us fantastically today,” Polzin remarked. “I did see it. That sounds like total crap after the second 0-5 in a row that hurts very much. One thing is for certain, and I already told the lads that in the locker room, that we stick together no matter what. That’s important during this phase.”

The 35-year-old returned to the same point when asked about the statistical picture.

“I know it also sounds like crap,” Polzin continued in response to a later question. “But the differences in shots on goal weren’t all that big, particularly during certain phases of the game. We need to take that with us as we look for the key things to solve these problems.”

Polzin and Costa remain optimistic

Polzin also rejected the notion that Hamburg’s considerable summer turnover and the process of integrating numerous new players should provide an excuse for their poor start.

“It’s too easy to use that as an excuse,” Polzin said. “We don’t want to think back to what happened last season [when HSV also bounced back from a bad start]. We want to see a HSV that can remain in the Bundesliga and establish itself [in this division].”

Costa likewise resisted calls for an emotional response to HSV’s alarming opening three league fixtures. The sporting director acknowledged that the problems could not simply be attributed to isolated mistakes.

“After two 0-5s in a row, it’s obviously both [an individual and collective] problem,” Costa told DAZN. “There are individual mistakes and also a collective and team issue. I’m not about knee-jerk reactions or grand speeches that don’t serve a purpose. It’s about us working together to find a solution. There are always keys [to solutions] in the middle of a crisis.”

Both Polzin and Costa repeatedly returned to the importance of unity as HSV prepare to host Cologne next weekend. Despite another heavy defeat, Hamburg’s traveling supporters continued to back the team in Leipzig.

“As I’ve always said, the HSV is something special,” Costa said when asked about the support. “We’ve grown together over the past few years [in the 2. Bundesliga]. We can count on enduring fan support. This energy and positivity is very important for us. We’ll need our supporters next week [at home against Cologne].”

Polzin similarly stressed collective responsibility rather than apportioning blame as Hamburg attempt to arrest their disastrous start.

“One emerges from such phases only when everyone sticks together and when one doesn’t seek to lay blame on the others,” Polzin concluded. “Instead, everyone needs to take responsibility. The feeling and reaction of the team demonstrates this precisely. That’s what we’ll carry forward in the next week. The defeat nevertheless hurts.”

GGFN | Peter Weis