FC St. Pauli are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the role of favourites lately. Coach Timo Schultz, however, doesn’t seem to let that get him down.
The press conference after the 1:2 derby defeat at Volkspark was almost over when it came up – the question about the possible consequences of the fourth winless game for FC St. Pauli, who had been marching so impressively for months. Timo Schultz tried to answer it with a twinkle in his eye, but in the short league break that follows he must also find answers as to how it came about.
Said the 44-year-old, “we haven’t had any points deducted in those four games either, we’ve added two.” It’s something of a slight variation on his mantra that St Pauli have nothing to lose, only something to gain. “We will still be in one of the top two places at the end of this matchday, nobody has to worry about our confidence. “
No solutions found
The performance of his professionals, on the other hand, did not match the coach’s words for a long time. He admits as much himself when he analyses: “We had little access in the first half and allowed too many chances. We took a 1:0 lead, but we didn’t have the mass of chances. Marcel Hartel underlines this assessment: “We didn’t start the game the way we had imagined. HSV put us under pressure early on and we didn’t find our solutions.” Not again.
For the first time in a long time, St. Pauli lacked consistency in front of their own and their opponents’ goals in the 1:1 in Düsseldorf, followed by a lapse in the 0:3 in Kiel at the end of the glorious year 2021. Or was it even more and a harbinger? The fact is: The league start to the new year also went wrong with a 2:2 against Aue and the derby defeat, the 2:1 cup triumph against Dortmund succeeded in the role of the underdogs.
Favourite role difficult to dismiss
However, Schultz’s team, the sovereign autumn champions, are no longer favourites in the lower division and are visibly struggling to accept their new role as the hunted. The coach’s attempt to explain away the changed expectations of his players, but apparently also within the squad, has so far come to nothing. The derby defeat made this abundantly clear. Not because St. Pauli’s team played with courage in the final minutes, but because they did not look like a team with nothing to lose, but like a team that only really came to life when everything seemed to be lost.
