FC St. Pauli

Fabian Hürzeler on…

...the injury situation: “Maurides isn’t back on the training ground yet after his operation, he’s working in the gym. Our long-term absentees, such as David Nemeth, are gradually resuming training. Igor Matanović has started his rehab. Etienne Amenyido will be back on the training ground soon. Eric Smith did some running yesterday, we’ll have to wait and see if he can return to full training today.”

...whether Lukas Daschner, Eric Smith und Jakov Medić, who are all four yellow cards, will be holding back: “No, they’re to go flat out.“

...opponents Eintracht Braunschweig: “They’re an extremely compact side with above-average quality in transition. They have the players to do that, such as Anton Donkor at left-back and Maurice Multhaup at right-back. Up front, they have a top-quality player in Anthony Ujah. He can hold the ball up for Fabio Kaufmann, Immanuel Pherai and Lion Lauberbach to run onto. I don’t have the exact figures, but they all have lots of pace. It won’t be easy. We saw in the reverse fixture that they can score goals through individual bits of play. They pose a threat in every game, no matter who they’re playing. For us it will be extremely important to be alert throughout, keep a good shape and press the ball well to avoid getting caught on the break. They operate with either five at the back or a back four, which means I have to prepare my team for both systems. We’ll see how Braunschweig operate on Sunday.”

...lessons from the 2-1 defeat in the reverse fixture: “As a general principle, I don’t watch past matches because the positions and the players are different. We’re trying to focus on the present and what Braunschweig are doing well at the moment. We don’t live in the past and instead of looking at what we did wrong, we focus on the things we’re good at just now, what we can do better and where we can drive our process forward.”

...the mistakes in possession: “We have to practise more. I keep saying we’re developing and that we’re in a process. The process has a lot to do with our play with the ball and finding answers. Finding answers against teams who sit back is the hardest thing in football. We have to take it step by step. There are lots of factors involved, such as getting in the right positions and having the dynamism to get in behind the defence, but it’s also about passing the ball accurately with the right technique. They’re details that together make up the whole. We need to do better if we want to create chances against Braunschweig. It’ll also be important to keep a clean sheet, which will require good cover and control. We can’t have every player getting forward. We need a good structure to be able to press the ball straightaway if we give it away.”

Photos: Witters