Hamburger coach Merlin Polzin has confirmed that he did not substitute Super Eagles attacker Philip Otele against Augsburg due to an injury, Soccernet.ng reports.
Otele was handed a starting shirt when his Hamburger side welcomed Augsburg to Volksparkstadion for their Week 28 German Bundesliga clash.
But despite their home advantage and the fact that both teams were evenly matched in terms of momentum and quality, Hamburger went into the break a goal down.
Otele had a golden opportunity to grab the equalizer in the 39th minute, but his effort was denied by Finn Dahmen.
Ultimately, Die Rothosen carried the deficit into halftime. However, upon their return to the pitch for the second half, Otele was no longer among the eleven players.
At first, it was feared that he might have sustained an injury or that his withdrawal was a precautionary measure to avoid one. But that was not the case, as coach Polzin explained after the match.
Merlin Reveals Reason For Benching Philip Otele
After the game, coach Merlin Polzin was asked for the reason behind withdrawing Philip Otele, and he explained that it was purely tactical. He also confirmed that the 26-year-old winger is fully fit.
Otele arrived at Hamburger on loan from Swiss side Basel during the January transfer window. So far, he has contributed one goal and one assist in eight appearances.
”No, [he was not injured]. It is always about improving our game,” Polzin said at the post-match press conference.
”In the first half, we didn't like our play because it caused us problems regarding depth and the repeated number of deep runs behind the [defensive] line.
”We needed those runs to become dangerous or to increase the space in the intermediate gaps. In that case, we weren't satisfied, and it became significantly more dynamic with Jatta. Therefore, I believe it was a good decision for the team.”
The former Al Wahda man was part of the 23-man squad invited for the last international break by Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle.
