FC St. Pauli

Timo Schultz on...

...the week so far: "We've done some good work but had to brush ourselves down first after the Paderborn game. We were expecting to get more from it and to be fair we did quite well. Unfortunately, we returned to Hamburg empty-handed once again. Our focus has been firmly on the Osnabrück game since Tuesday, though. We're approaching it with the intention of winning."

...the squad: "Luca Zander has a groin problem and is likely to miss out. Marvin Senger is back in training but won't be ready in time for the weekend. Igor Matanovic, on the other hand, is an option for the squad."

...the leaky defence: "We're conceding too many goals. We've given it a lot of thought and have solutions in mind because we know the cause and are doing everything we can to remedy it. I hope we can do better against Osnabrück."

...the opposition: "In terms of preparation, it's a little more difficult. Osnabrück changed their system at half-time last time out against Nürnberg. The coach is flexible and plays several systems. Osnabrück are a compact side and a 4-1 defeat won't knock them out of their stride, but we've seen they can be beaten. That's how we're approaching the game. We want to put them under constant pressure and get some goals."

...being under pressure: "I might be able to understand it if this question were put to me on matchday 30 but we're not even a third of the way through the season. We know we haven't collected enough points. You can see that from the table, and you can see it with other teams as well. If you win two games in a row, it's a different story. What's clear is that we have to start picking up points."

...points dropped in recent games: "It's a bit too easy to talk about a crisis in terms of the results. There are reasons why we have relatively few points. The Paderborn game is a good example. There were lots of 50/50 situations where we came off second best. I include the penalties in that. We miss and Paderborn score on the rebound. We're having too many situations that don't end in our favour, but you can make your own luck to a certain extent. We're working on it and I think we'll be able to turn things around soon."

...his role as coach in this phase: "Not everything is good when we win and not everything is bad when we lose. That's why I’m here as coach. That means we have to find a balance and approach things analytically. When you lose, part of that involves touching on sensitive issues, of course. It's all about results in the end, even though we want to develop and are making good progress. We still have enough areas where we need to improve to get different results and, above all, play better. One thing before another. We can get positive results, but if we want to make progress in the long run, we have to do better both on and off the ball. We're working on it every day."

Photos: Witters