FC St. Pauli

This year’s winter break, if it can be called that, was a short one. After the last league game against Fortuna Düsseldorf on 20 December and the recovery session a day later, the training ground was deserted for just four days. The players returned to work on Boxing Day, an unusual situation yet no problem for head coach Timo Schultz. “We’re taking it as it is and trying to make the most of it,” the 43-year-old said at the pre-match news conference. And that, first and foremost, means focusing on starting 2021 on a positive note.

According to Schultz the last few days have been spent making lots of small adjustments with just one thing in mind: “We want to reboot our season in the new year,” the St. Pauli boss explained. And where better to start than at Fürth on Sunday? “We’ve sometimes lacked the power, passion and mentality to rescue the situation in recent games, especially when we lose possession, which has seen us concede,” Schultz continued. That needs to change, and it needs to change now.

Julian Green (seen here in a challenge with HSV’s Jan Gyamerah) is a key player for Greuther Fürth.

A look at our next opponents underlines just how important that is, as the Boys in Brown have a tough nut to crack. Greuther Fürth start the year third in the table, but while they have impressed as an attacking force this season, they have also shown a lack of consistency at times, especially at home, something Fürth boss Stefan Leitl readily admits. "We need to find a bit more balance in our home performances,” he told the local press after the turn of the year.

Both teams thus go into the opening game of the year with good resolutions, ambition and motivation. For the Boys in Brown, it is the first of seven in January. So let’s do this. Full steam ahead!

Photos: Witters