FC St. Pauli

Familiar faces

The current Ingolstadt squad contains a big chunk of FCSP. For besides Cenk Sahin, who joined the Bavarian club on loan during the winter break, another four former St. Pauli men return to the Millerntor on Saturday. The Ingolstadt party will include our former mental coach Thomas Stickroth, midfielder Fabian Gerber (2000 to 2001 and 2003) and goalkeepers Philipp Heerwagen and Philipp Tschauner. Heerwagen, who moved south last August, made five consecutive appearances between gameweeks 10 and 14, while Tschauner, signed from Hannover 96 in the winter break, has kept goal for the last four matches. Sahin has made just one brief appearance so far, in the home game against Magdeburg.

All change

Ingolstadt have already used 31 players this season – more than any other second division team – including not one but four goalkeepers in Marco Knaller (10 appearances), Philipp Heerwagen (5), Fabijan Buntic (4) and Philipp Tschauner (4). At the other end of the scale, Regensburg have fielded just 22. St. Pauli boss Markus Kauczinski has picked 26 players this term, to leave us joint fifth in this ranking.

Spread of scorers

FCI have found the net 23 times this season, the league's second lowest tally. Only MSV Duisburg have scored fewer. Midfielder Sonny Kittel tops the internal scoring chart with six goals, followed by Darío Lezcano on four. The remainder have come from ten different players – only SC Paderborn (53 goals from 14 players) and Holstein Kiel (39 goals from 13 players) boast a bigger spread of scorers.

Early baths

Unlike the Boys in Brown, SV Sandhausen and FC Heidenheim, who have yet to have a player sent off to date, Ingolstadt have already ended four games a man short. Phil Neumann received a straight red card, while Lucas Galvao, Konstantin Kerschbaumer and Thorsten Röcher all went for two bookable offences – more than any other second division team. The only teams to collect more yellow cards than Ingolstadt (51) are Duisburg (59), Aue (57) and Fürth (52); the only sides to commit more fouls than Ingolstadt (355) are Union Berlin (373) and Jahn Regensburg (358).

Big improvement

Ingolstadt had the worst defence in the league in the first half of the season, shipping 33 goals in total and failing to keep a single clean sheet. Their defending has been much better since the turn of the year, however, in which time they have conceded just two goals, fewer than any other team. With a record approaching 74 per cent duels won, winter signing Mergim Mavraj has added stability to the Ingolstadt rearguard. Away from home, Jens Keller's charges have impressed at the back recently, registering shutouts at both Fürth (1-0) and Aue (3-0). Things are also getting brighter in attack. Ingolstadt scored more than one goal in a game on only two occasions in the first 17 matches, something they have now done twice in succession against Aue and Bochum (2-1).

Parallels

Going into the recent 2-1 home win over Bochum, Ingolstadt had amassed just 16 points, their lowest total after 21 games since the 2011/12 season. Like this term, they ended the first half of that campaign bottom of the table on ten points, but thanks to an upturn in form in the back half (6 wins, 9 draws, 2 defeats) eventually finished 12th.

Photos: Eibner