Matarazzo: “26 points under the Christmas tree”

Pellegrino Matarazzo on…

…the opposition: ”Although Darmstadt are at the bottom of the table, they are one of the better footballing teams down in the drop zone. They look to play their way out of trouble and have two pacey strikers. You have to work hard against them, especially defensively. They have their fixed defensive processes. Their system of play works for them, bot for us, the focus is on bringing the right energy onto the pitch. If you think you can just beat an opponent like that by passing the ball around a bit, you’re wrong. The team has to want to defend. Then we’ll be able to find our spaces and score our goals. I’m always optimistic. I approach every game with conviction and the ambition to win.”

…the game in Leipzig: ”We deserved to lose the game because of the first five minutes and the last 20 minutes. It’s a matter of maintaining our focus over 90 minutes. We were close to tipping the game in our favour at 1-1. But then our defence let us down, despite being excellent for 70 minutes. We were spread too thin and were penalised straight away. You can’t offer any space at this level.”

…the mood before the winter break: ”The mood was subdued after the Leipzig game. We all had the feeling that we could have done better. But Sunday shows me that we still have something left in the tank. I have the feeling that we’ve put Saturday’s game behind us and are ready to get going again.”

…the winter schedule: “We’re off from Wednesday, then we’ll pick things up again on 2 January. We have a very short break, but we’ve given the boys as much time off as possible.”

…his plans for Christmas: “At home, it’s a mixture of three cultures – German, Italian and American. But the most important thing for me is having 26 points under the Christmas tree.”

The personnel situation:

Bambasé Conté and Wout Weghorst are out, as are long-term absentees Marco John, Mergim Berisha and Dennis Geiger. Otherwise, Pellegrino Matarazzo has a full complement of players at his disposal.

The opposition’s form:

SV Darmstadt 98 are currently bottom of the Bundesliga. In December, Torsten Lieberknecht’s team suffered three narrow defeats against 1. FC Köln (1-0), 1. FC Heidenheim (3-2) and VfL Wolfsburg (1-0). Darmstadt have not won in the league since 7 October (2-1 away to FC Augsburg).

Head-to-head record

There have been four meetings between Hoffenheim and Darmstadt in the Bundesliga, and the balance is even. Both teams won one game each and two games ended in draws. Andrej Kramarić scored all three of Hoffenheim’s goals in these games.