Three players, one spot: The fiercest battle for places at HSV | OneFootball

At HSV, there is currently hardly any position where the competition is as open and intense as it is on the right defensive side.

With Giorgi Gocholeishvili, William Mikelbrencis, and Bakery Jatta, three players are fighting for playing time. So far, a clear number one has not emerged. For coach Merlin Polzin, the situation is both a challenge and an opportunity.

In the first months of the season, it was mainly summer signing Gocholeishvili and Mikelbrencis who alternated. Recently, however, fan favorite Jatta has also been increasingly involved. So far, none of the three players has been completely convincing in sporting terms.

In the Bundesliga, the trio is still waiting for a goal involvement, and after a strong start, Gocholeishvili has recently made some mistakes. In the 1:4 loss in Hoffenheim, the Georgian was substituted at halftime, and in the northern derby against Werder Bremen (3:2), he only came off the bench.

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HSV: Right flank requires “very intense meters”

To raise the performance on this key position, Polzin took an unusual measure. The coach invited all three players to a joint meeting. “We sat together as the coaching staff with the three guys. We made it clear to them that with every single training session, it’s about keeping the level of this position high and developing it,” the 35-year-old is quoted as saying by Bild. The internal competition is deliberately being fueled: “If your teammate trains really hard and well, you’ll probably take another step more rather than less.”

At the same time, Polzin emphasizes the team spirit. Because the vacant position holds special significance in the HSV system. “The right flank defends in our own penalty area and at the same time has to arrive at the opponent’s far post. Those are very intense meters that have to be covered,” says the coach. Accordingly, “there will always be changes.”

Even before the Bundesliga match against Eintracht Frankfurt, Polzin deliberately kept the decision open. “The competition is very tight, otherwise there wouldn’t have been so many changes in the past,” said the coach. So it is still completely open who will get to start in the final match of the year against SGE.

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