FC St. Pauli

Two weeks ago St. Pauli celebrated a 2-0 win at Eintracht Braunschweig. In the first half there seemed little prospect of the team coming away with all three points, but an impressive second-half performance secured a fifth victory of the season for Olaf Janßen's side and a quiet weekend. "It was a very important win for us," said Waldemar Sobota after the game. "We're looking good in the table now but there's a lot we can improve on and so we'll be working hard during the international break."

No sooner said than done – the Boys in Brown have used the interlude to prepare very thoroughly for the forthcoming home game against Kaiserslautern. Recent results at the Millerntor haven't lived up to the expectations, after all. That will change on Friday if everything goes to plan. "In training we've been concentrating on our possession game and attacking down the flanks," said Janßen. "We've prepared well for the game and the opposition but will now focus only on ourselves.

"We want to go out and enjoy our football," he continued. "The league table and the stats are irrelevant when the referee blows his whistle to start the game." The main thing is not to underestimate the visitors, however. The Red Devils collected their first win of the season at the Betzenberg last time out, a 3-0 defeat of fellow strugglers Greuther Fürth ensuring new boss Jeff Strasser began with a bang. "Not only did they play with passion and battle hard, they also adopted a new system with a very solid back five," said Janßen. "That's the mark of the new coach. They'll give very little away."

The St. Pauli boss has set out a clear approach: "FCK have an exceptionally strong squad in terms of counterattacking and pace. They're capable of punishing mistakes straightaway. We need to be patient and find footballing solutions." The 50-year-old is still without the injured Marc Hornschuh, Philipp Heerwagen, Philipp Ziereis and Ryo Miyaichi plus Aziz Bouhaddouz, who returned from international duty carrying an injury. Mats Møller Dæhli is fit again, however, and will return to the squad. "Mats has been in training for a week now but is still not fully fit. We'll have to wait and see how the game is going before deciding if there's an opportunity to bring him on", explained Janßen.

Lautern will be without central midfielder Mads Albaek and striker Kacper Przybylko and possibly captain Daniel Halfar as well, who is carrying a knock. Przybylko's stand-in Sebastian Andersson caught the eye against Fürth last time out, however, scoring all three goals. The Swede is the club's leading scorer this term with four goals in total. The Red Devils are struggling at the moment but it is a situation the Boys in Brown understand all too well, having been stuck at the wrong end of the table at the same point last season with a similar points tally. A 0-0 draw against Kaiserslautern marked the start of a comeback, and a 2-1 win at the Betzenberg in the return in Round 32 secured second-division safety for the Boys in Brown.

Photo: Witters