FC St. Pauli

Transfers

While the Boys in Brown did the least transfer business of any second-division team this winter, Mats Møller Dæhli the sole departure to Genk, Dynamo Dresden did the most. Moussa Koné (Olympique Nîmes), Patrick Möschl (FC Magdeburg), and Matthäus Taferner (Wacker Innsbruck) all left the club, and six players made the opposite move. The Saxons brought in midfielder Josef Husbauer from Slavia Prague (five appearances in the Champions League this season), strikers Godsway Donjoh (FC Nordsjaelland), Simon Makienok (FC Utrecht), and Patrick Schmidt (FC Heidenheim), attacking utility player Marco Terrazzino (SC Freiburg), and midfielder Ondrej Petrak (FC Nürnberg).

Suspensions

Friday's game was set to be a battle of the giants, in the genuine sense of the phrase, but it won't come to that. Dresden's new signing Simon Makienok, who measures 2.01 m (6'6"), was sent off for serious foul play following a challenge on Darmstadt goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen just six minutes after coming on as a substitute on his debut for the Saxons. He was handed a two-match ban and will therefore miss Friday's game. That means he won't go up against Henk Veerman, who is the same height, in what would have been a meeting of the tallest players in German football. Dynamo captain Patrick Ebert will also miss the game due to suspension; the midfielder picked up his tenth yellow card of the season against Darmstadt and is thus serving his second one-match ban.

Appeal

After the 1-0 home win against Karlsruhe and the scoreless draw at Heidenheim, the Saxons lost 3-2 to Darmstadt last week. In that game, the bottom side levelled it at 3-3 through Patrick Schmidt, only for the goal to be disallowed after referee Michael Bacher had another look at it in the review area on the recommendation of the VAR. Dynamo Dresden lodged an appeal against the match result on late Saturday evening. "In our opinion the referee committed a breach of the DFB Rules and Procedures, thus influencing the outcome of the game to our disadvantage," said Dynamo sporting director Ralf Minge.

Tackler

When Dresden come to the Millerntor, they bring one of the league's best tacklers with them. Florian Ballas has won 166 of his 252 duels for an impressive success rate of 65.87 per cent. In Georg Margreitter (69.11 per cent/FC Nürnberg), Nathaniel Phillips (67.74 per cent/VfB Stuttgart), Jan Gyamerah (65.91 per cent/ HSV), and Daniel Gordon (65.94 per cent/Karlsruhe), only four players have a better tackle success rate than the Dynamo centre-back.

Goal attempts

Dresden scored two goals for the first time in over four months against Darmstadt last week. Not since the 2-1 home win over Regensburg in September had the Saxons netted twice. With just 20 goals scored this season, Kauczinski's side have the weakest attack in the league, and that is not by chance. The tail-enders have registered only 223 attempts on goal in their 21 games so far, by far the lowest total behind Wehen Wiesbaden (244).

Game chasers

This reticence in front of goal, coupled with the fifth-poorest defence (37 goals conceded to date), means the Saxons have often found themselves behind. That has been the case 14 times already this season; only Karlsruhe (16) have been left chasing the game more often. Twelve of those games ended in defeat. Only once have Dresden recovered to take a point, and that was in the reverse fixture against the Boys in Brown, which finished 3-3. Dynamo's sole victory after going behind was the 2-1 defeat of Jahn Regensburg.

Photos: Eibner