Hamburg head coach defends Yussuf Poulsen captaincy, presages ‘waffle party’ for Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer | OneFootball

One week removed from his first Bundesliga win, Hamburg head coach Merlin Polzin is hoping to keep the momentum going in a weekend Bundesliga fixture away at 1. FC Union Berlin. The head coach of the newly promoted top flight side nevertheless still had much to answer for at his Friday pre-match press conference.

Polzin’s team were able to put two goals past the Bundesliga’s worst team, 1. FC Heidenheim, in a 2-1 home victory last Saturday. The match provided solid storylines when it came to the matters of goal-scorer Luka Vuskovic and assist-provider Fabio Vieira, but the general state of the Hamburger SV attack leaves much to be desired.

The striker Polzin controversially selected to serve as the squad’s new captain, long-time RB Leipzig man Yussuf Poulsen, has still only logged negligible minutes due to injury. The lead striker Hamburg have controversially opted to back, Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer, has performed very poorly in four league starts thus far.

Polzin had to answer for his decision to strip previous skipper Sebastian Schonlau of the captaincy (a move that led to the club veteran leaving the club to join MLS outfit Vancouver Whitecaps) on Friday. Poulsen’s battle with injuries have kept the Dane out of the matchday squad over the last two weeks.

Poulsen last appeared as a later sub in Hamburg’s infamous humiliating home derby loss against FC St. Pauli. The 31-year-old was wholly ineffective in 34 minutes of relief action. Königsdörffer, meanwhile, has been awful in 317 total minutes in the league.

“The experience Yussi has gained in his career is not only reflected in his playing time for us,” Polzin said with respect to Poulsen yesterday, “It’s also about his day-to-day interaction with the team and his day-to-day leadership. He plays an important role in that way. It was definitely the right decision. We stand by this decision. It was a good one and it helps the team.“

After scoring a goal in the Pokal, Königsdörffer hasn’t really come close to doing so in his first tastes of German top flight action. Apart from an instance in which he found the back of the net in the St. Pauli match (the goal was chalked off due to an offside position), the 24-year-old Ghanaian international has looked way out-of-sync with the attack.

Königsdörffer is often too far ahead of the play and seems to lack concentration on crosses. Polzin nonetheless still backed him to start, and perhaps ignite a spark, in his return to his hometown Berlin on Sunday. Königsdörffer hails from the Moabit borough of Berlin and came up through the Hertha BSC academy.

“In training, Ransi is very dangerous in front of goal, and scores a lot with his solid moves,”  Polzin remarked yesterday. “That’s why I told him again at the beginning of the week that I really like how much danger he creates and that it’s only a matter of time before he scores his first Bundesliga goal. He’s no longer the same Ransi. He’s made huge strides.

Königsdörffer once revealed that one of his post-match celebratory traditions involves rewarding himself with a “waffle party“. Over the course of four 2. Bundesliga seasons spent playing for HSV and Dynamo Dresden, there were 29 instances in which Königsdörffer received a chance to sit down and pour the syrup after the match.

“I would be very, very happy if he could soon return to his beloved ‘waffle party’ ritual,” Polzin concluded.

GGFN | Peter Weis