FC St. Pauli

...the Benidorm training camp: "We return to Hamburg feeling positive. We worked very well and went through all the topics we wanted to work on in training. We had a good mix between theory, in terms of video analysis, and practice, in terms of what we translated into action on the training ground. The players all pulled their weight and did what was asked of them well, as was evident in the friendly against Lugano. Essentially, it's put us in a positive frame of mind. It's now down to the fine-tuning. That includes where a pass has to go and how we collect the ball."

...the focus on the pitch: "In the beginning, we practised a lot on transitioning on winning possession and also worked on the balance between defensive stability and attacking flair. Towards the end of the week, we spent more time working on our build-up play before turning our focus to the acid test against Lugano. It was important to take as many players as possible with us, including the ones who are injured or carrying knocks. Even if they couldn't be on the training ground with the rest of the lads, they needed to understand and know what we've been working on and how. They also had the chance to follow the video sessions and take things from them."

...focus off the pitch: "The mood was positive and the atmosphere great. It was evident, and this is important to me, that the lads are developing a natural togetherness and growing in it. We saw that both on and off the pitch. They've spent a lot of time together here and talked a lot not, only about football but about other things as well. Individual groups really worked themselves into the ground in the gym. There was loud music and a good atmosphere and the lads pushed each other. I get the feeling things are happening in the team. The underlying atmosphere was very positive, and that goes for the staff, too. It's very important for us to see that we're all pulling together and the mood is positive. The more positive it is, the greater the motivation of every individual."

...the convincing win over FC Lugano: "The team made a positive impression throughout. Nevertheless, it's important not to place too much emphasis on the result or read too much into it. We saw lots of very good things, though, things we've been working on. I'm a coach who likes to keep a clean sheet because I'm convinced that when we do, we have incredible attacking quality in every individual. We're always capable of scoring. That's why defensive stability is important to me, and we didn't have that in a certain phase of the game when we let the opposition back into it through avoidable mistakes. We'll experience similar phases this season and we have to be prepared for them. The opposition can't score when we have the ball. We still have room for improvement there."

...his impression of the three winter signings: "Karol Mets trained once individually and twice with the team and then came the friendly, so we put him on a customised workload. Karol adds a certain charisma straightaway. He has experience that will help the team on the pitch. With his height he'll also give us more assurance when defending set pieces. And that's exactly what we're hoping for - that he exudes his charisma at moments like these. That he structures and organises the lads and communicates with them when things are getting hectic. He has an excellent left foot as well and builds the play very well from the back, so I'm delighted he's here. Maurides has lots of positive energy. You see it on the pitch, he has really good charisma. And in the friendly we saw that he's a powerful player who attacks the penalty area with determination, which obviously adds value to our play. He still has some catching up to do as far as our set patterns are concerned when working against the ball. It's down to us to teach him the patterns quickly. We're also doing a lot of work a lot with him in the video area. He's integrated quickly and working with him is a joy. Elias Saad still has to get used to the intensity. We train a lot more, the load on his body is different and he's becoming accustomed to that now. He's also integrated really well and we've already seen what he can bring to the table. He's technically gifted, an accomplished player with a drive for goal in the one on ones. We're delighted to have him in the squad. All the players who have joined us bring added value and so as coach I've reason to be very happy."

...the focus in the coming weeks until the start of the second half of the season: "We want to continue the work we've done at training camp in finding the balance between attacking football and defensive stability. How can we lure the opposition into certain zones and then win possession, and how is our positional play for transitioning quickly? We're also placing a lot of focus on set pieces. And above all that is the intensity. The foundation of our play will be continuing to train intensively until the season resumes and I'm convinced we'll need that intensity in every phase of a game."

Photos: FC St. Pauli