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Last Friday was again one of those days when Merlin Polzin had to do a lot of building work.

The evening before, HSV had lost 2-1 in Sandhausen, another defeat by a basement child in the league, as was the case recently in Würzburg.

Hamburg is well on its way to for the third time in a row to gamble away the ascent in the last meters of a season.

Nervousness spreads.

Polzin, assistant coach of head coach Daniel Thioune, has a special connection with the young players, the need for discussion before the away game on Sunday afternoon (1.30 p.m.) in Regensburg was great. There is also a lot at stake for the 30-year-old himself, because if the mission “return to the elite class” fails again, it should also have a direct impact on the coaching team.

Professional football is a tough day-to-day business with very tight timing and content. In the final phase of the season this is even more noticeable than usual. In a conversation with Merlin Polzin before the Sandhausen game, he describes his part in the overall HSV structure like this : “It's about developing and improving the guys individually on the pitch every day.

It's about their strengths and weaknesses and about providing them with support here. "

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There is hardly a rotary shot, practiced duel or slalom with a hat that Polzin does not take over the fine adjustment directly on the field. If Thioune is the primus inter pares of the HSV coaching team, Polzin is the better-maker as his adjutant. “I work a lot with video material from our own training and point games. We try to give the boys our principles so that they can internalize them. We also always show scenes from the Bundesliga, 3rd division or Champions League to illustrate. ”When it works out in a game, those are the nice moments for the young coach. If not, his boss is the main critic.

But success is not only defined in titles or on the basis of things verifiable on paper, Polzin believes.

“It's important to work on your own player or coach profile.

It is my aspiration and my goal to be better with the guys today than yesterday and tomorrow than today.

There is no shortcut either, it's everyday work. ”The young footballers Stephan Ambrosius and Josha Vagnoman have become regular players.

Then the studied sports and German teacher tries to quote: "Many want to be something, but nobody wants to become something."

From little fan to team member

Polzin moved to the Elbe in 2020 together with Thioune from VfL Osnabrück.

At VfL, he had looked after various teams with him since 2014, including the professional team for three years.

Polzin is a real Hamburg boy who grew up in the Bramfeld district.

He himself says that he “slept in HSV bed linen as a small child”.

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In addition to working on the field, his main focus is on "planning the training and also watching games on the laptop, filtering out scenes and actions and discussing them with colleagues from the analysis team," says Polzin. This would be about preparing the opponent analysis as well as influencing the match plan on the respective game day. “Then there is the analysis and follow-up after our games,” and there was a lot to do recently after various slips.

Polzin and Thioune then themselves suffer from the fact that so little is currently going in the right direction. In addition to their emotional ability to inspire players and be able to take them with them, both are attested to have intellectual competence, and that they permeate football in all of its facets. Polzin also mentions the scouting department with Chief Scout Claus Costa, with whom we talk closely. "Modern football is such a large, complex structure that nobody can depict everything."

About his relationship with Thioune, he reports that in the seven years of cooperation they have “built up a very close relationship, especially when it comes to human issues.

You know what makes the other tick, which values ​​are important ”.

In the beginning he still “looked up as a young trainer and person to someone who has already experienced more”, but over the years he has developed a lot personally.

"I get extreme freedom from him when it comes to our work," says Poltin and adds: "One can rely on the other, we don't need to talk about every detail, and yet everyone knows what the other means."

"I want to be as successful as possible"

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Polzin, who kicked up to the league himself for Bramfelder SV, had to end his own playing career early due to osteoarthritis of the toe.

He started his coaching career at HSV in 2012 as a youth coach.

"When it became clear in the summer that we had the offer from HSV, things came full circle for me," he says happily.

He was four or five years old for the first time in the old Volksparkstadion, which photos of his parents would testify.

Later he supported HSV as a fan with childhood friends.

“Working here is definitely the greatest from an emotional point of view.

But I can separate it well, it's not about sensitivities or my opinion, but about working as successfully as possible. "

The question of whether he wants to become head coach at some point is often asked. Polzin replies dryly: “If I can implement my football content and visions, it doesn't matter whether I stand in the first line or stay in the background.

I want to get better and be as successful as possible, in whatever role. ”At the moment he would find it exciting to see Thomas Tuchel assert himself at Chelsea.

"And Marcelo Bielsa, as he appears in Leeds, is promoted from the second to the first division, but has nevertheless remained true to his style of play."

That would probably be the big goal for HSV, but the team now has to find their way back to the style of play as quickly as possible that had brought them to the top of the table in the winter.

Today against Regensburg there is a lot going on, also for the coaching team.