FC St. Pauli

David Nemeth on…

...the mood in the camp: "You can see in every session that everyone wants to stake a claim to play. We're all motivated and getting stuck in. You can tell that from the challenges. I came out with four bruises today."

...the long wait until playing at Hannover: "I was out injured a long time and had to do extra shifts every day to make sure I don't feel anything anymore. My body demands that I do something every day. I've had repeated setbacks in recent years, but I've learned a lot from it and that's helped me this year, even though it wasn't an easy time for me."

...getting used to the complex footballing philosophy again: "I know my strengths and haven't lost them. That's what I'm focusing on. In the beginning I tried to keep it simple and do what the coach asked of me. In training I'm trying to ease my way in and familiarise myself with the patterns of play. I can still improve in my positioning when we're playing out from the back or pressing, and there are other small things I can do better, such as being more composed dealing with situations or bypassing the strikers better. The problem against Rostock in the first half was that we often failed to bypass the opposition strikers, which allowed them to get the tackles in."

...the significance of the derby: "It's just really cool. You sense how the whole city is looking forward to it. And I'm looking forward to it just the same."

...the matchup with our crosstown rivals: "I'm expecting a motivated HSV side, though that applies to every team at this stage of the season. We aim to give as good as we get from the off."

...dealing with the special circumstances on Friday evening: "It's been our hallmark this season that we don't look at the table and don't give any thought to what might happen. We're concentrating solely on the game and in that respect all we've talked about in training is tactics and not what might happen."

...the possibility of going up against Jean-Luc Dompé: "He's a superb player, no question about that. You always try to find out what the opposition strengths are. You have to embrace it and adjust, for example when it comes to the correct positioning."

David Nemeth was among our best tacklers in the 1-0 home win over Rostock last time out.

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters