“The buzzword is…”: what Polzin expects from HSV transfers | OneFootball

The season has been reviewed, the vacation planned. And yet HSV’s preparations for the coming campaign are already in full swing.

Merlin Polzin will travel to the USA in the coming days to switch off after an exhausting year. But there is one topic the head coach cannot and does not want to completely detach himself from: planning his squad. Coordination with sporting director Claus Costa is too close for that, and Polzin will be reachable once a day for him. A red phone line to Hamburg, however, will not be necessary.

Within the club, it has long already been decided what types of players should be signed. “The profiles are clearly defined. From the coaching side, there is no either-or, because it is clear how we want to operate,” Polzin explained on the Abendblatt podcast “HSV, wir müssen reden,” before adding: “The key word is intensity.”

Photo: IMAGO

HSV: What Polzin means by “intensity”

However, that does not only apply in the classic sense of distance covered or sprint statistics. The fact that HSV ranked among the weakest teams in the Bundesliga in these metrics plays only a minor role for the coach. “Intensity is not defined by the number of kilometers,” he explains. What matters much more is “stability in challenges, quick transitions mentally, and more power to play football.” That is exactly what HSV will be looking for on the market.

Polzin’s goal is to sign players who work aggressively off the ball, are reliable defensively, and at the same time are flexible enough to help shape different phases of the game. Because even though “defending” still comes first for him, the Rothosen are also supposed to take the next step in footballing terms. More “purposeful possession football” will also be part of the plan going forward.

A few days ago, Sport Bild already reported that HSV wants to further develop parts of its playing philosophy and act more dominantly depending on the situation. The defensive back three will nevertheless remain a fixed part of the team’s system. So a northern German version of “Voetbal Total” is not to be expected. Rather, the (former) promoted side still wants to be an unpleasant and hard-to-beat opponent.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.