Right decisions required at Braunschweig
Saturday, 04. February 2017, 13:49 Uhr
Following the unfortunate 1-0 defeat against Stuttgart last time out the Boys in Brown now face the next promotion candidates in Eintracht Braunschweig on Sunday (kick-off: 1300 CET). Ewald Lienen's side will be looking to make the right decisions in attack to return to Hamburg with a result.
The St. Pauli boss can have no complaints about the commitment shown by his players in training this week. "The lads have worked very hard and are highly motivated," he said. "We've focused on our attacking game and in particular our final ball. Against Stuttgart we got into the box on several occasions but couldn't produce the final pass. That was down to the passing player but also to the others, who have to make the right runs into space. It's a question of composure and vision. During the week we've been provoking such situations to allow us to make the right decisions at the weekend."
Sitting in second in the table, Braunschweig are well placed to secure promotion to the Bundesliga for the second time in their history. As difficult as the task may be (Eintracht have won eight and drawn one of their nine home games so far), other statistics give cause for optimism. Two years ago Lienen's charges secured a 2-0 away win when in a similar situation to today. They also have a decent record against Braunschweig in the second division, consisting of nine wins, three draws and just three defeats. And the Boys in Brown have kept clean sheets in four of the last five encounters, a 2-0 defeat in the reverse fixture this season proving the only exception.
Torsten Lieberknecht's side made to flying start to the campaign, picking up 25 points from their first ten matches. They have only won two of their last eight, however, though they have only lost two as well. A 1-1 draw at Würzburg allowed their arch rivals Hannover to replace them at the top of the table thanks to a 1-0 win against Kaiserslautern, and so Eintracht are now determined to return to the summit.
Lienen will again be without over half a dozen players due to injury or illness in his bid to repeat the win of two years ago. A focused performance will be needed, and the willingness of the players to go to the limit. Another solid defensive performance, coupled with more accuracy in front of goal, even if it's only once, can make all the difference.
Photo: Witters
