FC St. Pauli have banished the away curse, jumped to second place and are the best of 2021. The Kiez kickers can rely above all on their functioning offence.
FC St. Pauli was a power at the Millerntor anyway, now it’s also working on the opponent’s pitch. A flawless twelve points and 12:3 goals from four home games were offset by just one point and 1:4 goals from three away appearances. Until the performance at the Wildpark. The 3:1 victory at Karlsruher SC broke the away curse and was the Hanseatic League’s first win away from home in 168 days. And it lifted coach Timo Schultz’s team up to second place.
Eichner: “St. Pauli were more manly than us “
The St. Pauli head coach’s efforts to keep the ball low so as not to be treated as a candidate for promotion were torpedoed by his KSC counterpart, of all people. Schultz’s attempt to put the brakes on, saying it was only matchday 8, was followed by a stocktaking by Karlsruhe’s Christian Eichner, which a coach is reluctant to make and hear publicly about his own team. “St. Pauli brought all the quality and maturity to the pitch, moreover they were more manly than us. It’s obvious why this team is at the top. “
The performance in Baden was the guest appearance of the second division first team of the calendar year 2021 with now 55 points at the second, and Eichner thinks: “St. Pauli are not best of the year for nothing.”
Schultz: “I really liked the way we played “
The team from the Millerntor was dominant, eager to play – and the fact that an opponent’s goalkeeping mistake and a penalty were the reason for the groundbreaking first goals in no way diminishes the extremely strong performance, especially in the first half. Even their own coach did not slow down at this point. “I really liked the way we played,” says Schultz.
Hartel still remains below his possibilities
That “manner” is based on a stable cover and a functioning offence, which can even cope with the fact that top transfer Marcel Hartel is still below his possibilities at half-left in the diamond. The newcomer from Bielefeld is still without a goal, was involved in the goal conceded with a technical mistake and is still too rarely a factor overall. On the other hand, everyone around him is working, regardless of the line-up: On the right, Jackson Irvine was an effective addition due to Finn Ole Becker’s muscular problems, and Maximilian Dittgen was preferred to Simon Makienok up top for the second time and scored a “half” goal after his goal against Ingolstadt on Saturday.
Only attacker Guido Burgstaller – involved in all three goals as a scorer, direct preparer and enabler – and playmaker Daniel-Kofi Kyereh have been left out. Both scored two more points in Karlsruhe, bringing their tally to eight, and Kyereh, speaking to Sky, was reluctant to answer the question of whether St. Pauli would be able to hold on to their promotion place until the end of the season. He thinks: “Absolutely.”
On Sunday, Kyereh and Co. can take the next step. FC St. Pauli will welcome Dynamo Dresden (1.30 pm, LIVE! on kicker), aim for their fifth home win in a row and, in the best case scenario, could even jump to the top of the table.