FC St. Pauli

Karol Mets on…

...winning the Footballer of the Year award in Estonia: "That's a compliment for St. Pauli as well because I've had a very successful year with the club this year. It is special when a defender wins the award because it's almost always strikers who get the accolade. I'm not the type of person to have a big celebration about it. I'm happy and I know the award is special."

...his strong performances and the lack of media focus: "My job is to give my all every day. People are welcome to talk about the players they want to talk about. It's not essential that I'm one of them and I can live with that."

...an impressive and consistent year: "I've been spared injuries and I'm obviously glad about that. I take very good care of my body. I get lots of sleep, eat healthily and drink a lot. I do all the simple things well that influence my fitness. In general I'd say it's the best year of my career so far. You usually have more ups and downs, but this year we've been incredibly consistent."

...the reasons for the strong defence this year: "The communication among us is really good, as is the desire to defend our goal and work attitude. On the pitch I have the feeling we're there for each other when things get tough. If one of us dips, there's someone there to help him."

...the two draws against HSV and Osnabrück: "We were in front and in control in both games. We can't allow the quality to drop off when we're ahead. We have to keep going exactly the same way. The game isn't over even when you're two-nil up. We have to maintain our level when we're ahead and mustn't give the opposition the feeling they can still get something from the game."

Karol Mets under challenge from Osnabrück's Erik Engelhardt.

...not having scored in a St. Pauli shirt: "It really has been a long time since I scored. I'm working on it because I do want to score again and it would obviously be a super Xmas present if it happened against Wehen Wiesbaden."

...looking forward to the winter break: "I'm looking forward to Sunday's game first of all and only then to the holiday. The focus at the moment is totally on the Wiesbaden game."

...the possibility of remaining unbeaten and topping the table at the midway point: "It's important. We want to keep our run going as long as possible and will fight for that until the last second of every game. I've haven't given any thought to being top of the table at the halfway stage myself, but it would be nice to go into the break as league leaders and we'll do everything we can for that on Sunday."

...the DFB Cup quarter-final tie against Fortuna Düsseldorf: "We're up against a very good team. We've played Düsseldorf twice at the Millerntor this year and both games ended goalless, which shows they have a strong defence and are well organised."

Photos: Witters