Hertha Berlin vs Hamburg preview - Zinnbauer seeks further improvement

Posted Friday, October 24, 2014 by PA

Hamburg coach Josef Zinnbauer says he is not yet entirely satisfied with his team even though they have lifted themselves off the foot of the Bundesliga in recent weeks.

He leads the northern Germany side to the capital on Saturday with a brighter outlook on life after a win at Borussia Dortmund and draw with Hoffenheim but Zinnbauer says he still has a lot of work to do with his team.

"We're far from in celebratory mood," he said at a press conference. "We've still got to work hard to move away from the bottom of the table.

"I'm still not entirely satisfied with the way we are dealing with possession while we're not yet working well enough against the ball either.

"There's no such thing as good or bad opponents. Give or take one or two teams, anybody can beat anybody and we've got to go into this game the way we've gone into our last ones."

His caution contrasts with the enthusiasm Hertha Berlin coach Jos Luhukay showed at his pre-match press conference.

In spite of a narrow defeat to Schalke last time out, he says he has an "incredibly good feeling" from what he has seen in training over the past few days.

"The team desperately want to iron things out after the unlucky defeat to Schalke," he said.

"They've been working very hard and shown a great will to pick up the next home win.

"We've analysed Hamburg well and we're very well prepared."

Analysing the Hamburg attack will not have taken much time, considering it will be led by Pierre-Michel Lasogga, who was a Berlin player until the summer.

He joined Hamburg permanently in July after spending a successful loan spell in northern Germany last season, but the move did not go down well with Berlin fans.

"Transfers are part of football and I took this step to develop myself further," Lasogga told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

"I couldn't consider the fans' feelings in my choice. If they whistle me on Saturday, then I've just got to accept it, even if it would be hard on me.

"If I score, it will be a spontaneous decision whether to celebrate or not. The fact is, I can't let my feelings for Hertha influence me. I'm a Hamburg player now, and happy to be one too."