Hamburg’s Merlin Polzin accepts responsibility for personnel decisions after heavy Mainz defeat

Hamburger SV head coach Merlin Polzin bears responsibility for personnel decisions following a heavy 0-5 home loss to Mainz 05, according to the club. Hamburg's new squad, bolstered during the summer transfer window, struggled in their opening Bundesliga match, leaving the team without a point or goal in the first two fixtures. The coach spoke in his opening press conference, stating that the result was "totally shitty" and that there was no need to sugarcoat the events as emotions were still high.

Polzin made four changes to the team that started against Dortmund, including the inclusion of Fabio Vieira, Zakaria El Ouahdi, David Møller Wolfe, and Terem Moffi. He admitted that introducing multiple new players at once could have contributed to the collapse, but emphasized that all players were committed and should share the responsibility.

The defeat was primarily due to Hamburg's inability to execute their match plan, despite having prepared specifically for Mainz's strengths. Jordan Torunarigha was also substituted at halftime, but Polzin confirmed there were no injury-related reasons behind the change. The coach concluded that playing poorly would leave Hamburg vulnerable against any Bundesliga opponent.