“No one feels any uncertainty”: contract extension despite disastrous start - HSV and coach Merlin Polzin close to agreement

The euphoria over a successful late burst in the transfer window with the signings of Fabio Vieira and co. has thoroughly evaporated at Hamburg SV.

RB Leipzig followed up their 2-0 defeat at the start of the season and the alarming 5-0 home defeat against FSV Mainz with another debacle. A second straight 5-0 loss leaves Hamburg 18th.

Off the pitch, though, HSV's sporting leadership are projecting unity and a clear plan.

"A basic agreement is in place," head coach Merlin Polizin told DAZN on Sunday. "It's about the details. Nobody needs to worry about me or the coaching staff."

New sporting director Kathleen Krüger echoed that message: "The getting-to-know-you process is complete. We are basically in agreement. These are simply small details and processes that we still have to go through. We are all still on course. I don't sense any unrest around HSV. Quite the opposite: we in the team know what we have in each other. Nobody feels any uncertainty. We know that we will go into the future together."

HSV collapse after a futile fightback

Both statements came before the game in Leipzig, where HSV started brightly but gifted away two simple goals and spent the rest of the night chasing a Champions League side.

After the break, Hamburg pushed for a way back and passed up several good chances before RB made it 3-0. The visitors were still reeling when two more goals followed in quick succession.

Even so, Polzin tried to focus on the positives: "Either you look at the final result and say: similarly awful to last week. But on the other hand, I saw a team that tried to do many things better than last week."

Merlin Polzin demands: HSV must "step up brutally"

Even so, they had to "step up brutally". "That is a challenge, but one that also makes me positive, because I can see the reaction from the lads," said Polzin.

Three games in, Hamburg are bottom with no points and a goal difference of 0-12. Before the international break, they travel to 1. FC Cologne next Saturday (3.30pm/Sky), where they must be "clearer and more composed", captain Nicolai Remberg demanded. He continued: "It goes without saying that picking up points would do us good. But for me to stand here and say we have to get points or everything is over is also a joke. But of course, a positive result would do the team good."

Meanwhile, professional football director Claus Costa told DAZN he was not a fan of "knee-jerk reactions", even if "the bare result is sobering" and HSV needed "a different face" against Cologne.

Any euphoria at HSV may have gone, but nobody seems to be panicking.