FC St. Pauli

Fabian Hürzeler on…

...the personnel situation: "Jackson Irvine is carrying a knock from the Kaiserslautern game but I think he'll be able to resume training today. Dennis Smarsch has a minor knee problem and will hopefully be back in the next few days. Adam Dźwigała started training again yesterday and Luca Zander is back, too. We're glad to have both of them with us again. We're easing Luca back in gently, though, because he was out for a long time. The game comes around too early for him."

...the loss of Manolis Saliakas (one-match ban): "We have several options to compensate for his absence. Jannes Wieckhoff is just one of them. Moving Connor Metcalfe back is another, but Connor is doing really well in his position at the moment."

...the racist abuse aimed at Maurides Roque Junior and Oladapo Afolayan: "We spoke to Maurides and Dapo about the events after the Kaiserslautern game and obviously hope there'll be no repeat. All our players have the full support of the coaching team, the staff and the club. There's no question about that."

...the decent start to the second half: "We don't define ourselves by the situation and would do well to concentrate on the process and carry on improving. We need to be more resolute at the back, better on the ball and more consistent in transition. The positive results haven't changed my attitude or the pressure. There's no sense of relief or satisfaction in the camp, though I'm obviously happy when we win. The focus is always on how I can give the team the best possible preparation along with my coaching team. We're still in a delicate situation. We go into the next few games with the same pressure and intensity."

...opponents Magdeburg and the atmosphere at the MDCC Arena: "They play bold and good attacking football, but we want to try to impose our game on them and not simply work off the ball. The atmosphere inside the Magdeburg ground is breathtaking. I experienced it when we played there in the cup. It’s loud, hectic and emotional and it’ll be a factor."

...our own style of play: "We have to be brave, operate with lots of confidence and calm things down right from the start to take the hectic pace out of the game. In footballing terms, it's a tough ask, our defence will need to be up to the challenge. We have to focus on ourselves and keep trying to defend well and keep a clean sheet. We'll have our chances again, too. We want to play our game with the ball. We've made progress in that respect but have to keep improving. We're nowhere near the end of the process yet."

Photos: Witters