FC St. Pauli

Fabian Hürzeler on…

...his personnel: "We don't really know who'll be on the training ground today. Things were looking good for Eric Smith yesterday and he didn't have any problems after training. Karol Mets did some running work, but we'll have to wait and see. Philipp Treu was ill, so we'll have to see if he's on the training ground today, and Manolis Saliakas is suspended. All that means we have a selection problem at the back, but we have good depth in the squad and we'll try to compensate. Oladapo Afolayan and David Nemeth remain sidelined."

...a possible change of system given the players missing in defence: "We have to think about it because we don't have an obvious wing-back on the right-hand-side, so going to a back four is definitely an option. We'll review it from day to day. We had similar selection concerns before the Hertha game and rehearsed a different system. We then played with a back four briefly, so it shouldn't be a problem. I often talk about principles and how the system is built on them. The principles are universally applicable and not dependent on a specific system. Several players are capable of playing in different positions. One example is Hauke Wahl, who's also played in defensive midfield."

...the development of Marcel Hartel, who's set to make his 100^th competitive appearance: "From a technician with no goal threat to a dangerous grafter is how I always put it to him. He's understood how to become a greater threat in front of goal, how to help the team on the pitch, and what's really important in what zone for having an influence on the team. He tries to make connections within the team and that makes him valuable for the team structure. He tries to close gaps on the interpersonal level. That's extremely valuable."

...opponents Nürnberg: "We're up against a team who are solid at the back, especially on their most recent outing at Magdeburg, where they were compact and gave very little away. They operate an extreme backline shift. They have some very good and talented players such as Can Uzun and Nathaniel Brown in their ranks and a target man up front in Sebastian Andersson. They keep trying to find footballing solutions and are always brave in that respect. Going to Nürnberg has always been tough, so it's going to be a big challenge for us again. It's great to know that so many of our fans will be there to support us and we obviously want to give them a little present."

...the subject of promotion: "It's not tangible for me just yet. There are so many games left and we have lots of work ahead and lots of potential we want to exploit. We work from week to week and that's what we're doing now. We did certain things well against Hertha and certain things badly. We've pointed that out to the team and done some work on it. We'll keep doing that week in, week out until hopefully we end up completing the marathon."

Photos: Witters