FC St. Pauli

"I can take the criticism and I can also understand it," said Johannes Flum after head coach Markus Kauczinski had openly criticised his side's showing in the 3-1 defeat at Aue last week. "I accept it and am trying to do better," added Flum. Doing things better will also be the name of the game for the Ingolstadt meeting if the Boys in Brown are to escape the "downward spiral", as Christopher Buchtmann described the current negative run.

Aue was the first time this season his charges had failed to display FCSP virtues, said Kauczinski. The task now was to show these virtues against Ingolstadt on Friday, he added, demanding a reaction and thus a marked improvement in performance in order to get the club's points tally moving again, having been stuck on six since mid-August.

Speaking to a local newspaper in the week, Buchtmann said the Boys in Brown would need to "battle, snap and be obnoxious " on Friday evening. The home side, for their part, are certain to cover every blade of grass and fight from start to finish after the 6-0 defeat at Bochum last week, the highest in the club history, in a bid to get back on the right track.

Stefan Leitl's side began the campaign with three games without a win and cup elimination before securing their first victory of the season before the international break (3-2 against Aue). And despite last week's thrashing at Bochum, there is no risk of the Boys in Brown underestimating them. "It would be a mistake to think it's going to be easier for us because they lost 6-0," warned Flum.

As director of sport Uwe Stöver pointed out, the Boys in Brown will have to play as a team if they are to turn the corner: "We have to pick ourselves up now and we can only do that as a group." Which takes us back to #Alltogethernow, a familiar rallying call that has worked for us in the past. So, lads: battle, snap and be obnoxious - as a team!

Photos: Witters