FC St. Pauli

"It always hurts when you lose, it's a crappy feeling," said Kauczinski, describing his inner feelings on Monday morning. "But not living up to the expectations of the fans and the euphoria beforehand hurts even more," he added before going over the game in more detail.

The 49-year-old was reluctant to put the defeat down to the tactics: "I didn't have that many options considering the players who were injured or not fully fit. We defended more deeply to begin with and tried to hit them on the break, but we gave the ball away too often. We then pressed them higher up the pitch and they got in behind us. In that respect, there were no easy solutions."

Kauczinski continued: "We had phases of the game that were OK, and we had a couple of attacks when we failed to get the cross in. There were some decent beginnings, but all in all we didn't have enough grip on the game. It wasn't good enough in any area." Asked whether the derby atmosphere had had a laming effect on his players, Kauczinski was unable to say: "The conversations I've had with the lads haven't gone far enough to fathom it all."

The St. Pauli boss did name some reasons for the defeat, though: "HSV made good use of the spaces and we weren't able to apply enough pressure. Above all, though, we have to be better on the ball. That relieves the pressure at the back and allows you to play your own game. That was the most important point. We didn't find our own game often enough, and we gave the ball away too quickly. And when the opposition have good players in their ranks, you're often left chasing the ball. HSV put in a perfect performance and we were unable to express ourselves."

According to Kauczinski, the task now is for everyone to ask questions of themselves with a view to the remainder of the season. "We have to say in all honesty that it wasn't good enough. You can lose a game, but the way we lost wasn't good, of course. We have to go into the next few games and fight to protect what we've already achieved."

Photos: Witters