FC St. Pauli

Timo Schultz on…

…his squad: "Sebastian Ohlsson had a successful knee operation on Monday and is ruled out for the time being. James Lawrence is on the road to recovery, though he and Philipp Ziereis will probably be out for another one or two weeks. We're being cautious and want to ease them back in gradually. Eric Smith is still feeling his knee, but I expect him to be back on the training ground doing some individual work soon. Max Dittgen and Etienne Amenyido will be out against Karlsruhe, Dresden and Heidenheim, so we'll have to manage without them. Rico Benatelli isn't 100% fit yet, he's had a groin problem like Adam Dźwigała. He could have played at Union Berlin, but we opted to go with Luca Zander. I expect both of them to train and be an option for Saturday."

…going out of the cup at Union Berlin: "We spoke to the odd player on the long journey home to try and buoy them back up, though I had to come to terms with it myself first when I was a player. I needed yesterday to get over it. It was unfortunate but not undeserved. We'll go over it a final time today and analyse a few basics and then our focus will be solely on Karlsruhe."

...Jakov Medić's slip before Union's second goal: "A mark of this team is that the lads are there for one another. Jakov had a good game. Obviously, a mistake there is similar to when a goalkeeper makes one, but he'll be the stronger for it. He's still young, experiences like those form you and he has our full support. He's an absolute mainstay of this side and I'm glad I have him."

...the opposition strengths: "Karlsruhe have a good mix of putting sides under pressure and switching the play well and are always a threat, especially through Goller. We have to be fired up and fully focused. They have one target man in Hofmann and another one behind him in Wanitzek. They're a homogeneous group, a very good second division side with a balanced squad and an excellent philosophy and they'll come to the Millerntor on Saturday with a good plan for how they can win."

...the option of a back three: "That's always an option for us, we worked on it during the winter and we have the players for it as well. We're flexible in that area and obviously it depends on who can deploy his strengths where."

...focusing on the league: "I would have liked to progress in the cup and build on the euphoria, of course. The four semi-finalists will be able to direct their focus on the league as well, though. It can give you more energy rather than costing you energy."

Photo: Witters