FC St. Pauli

Alexander Blessin on…

...the injury situation: “Elias Saad had to sit out training with a knee problem and Johannes Eggestein had a swollen ankle after going over on it. Both are fit again. Noah Weißhaupt, who was out for two days but trained again today, plus Danel Sinani and Lars Ritzka are also available again, so we have a full squad to choose from apart from Jackson Irvine.”

...the loss of Jackson Irvine: “We can’t say whether he’ll be out for the rest of the season. We’ll have to see how the next ten days go. You can’t replace him one-to-one. He’s a calming influence, he leads from the front, he gets stuck in, and he covers a lot of distance. We’ll have to spread the responsibility. We’ve had to deal with the loss of lots of important players this season and have always managed to compensate. You can only do that by sticking together. We have three players who can replace him in Connor Metcalfe, Carlo Boukhalfa and Robert Wagner, each with their own profile for how can they help us. We need to find out what’s best the team in view of the opposition.”

...the media rumours that Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim are interested in him: “A lot gets written, what am I supposed to do about it? We have five crucial weeks ahead of us and are focusing on the games and what we have to do. My job is to prepare the team for every cup final. We’re totally focused on the games and not looking left or right.”

...opponents Bayer Leverkusen: “They’ll give it all they’ve got until the day it’s mathematically impossible. They know they have to win every game. They missed out last week because Union Berlin were outstanding. We have the quality to get something from the game. Against a team like them you need a good day, a clear strategy and clarity in your actions for 90 minutes. They have certain areas they like to run and play the ball into. We won’t be able to defend everything, but if we put in a good performance, we can get a result. It’s going to be tough, but in the away game we showed we were nearly there. We know they're very strong away from home.”

…our own game: “In recent weeks our solution has never been simply to take up a deep position. We’ve gone to an attacking press depending on the situation and then taken up a slightly deeper position again. If we spot something, we have to act together as a unit. If we don’t swarm back properly, we’ll get punished. Leverkusen have the quality to see the space and exploit it.”

...playing under the lights and the special backdrop: “I’m looking forward to a good game. The evening kick-offs have been magical recently and now there’s the fair as well. The atmosphere will be brilliant and we want to do our bit. They're moments to be enjoyed, but we have to put in the hard work first.”

…the league table: “We know the situation we’re in and we’re still aware that we have five cup finals left. Nothing has changed there. We aren’t leaning back, though, because we aren’t over the line yet. We’ll do well to remember we need every point. The 29 we have won’t be enough. We’re doing everything we can to get the points as soon as possible and aim to start against very strong opposition.”

Photos: Witters