FC St. Pauli

Fabian Hürzeler on…

...his optimism that the winning run will continue: "Generally, I'm always optimistic. The reason I'm optimistic about the game at Heidenheim is that the lads have learned from the Regensburg game. They’ve learned it doesn't work like that and performances like that aren't enough. Having said that, the more often we win, the more other teams want to beat us. We saw that against Regensburg, though I have to say a lot of that was down to us because of the technical errors and lapses in concentration. We know the opposition will always come up with something, and Heidenheim will be no exception. We have to be prepared, but don't know exactly what for, so we would do well to keep working on our strengths."

...the team spirit: "Nine wins have obviously given us confidence. We've pulled together as a team and the squad players are totally supportive as well. A team spirit has emerged that you can see not only in the dressing room but on the pitch as well. Wins can't be equated with any team events; wins weld people together, and especially wins such as the one against Regensburg, where you know you're not having a good day but can rely on the guy next to you and where you feel the subs supporting you from the touchline, having already pushed the lads who are playing in the dressing room before the game."

...FC Heidenheim: "They don't have any real weaknesses in my view. They work and tackle extremely hard and switch the play really well. They punish individual errors very effectively. They're also extremely dangerous from set pieces. On top of all their tactical ability, they also have players of huge individual quality. We know how strong they are at home. It's a big challenge for us. For me, Heidenheim are the league's most complete team and Frank Schmidt is an incredible coach."

...prolific goalscorer Tim Kleindienst: "He's on a roll and scoring goals for fun at the moment. When a striker of his quality is on a roll, he's going to score goals. He shoots from every angle and distance and always hits the target. He scores goals out of nothing and that's what makes him so dangerous. He can shoot with both feet and is good in the air. He's good running towards goal and also with his back to it. It'll be a big challenge for us to defend him as a unit. I can already say we won't defend him individually, we'll do it together."

...Heidenheim's strength on the break: "It's important not to lose the ball. That's the overriding premise. We won't play any differently than we have been doing and want to impose our style and our game on Heidenheim. It might be different in terms of our shape, we'll need different principles against Heidenheim's man-marking. They'll work extremely hard to win the ball. When we play the ball into the centre, they'll look to win possession and defend forward. We mustn't let them do that."

...being "HSV chasers" and the promotion race: "We're still six points behind them and that's a lot with only eight games left. I don't want to talk about us being HSV chasers because I want us to focus on our targets, our development and our process. We have enough to do just with that. We still have two games before the derby and first we go to Heidenheim. That's the only thing I'm focusing on and the same goes for the team."

Photos: Witters