Boldt on the mode: “First division team has many, many advantages”

Thinking about the relegation mode: HSV sports director Jonas Boldt.

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Accompanied by sports director Jonas Boldt and sports director Claus Costa and with a smile, Tim Walter entered the training ground on Monday to lead the unit of his reservists while the regular players were phased out. Laszlo Benes was not there. On Sunday, the Slovakian had waved off a shot after just a few minutes and had to go out with a muscle injury and a thigh with a thick bandage. Twice as bitter: Benes apparently had problems during the warm-up in Hardtwald, but he really wanted to play from the start as a substitute for the suspended Ludovit Reis. Reis and right winger Bakery Jatta are returning on Thursday, but the ex-Mönchengladbacher, who has scored six goals and prepared nine times, will miss both knockout games injured. It is the next personal setback for a squad already decimated by the absences of Mario Vuskovic (doping ban), Noah Katterbach (torn cruciate ligament) and Andras Nemeth (fractured ankle).

Boldt and Walter are not relegation friends

However, Boldt tries to keep the focus forward. Not, however, without expressing general criticism of the mode. “In terms of statistics,” says the 41-year-old, “the first division team has many, many advantages in relegation. It might be an idea to reconsider that and explore the three places completely differently, because it can’t be in the sense that in the end it’s always the first division.” In fact, the second division team has only prevailed three times since relegation was reintroduced in 2009, and Tim Walter had already said before the last matchday: “Heidenheim and we both played a great season. You should think about relegation in general .”

Does Walter’s message get through?

Since Monday, however, Boldt and Walter have been thinking about how to get their players back on their feet. The sports director called out these words to the fans on Sunday in Sandhausen over the stadium microphone: “If we put everything on the scales again next week, then we’ll do it with an extra lap.” This message must now also get into the heads of the professionals.