FC St. Pauli

James Lawrence on...

...his current level of fitness: "I feel really good at the moment. We're taking it slowly, which is good. Obviously I've played the last two games – both for 90 minutes – which has been really good progression and important for getting me back to the top stage of fitness."

...his calf injury: "It was a small tear deep inside the calf. It lasted longer than we expected but it's one of those injuries where you have to be very careful in returning to training because it's such an easy injury to redo. That's why we've been quite cautious. Our vision was more long term instead of trying to get me back as fast as possible. We've tried to ensure I can play the remainder of the games rather than simply get me back playing."

James Lawrence returned to action at Heidenheim after several weeks out though injury and played from start to finish again against Sandhausen.

…his role in the team: "How I've seen it from the beginning is that I try to impose myself and help everyone around me. I try to uplift everyone with the way I play and the way I coach. I'm 28 years old now and I think it's definitely a role I can take on and pass on some of the experience I've had in the past and help some of the players that haven't had the same experience."

...the impact of the new signings: "They've integrated into the group really well. The freshness and the energy that they bring has been important for us and I think it's helped a lot. The experience of someone like Guido coming in has been great. What Guido gives to the team is a lot more than just goals."

…the respect now being shown by other teams: "I think you saw that in the last game against Sandhausen. They changed a lot and fielded a lot of defensive players in positions they otherwise wouldn't play, so I think we have that impact now where other clubs are looking at us and thinking they'd better change something, and that's a good thing to have. The way we've been playing, especially in the last five games, has shown how dangerous we are. It's good to have that feeling going forward."

...his belief that the team will stay up: "I've always believed in us and in the way we play. That's never changed. What has changed is the results. From the beginning, and even through the bad period, we've said we have a really talented group of players. We knew the results would come, and in the past five games you've seen that starting to come though. We've managed to create an environment where things have started going our way, which isn't easy. We've turned the negativity around and put some positive energy into our games. I think our current form speaks for itself. The results we've had lately are an indication of the progress we have made."

…forthcoming opponents Nürnberg: "In my opinion they're a team who've been underperforming slightly if you look at the players they have. One player we know very well, of course, is Mats Møller Dæhli. He was a good friend of mine when he was here, and it would be nice to play with Mats again. This weekend he's going to be on the other side, though, so there'll be no friends during that 90 minutes."

Photos: Witters