FC St. Pauli

Timo Schultz on...

…the personnel: "All the players are in training apart from Eric Smith and long-term casualties Christopher Avevor, Sebastian Ohlsson and Jannes Wieckhoff. James Lawrence was sidelined for a week but is training again now. We'll decide at short notice whether Sandhausen makes any sense. Daniel-Kofi Kyereh couldn't train at the start of the week after coming out of the Bremen game with a thigh problem so we'll have to wait and see whether he's available. We hope to get it under control as soon as possible but won't take any risks. Luca Zander has been ill but I expect him to be an option for the weekend. Maximilian Dittgen has trained all week and I think we'll definitely include him in the squad. The way he plays football, with his power, aggression and work rate, mean he's a win for us."

...the mood in the camp: "Things start tingling even more the closer you get to the end of the season. You notice it in the run-up to matchday. The task for me as a coach then is to channel the energy in the right direction. I don't need to do much motivating. It's normal for the players to be really up for it and want to win every game and that will intensify over the next few weeks."

...the contrasting home and away records: "As someone who's followed the club's fortunes for many years, I can remember seasons when we were much worse on the road. This year we're in mid-table away from home, which is quite decent for us. It's the case that we've been able to turn some games in our favour at home – on our ground and our pitch. Most St. Pauli fans would prefer that rather than the other way round."

...opponents Sandhausen and their recent improvement: "They drew the right conclusions in winter and brought some good players in. They're an extremely compact side, as evidenced by the number of goals they've conceded in the second half of the season. You can't compare the Sandhausen from the first half of the season and the reverse fixture with this one. We're up against a team who will keep putting us under pressure in the zone near their own penalty box and try to switch the play by winning the ball. We know what to expect. I think it'll develop into an evenly matched game and then we'll need the moments in our play to turn the game in our favour."

...his team's attacking game: "We'll always go forward, regardless of whether our opponents sit deep or put us under pressure up front. That'll always be the way we want to play. We need to make even more deep runs, get to the byeline even more often and occupy the box. These are the things we're working on and believe can take us another step forward."

...the run-in: "We're focusing on Sandhausen now, that's the decisive thing. We know we've got some great games after that against Darmstadt and Nürnberg at home, teams who are right in contention, and then at Schalke on the penultimate day. They're going to be fantastic games, not just for the players and coaches, but also for the fans and everyone who loves football."

Photos: Witters