Markus Gisdol: "We won't just hand over the points"

Markus Gisdol on…

…the opposition:

The injury to Philipp Lahm is obviously not good but these things happen in football. There's no other team in Germany, and perhaps even Europe, that can compensate for losses the way that they can because they only have big players, whether it's Müller, Götze or Lewandowski. You can probably recite their whole squad. They would all play a major role at any club in Europe. Bayern have their own playing style and hardly make any mistakes. When they win the ball and catch the other team off guard, the ball is played into the box and then they score. They don't make mistakes even playing at the highest tempo - they are accurate with their passes. Their individual quality is very impressive.

…the personnel situation:

It's a relatively relaxed situation. Eugen Polanski is the only player with a serious injury. He took a knock to the thigh at training. I don't know whether he'll be ready for Saturday. The players that were away with their national teams came back without any injuries. We'll have to have a look to see if they've recovered well, especially Sebastian Rudy and Kevin Volland, who were exhausted after playing on a heavy pitch in Vigo. Jin-Su Kim has trained with the team for two weeks without any problems and has played two training games. He hasn't featured for a long time and his rhythm is still lacking, but I'm looking forward to him being back available soon and to have a proper left back.

…the sporting situation:

We know what we do well as a team and we have respect for what FC Bayern do well. Two different styles of play will come up against each other in Munich. We won't do anything particular before the game. We're looking forward to both the challenge and the match. Bayern will lose again at home, but whether that'll be against us? I don't know. But we'll try everything and we won't hand them the points. The expectations aren't that high because it's normal if you lose four, five or six nil in Munich. Or do you think that we're better than AS Roma?

The upcoming game:

TSG and FCB have played each other twelve times in the Bundesliga so far and Hoffenheim have never won. They've drawn on four occasions and they have lost the other eight. But they showed guts in both games last season. TSG lost 2-1 at home in the first half of the 2013/14 season, despite having taken the lead, while they fought back from 3-1 down in Munich to secure a point. TSG brought a Bayern's winning run to an end with the 3-3 draw - the Bavarian side had come out on top in their 19 previous games. A good omen for Saturday?

The opponents:

What can you say about Bayern? They have recorded eight wins and three draws in the league and have a goal record of 27-3. They have already won their Champions League group after four games, scoring eleven goals and conceding just one. They have six players in their squad that have been nominated for World Footballer of the Year. It's quite something. After the World Cup, many experts and manager Pep Guardiola reckoned that FC Bayern would have a tough first half of the season. But so far, it's been completely the opposite. Bayern have dominated in every competition. The only thing that has been a dampener for Guardiola's team is the amount of injuries they've suffered. Martinez, Alaba, Tiago, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Badstuber, Pizarro, Reina, Starke will all miss Saturday's game. However, Munich have the best squad and strength in depth in the league. No matter who plays at the Allianz Arena, it'll be an unbelievably tough game for TSG.

Key battles:

Götze, Müller and Lewandowski should be able to prevent TSG from leaving Munich with anything. Joking aside, if Hoffenheim want to take something from the game on Saturday, then they will have to do everything well as a team. Everyone will have to work for each other, be ready and be one step ahead. Markus Gisdol's side showed that they can do that in the 3-3 draw last season. Everyone was courageous and they forced the German record champions back towards their own box. Therefore, Bayern weren't able to adopt their usual playing style and weren't able to string together a number of quick short passes. But will that be the key on Saturday? Markus Gisdol definitely won't be revealing anything before the game.

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