FC St. Pauli

The philosophy: "The games against Regensburg, Dresden and Bochum showed how we want to play. It's a shame the season is coming to an end now because I see a lot of progress and an improvement in the way we want to play. That was really clear and tangible in the second half against Regensburg, the whole game at Dresden and especially the first half against Bochum. The reason we didn't swing the Dresden and Bochum games in our favour is because we didn't take our chances."

The long injury list: "It's always hard to pinpoint the cause. It's about what possibilities I have as coach and what players are available. Twelve players were missing against Bochum. I never moan, instead I try to get the best out of the players I have. But it's bad for any team and any coach when you have to cope with so many injuries. In the next few days and weeks we need to consider where the causes lie and what we can do differently and better. I can't say what led to it. I have to make sure we no longer have situations like these in future, but when I think of Philipp Ziereis and Henk Veerman, who have been out for months now, I already know I won't have every player back at the start of next season."

Possible signings: "I never talk about specific positions because otherwise Andreas Rettig and I would get one or two hundred phone calls the next day. We have to go deeper and examine which new players we need for which parts of the team. In the new season I'd like to have players with more pace in every department to allow us to play with more aggression and more pressure and switch the play faster so we can play more successfully. I'm here for the next two years and my dream is to achieve promotion with St. Pauli. But first we have to see what we can manage to do in the next few weeks and how we can assemble the squad."

The new season: "Above all, the DNA must be visible every day, every hour, every minute and every second. By that I mean that we as a team and every single player have to show in the 90 minutes on the pitch what our fans, who love St. Pauli and have a huge heart for our club, represent. We want to bring mentality and character to the pitch and develop a style of play where we seize the initiative and operate with aggression and attacking intent. An attractive style of play is what we want. We're three games unbeaten at home and going by the last few weeks we're on the right track." 

Photo: Witters