Hamburg coach Armin Veh is looking forward to the second half of the season after being given his club's backing after a board meeting.
But he told the club's official website: "I made it perfectly clear at the start of this week that it was never in any doubt that I would continue working here and remain on the bench in the second half of the season.
"I really enjoy working in this club and I am looking forward to the second half of the season with a lot of enthusiasm and joy."
Veh denied that his meeting this week with club boss Bernd Hoffmann had been called due to the unsatisfactory progress made since he took over in July.
He said: "We always said that we would sit down during the winter break and discuss current issues.
"It was a very good talk. Of course we discussed the first half of the season intensively, but we were mainly dealing with the tasks ahead."
The former Stuttgart and Wolfsburg coach's contract expires in the summer and he admits that was also on the agenda, but the priority lies elsewhere at present.
"We agreed that we would first aim to end the second half of the season as successfully as possible," added Veh.
"Everything else will be discussed after then. There is no need to build up any unnecessary pressure.
"Our aim is to reduce the deficit on the top five as quickly as possible so that we can then finish there ourselves at the end of the season."
