FC St. Pauli

Dejan Stojanović on...

...FC St. Pauli and his move to the Millerntor: "I've often heard people say that St. Pauli is something special – the atmosphere, the fans and the support. I've heard a lot of positive things, that's for sure. I spoke to my former teammate Lukas Görtler and he was jealous when I signed here."

...being thrown in at the deep end: "I went through the team several times and tried to remember the names. It didn't take all that long, we had a week together, after all. That wasn't the problem. It's cool to be back on the pitch. Things don't change much. I haven't converted to being a striker, I'm carrying on in the same position. I had a lot of games at St. Gallen and it didn't take long to get into the swing of things. My teammates also helped me get back up to speed."

...the relegation battle: "You try to shrug it off in training and give all you've got. It's good to have the confidence of the club, to know they have faith in you to come through a situation like this. That's important and I appreciate it a lot. I was in the same situation in my first year at St. Gallen, and I went straight into a relegation battle when I moved to Middlesbrough as well. I gained some good experience there. It's important to stick together with the defence and your teammates, to be in contact and communicate a lot to inject more stability."

...the Kiel and Hannover games: "We should have won against Kiel and we made things difficult for ourselves against Hannover. We had everything under control until the 50th minute and then conceded the 2-1. Then we started to rock, lost our concentration and shipped the equaliser. We have to work on our ability to keep our consistency over the 90 minutes."

...head coach Timo Schultz and his interaction with the team: "He's a very lively character who only wants the best for the club and the players. He's very open and direct about what he wants and expects of you. I try to fulfil that 100 per cent. For a coach to be open and supportive of the players is a very important point. He does that 100 per cent, if not more."

...being loud on the pitch: "I was lucky in that I was taught from a young age that communication has to be loud, especially when you're a goalkeeper. You can sort lots of things early through communication. It also gives your defenders and teammates a good feeling to know there's someone behind them who's always there for them."

...the quality in the team: "We've shown in the last two games that we have a lot of quality. I see it in training as well, we have a lot of young and very motivated players. We stick together and give everything for each other."

...his plans for the future: "We'll have to wait and see how everything pans out. We have to get away from the bottom as soon as possible. In our situation, it's important to stay focused. Now is not the right time to be thinking about the summer."

Photos: Witters