Hansa R*stock 1-3 St Pauli - Who the fuck are Hansa R*stock?

Saglik's brace after coming on off the bench gave us a much welcomed three points after only a draw at home against Furth in the last fixture. Our win cuts our gap from first from five points to three after Dusseldorf drew 0-0 away at Union Berlin.

Max Kruse slotted home his 9th goal of the season - as many goals as the entire R*stock team has this season - in the 40th minute. A good counter attack led to Naki putting Kruse through on goal after drawing the center backs attention. Kruse placed his shot past the 'keeper and gave us the lead - which is where the off field issues started.

I don't know much of the facts, but basically Hansa R*stock fans launched up to five flares into the St Pauli away bay (to the cheers and celebrations of the rest of the stadium) and the players went off for 10 minutes.

R*stock managed to equalise despite our domination after 50 minutes. Tschauner spilled a sitter which Marek Mintal put away. It's always hard to criticise Tschauner when he makes a mistake though, as it's usually surrounded by brilliant vital saves. This game was no exception. His point-blank stop in the 39th minute was the crucial stepping stone towards our first goal off the counter. R*stock were certain they'd found the net, but Tschauner's reactions were too good.

I was worried it'd become "one of those games" as we saw a lot of chances go wasted throughout this game, but it was the super sub Mahir Saglik who managed to put any concerns to rest. His first goal came off the back of a free kick after we spent a minute clearing a whole heap of banana's the R*stock fans threw on the pitch. It was a sweet moment of joy that pretty much signalled game over.

But Saglik made sure of victory in injury time. A blistering counter was almost messed up as Bartels opted to pass across goal to Kruse when one on one. The pass was a little heavy and it didn't allow Kruse a tap in like planned. It seemed R*stock had time to get enough players back, but Saglik showed composure to place the ball into the back of the net and seal the three points.

Forza Sankt Pauli!

Friendly: St Pauli 4-5 Werder Bremen

We fell 5-4 to Bremen last night at the Millerntor, but there were, by all reports, many positives to take out of this fixture.

Five players who started on Friday night v Bochum were in the starting line-up on Tuesday night. Sobiech, Schachten, Rothenbach, Bruns and Saglik all played in both games, and will probably start on Monday too - except for Rothenbach with Kalla possibly returning from injury.

But the friendly gave game time to players who have struggled to get onto the pitch in the league games such as Pliquett, Funk and Daube. Morena also picked up a starting place, as did our new signing, straight from the Bremen bus, Kevin Schindler.

We were down 4-1 at half time and 5-1 after 51 minutes, and it was our new signing Schindler who scored our only goal in the first half as he took advantage of his height - 1.91m - and headed home.

From there we made a bit of a comeback with Saglik leading the charge. His strikes in the 55th and 66th minute got us within two goals. Although, we couldn't manage to complete the comeback, Funk scored a goal from distance to give us our fourth and throw his name further into the team selection mix.

The disappointment, of course, is that our defence was so leaky. Sobiech and Schachten have been regulars this season - and have played well - but featured in the first half where we conceded five times. Although I didn't see the match, I think Schachten may have been in midfield - him or Morena - but the point still remains. Gunesch and Rothenbach, the ones we'd have to turn to in case of an injury crisis, were also involved in this back four that got torn apart.

But it is good to see Saglik snaring a double and our new signing finding the score-sheet just 25 minutes into his first appearance for us. As I said, I'm unsure of the formation and selections, but I'd guess:

--------------------Pliquett
Rothenbach-----Sobiech------Morena-----Gunesch
-----------------------Funk
------------Schachten----Daube
Schindler-------------------------------Bruns
--------------------Saglik

Friendly v Bremen tonight + Kevin Schindler

It was announced yesterday that we would play Bundesliga club Werder Bremen tonight at the Millerntor (6pm local, 2am Wednesday AEST).

After our 2-1 victory on Friday night our next game isn't until Monday. Andre Schubert wants to avoid rustiness developing in between this 10 day break, and thus this friendly was scheduled.

This is a good, competitive match against a solid team top flight team featuring Naldo who is returning from a long injury.

The break offers a chance for a few of our players to rest their niggling injuries - Naki, Kalla, Kruse, Hennings, Ebbers, Takyi, Heber and Filipovic. Only a few...

While we may get the chance to see some more of the likes of Funk, Drobo-Ampem, Daube etc tonight, Kalla is hopeful of returning on Monday night against Duisburg and could feature late in this game.

Werder Bremen striker Kevin Schindler, who has spent loan spells at numerous 2.Bundesliga clubs, may not be on the Bremen bus home after this fixture. It sounds as if, for 150,000 Euros, the 23-year-old versatile forward will be playing for St Pauli soon.

The 1.91m attacker can play up front or on the wing and has featured at Augsburg, Duisburg and, worst of all, Hansa Rostock.

