FC St. Pauli

Fabian Hürzeler on…

...the personnel situation after the cup game: “We have to await each day. Some players are feeling a bit of muscle tiredness, but they all trained well and did something yesterday. Not with the same workload, but they were all involved. We’ll see whether Eric Smith is available. It’s something that might pass quickly but could also take a few days. We simply have to wait and see. Etienne Amenyido has a minor neck problem, so again we’ll have to wait and see, Otherwise, everyone will be on board.”

...opponents SV Elversberg: “You have to say we’re up against a top side. They play very effective, bold football, starting at the back with keeper Nicolas Kristof and then spreading through the whole team. They simply want to play football. They don’t play like a side who’ve just come up, they’re very streetwise in what they do. They have clear patterns off the ball, are very compact, and operate with a ball-oriented defence. On winning possession, they try to find footballing solutions with the ball on the ground and are full of running. It really is exceptional. They aren’t where they are in the table for nothing. Getting a result there is going to be a big challenge.”

...a possible switch to two strikers: “We’ll have to wait and see who travels before we decide whether to play with one striker or two. Against Schalke in the cup it looked like Johannes Eggestein was operating as a second striker, but actually he took up the position of Danel Sinani. We did change the system against Karlsruhe, that’s clear, but again it’s important to look at what the opposition have to offer, so we can’t make any blanket statements about being able to play with a certain system all the time. We have to react according to what fits the opposition.”

...recuperation in a three-match week: “Recuperation begins in your head, which is why we try to restore the players’ mental freshness. We give them time to sleep so they can recuperate well, spend time with their families and think some nice thoughts. We don’t train until late in the afternoon to allow them more time with their families and that’s crucial for us. Then it’s obviously down to them how willing they are to recuperate and free their minds to be ready against Elversberg on Friday – but we try to give them the best possible preparation there.”

...the last meeting with Elversberg three years ago: “That was a cup game and I don’t look back fondly on getting knocked out, of course. Regardless of how the journey goes or how tight the ground is and what the pitch is like, these can never be reasons for not playing well. Elversberg played bold football and were good in the gaps even then. They were very effective that day and these are exactly the things they do today. What we didn’t do that day was accept the challenge, win the personal duels and impose our game on them. We’re not going there to let them pin us back, we’re going there to have trust and insist on playing our game. And for me there can be no excuses about the journey or the setting in Elversberg.”

Photos: Witters