FC St. Pauli

...his personnel: "We have three semi-absentees. David Otto is ill, Niklas Jessen has a slight muscle problem in his thigh, and Christopher Avevor has suffered a minor setback and is training individually. Everyone else is fit, including Adam Dźwigała, who is training normally again and is an option for the squad."

...Jahn Regensburg: "Regensburg are a team who define themselves through a compact, physical and aggressive style of play. Up front, they have a target player in Albers, which is a trademark of theirs. They'll always try their luck with crosses from midfield and from set pieces. Nevertheless, it'll be important for us to control the ball. We're preparing for both a back three and a back four. They're going through a difficult phase, partly because of injury problems, but we're certain Regensburg will put a hard-hitting team out."

...four games without a win and parallels with the first half of the 2020/21 season: "The situation can't be compared with the one two years ago. We have a much more stable base and spine these days. Back then, we were still searching for a system and the way we wanted to play football. The squad was very bloated, and we had a lot of changes of personnel. We don't have those issues anymore. The statistics tell us we have good xG values, but we want to make some tweaks as well. All we can do is work hard on the pitch and go full throttle. We're aware of the trend and we aim to reverse it."

...the high goal expectations: "It's always nice when there's lots going on. We aim to be active both on and off the ball, but we won't abandon our way of playing football. The goals we're conceding are annoying for all of us, and we have to work on that on the pitch. The number of chances our opponents have had is still very low on a league level, but the situations that do arise need to be defended better. Being bold and active will always be a strength of this team. Finding the right balance will be crucial."

...central defence: "We've made progress as a group. It's no surprise our automatisms aren't working 100 per cent yet, given the changes in goal and in central defence and the fact we have a new right-back. Our individual performances have been on a consistently high level, but we haven't managed to defend every situation over 90 minutes. Occasionally, we have to put the pretty football to one side and hoof the ball into the stands instead. Our opponents will have fewer opportunities once the communication between Jakov and David has improved still further and they know each other better."

...his team's finishing: "We have the opportunity to review situations via video analysis and then optimise our patterns of play. We won't be able to teach a player to shoot any better, but we can work on getting him in the situation [where he can shoot] again and again. The lads are up for it and I'm sure they'll be scoring goals again in the next few games."

Photos: Witters