FC St. Pauli

"It'll be a fierce encounter," said Kauczinski, kicking off the proceedings. "Everyone knows what the atmosphere is like at Dresden, but we're prepared for that." The St. Pauli boss will be without several players, however. Long-term absentees Ryo Miyaichi, Christopher Buchtmann and Marc Hornschuh remain sidelined, and Philipp Ziereis, Mats Møller Dæhli and new signing Thibaud Verlinden are ruled out. "Mats didn't train today as he's feeling the effects of the last few days, which is normal. He's also got a slight cold, so he won't be involved just yet. The same goes for Thibaud Verlinden. He trained for the first time today since his muscle strain, but the game comes around too early for him as well."

Christopher Avevor has recovered from the bout of sinusitis that kept him out of the winter training camp, however, and is an option for Dresden, as are Maurice Litka, Cenk Sahin and Luca Zander, who are back to full fitness after shrugging off colds and groin problems. Kauczinski also announced his decision as far as the position between the sticks is concerned, saying: "We've spoken to our keepers. Robin Himmelmann will resume as our No1, Philipp Heerwagen is our No2."

The Gelsenkirchen-born coach used the winter break and the ten-day Spanish training camp to work very intensively with the team, focusing on developing and embracing a collective playing philosophy. "It's not necessarily my philosophy at all, it's simply what I think best suits the team. We're three weeks further down the line, the time we had our disposal. It's not a lot, but the players have taken a lot on board already. We're working on lots of little things, such as our positional play, the individual decisions we make and the aggression we show when pressing. They're all parts of the puzzle that we've analysed and then practised in training."

Kauczinski continued: "These are the points that will come into play on Thursday. The players have worked really well in training and are pulling their weight. No team knows exactly where they are before they start and results during the winter break ultimately don't mean a thing. Dresden pass the ball well and you need to be very patient against them. We've trained enough now. The players are up for it and raring to go. That's the message I'm getting and we're glad to be playing again."

Photos: Witters