FC St. Pauli

Alexander Blessin on…

...the first session back after two days off: "The lads enjoyed their days off, which was important. The mood is good. We're entering the final phase now and it's good to be mentally fresh going into it. We have some important things to work on and we started on that today. We showed the lads the first part of the Nice game, the second will follow tomorrow."

...how he spent the time off: "I did some work in the garden. It gets me thinking positively and I find it liberating. You've nothing around you and the mobile phone's put to one side. There's always something to do in the garden and I enjoy it. I played a couple of board games with the family as well. The two-and-a-half days were over quickly but I was able to recharge my batteries after ten intensive days at training camp."

...the status of the preparations: "We're on the right track but there's still a bit to do. We won't let recent results colour our thinking. I only see the performance and that's what I intend to assess – regardless of whether we win or lose. There've been some good things, but also things where there's room for improvement, both on and off the ball. We have to work on making better use of our chances."

...the friendly at Coventry City: "Playing in England is always interesting. Last year's game at Norwich was really cool. Coventry are a club with tradition and the atmosphere is good. We've worked on a few things and tried to put them into practice and it's about taking the next step now. We're on a good level in most areas but still lacking a bit in some. We want to address that during the game. We'll play the lads in a ratio of 60 to 30 minutes or 70 to 20 minutes. The aim is to give the lads more minutes. That means things are starting to come together but nothing's final yet. We're still in competition mode and Coventry are decent opposition."

...whether Manolis Saliakas will feature against Coventry: "He has to participate in the sessions leading up to the game and I think he will. He's no longer feeling any pain, which is a prerequisite. If he trains in full, he'll get some playing time, but it'll be more like 30 minutes rather than 60."

...nominating the captain and the players' committee: "It's a very short week. I've told the lads I'll speak to them next week. I'll pick the captain and the players' committee but it's important for me to talk to the lads and get their thoughts beforehand. They spent a lot of time together at training camp and did a lot of talking."

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters