A mere 64 hours after the final whistle blew on their 3-0 UEFA Champions League win away to Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday evening, VfB are back in action on Saturday 17 October when they travel to Hamburger SV (kick-off 15:30 CEST).
Lessons learned from last season
Sebastian Hoeneß’s side will once again have to strike the right balance between recovery and preparation – something that they are rapidly becoming used to. The focus is already on their next opponents, with the head coach saying: “HSV turned things around late on at Hoffenheim last weekend and that will have given them a lot of momentum”.
Indeed, it would appear that Hamburg have put their poor start to the Bundesliga season behind them, which saw them lose three in a row, fail to score and ship no fewer than 12 goals. Head coach Merlin Polzin’s side have won their last two, 3-2 at Hoffenheim and 2-1 at home to Köln. “They’re clearly on the up, and we saw last season how things can pan out at the Volksparkstadion,” Hoeneß cautioned.
Nigh on 6,000 VfB fans heading to Hamburg
On Bundesliga Matchday 12 last term, the lads from Cannstatt conceded a goal in added time as they fell to a 2-1 defeat, before turning things around in the return fixture and running out 4-0 winners at the MHP Arena. “We know that we will be under plenty of pressure on Saturday, both on the pitch and from the home fans, and we want to withstand that and put in the best possible performance,” said Hoeneß.
VfB will also be looking to extend a club record, having scored in each of their last 24 Bundesliga away matches – the longest current streak in the league. Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion is a tough place to visit, but the club know that they will have almost 6,000 fans cheering them on and giving them all the support they need.
