No peace, pleasure or pancakes for Hamburg's Fink

Thorsten Fink took his first training session as the new coach of Hamburg on Tuesday promising only hard work will pull his team off the bottom of the German league - not peace, pleasure or pancakes. "Those (players) who get on with him will enjoy themselves and have fun at work," Fink's assistant Patrick Rahmen said of the new Hamburg coach. "He is generally open, but he also knows when to be serious and take control. "It is not always peace, pleasure and pancakes (with him)." And midfielder Gojko Kacar says he expects to see plenty of fighting spirit from his Hamburg team-mates. "Passion and team spirit are the most important things for him, he expects a lot from us," admitted the Serbia international. Although he takes charge with his side bottom of the Bundesliga after nine games, Fink is refusing to talk of a relegation battle with his team having won two of their last three league games. "No, the team will be successful if they implement my thinking and my philosophy," he said. "And fear is the last thing I have." Having retired from football at Bayern Munich in 2006 to go into coaching, the 43-year-old faces his biggest challenge as a coach after two seasons in charge of Swiss side FC Basel. He succeeds Michael Oenning, who was sacked in September after only six months in charge. Numerous camera crews, photographers and around 400 fans watched Fink's first training session and his first real test comes on Saturday evening when his team host 2009 German league champions VfL Wolfsburg. Former Germany star Mario Basler has warned his ex-Bayern team-mate he faces a tough test in the pressure-cooker environment of the Bundesliga. "He must not underestimate the situation at Hamburg," Basler told SID. "The pressure in the Bundesliga is much higher than in Switzerland. "Here he will be watched very differently. "It won't be easy, he needs three or four weeks to get to know the team." But Basler is backing Fink to prove his worth as a German league coach. "He has always prevailed, even though he was often underestimated, because he has a strong character, is very meticulous about his work and is very determined. "Moreover, he always wants to win, always."