But if the club believes he will add to the squad, lets welcome the front man. He'll probably be a third or fourth choice striker and a fourth or fifth choice winger - depending on where Hennings may be required on match day, or if he proves to be a step behind Schindler.

VfL Bochum 1-2 St Pauli - Top of league!

Max Kruse chalked up a first half assist and a goal of his own with six minutes remaining to secure a brilliant three points in a tough away trip to Bochum to put us in first place for now.

With Marius Ebbers and Jan-Philipp Kalla out because of injury, we had two changes. Mahir Saglik and Carsten Rothenbach came in to start their first league games of the season. Sebastian Schachten moved to the left to allow Rothenbach to play on the right, and Saglik started up front.

The conditions were torrential at kick off and it was reflected in our play in the opening 10 minutes. Bochum started with a bang and had a long shot go not far wide in the opening minute. Six minutes later and they capitalised on their high-tempo play which forced us into too many cheap turnovers.

In the wet conditions they pressed us and forced errors, and continued the high tempo when on the attack. A brilliant move ended with reverse first-touch pass that split Markus Thorandt and Lasse Sobiech - who only had about a metre in between them as it was.

Dabrowski knew exactly what was happening and ran onto it and slotted home. You can't blame Philip Tschauner for the goal as he did everything he could; charged at the player, stayed on his feet and went the right way. The shot was just simply unstoppable from that range.

I'm also unsure if you can blame Thorandt or Sobiech. Maybe Sobiech was too flat-footed and Thorandt was caught ball watching a bit, but in reality the move was executed perfectly and they deserved the goal.

We seemed to kick into gear not long after. They had another drive from outside the area go wide on 11 minutes and that was about it from Bochum in the opening half - apart from an attempted cross which almost floated into the far top corner until Tschauner palmed it over.

Our passing improved as the half progressed and, with the loud and big in numbers away support behind us, we began to take ascendancy. Florian Bruns and Fin Bartels began to get involved more and, with Kruse and Charles Takyi taking charge from the midfield, the signs were encouraging.

The problem seemed to be a lack of ideas in the final third, which in turn lead to the loss of possession. But, in the 32nd minute, a mint counter attack which developed from the cross-turned-shot that Tschauner saved led to the first goal.

The corner from the save led to us gaining possession. The counter attack swept from the left to the right where Kruse, when close to the byline, whipped in a cross to the far post. Bartels controlled the ball, cut inside and finished into the far bottom corner to equalise.

We had two chances to take the lead on the stroke of half time when Sobiech had two headers well saved. He was unlucky not to find the net and in truth it would have been a just reward for his great performances in these first four matches.

Bochum fought back and began to get into the game more in the second half. The referee was fairly strict and blew for a lot of fouls which probably worked in our favour. The game couldn't flow and became quite rigid. It was set to finish at a 1-1 draw which would have been a better result for us than for Bochum and a could have been considered a good away day.

We did have a few chances in the second half and, apart from the eventual goal, they all stemmed from Bartels down the right. He did well to beat his man on a few occasions, and his passes back across the area always seemed to end in the shot across the face of goal being well saved.

Rouwen Hennings came on for Takyi on the hour mark and made a strong impact. He made a brilliant sliding block to end a dangerous Bochum sweeping move, and seemed to be involved in every attack. He started in the midfield until Fabio Morena returned from injury, coming on for Saglik. Morena dropped into the midfield and Hennings played as the front man.

Saglik's first league start wasn't bad. He played the role Ebbers does well - a link between the midfield triangle and the wide men. He had a strong header directed low and hard stopped thanks to quick reactions and another shot later in the match which forced a good save. He wasn't heavily involved but I thought he did what was required of him.

We took the lead in the 84th minute after some great work from Kruse. It was perhaps against the run of play a bit, but the momentum wasn't considerably on one side or another. Kruse made a run down the left of the area, cut back inside and slid the ball through the keepers legs to put us in front of the first time that night.

The St Pauli fans managed to somehow raise the volume another notch but it was nervous times in those closing minutes. Schachten received a second yellow for clipping a Bochum player making a dangerous run in the 86th minute and it put us in a difficult position.

Fortunately the defence remained strong and constantly cleared deep crosses and free-kicks into the area. We managed to see out the game and Andre Schubert erupted when the whistle was blew. He was riding every kick in this match and was obviously well pleased with the three points in our toughest game so far.

We are top of league! (for another few hours, at least.)

VfL Bochum 1 (Dabrowski 7')
St Pauli 2 (Bartels 32', Kruse 84')

Match day - away v VfL Bochum. Team news.

In about nine hours we kick off our second away match of the season. We travel to Bochum for this one and it is the first time we have been there for a league match in over ten years. The away team has never won the match when these two teams faced in the past and we'll be looking to end that curse tonight with a solid start behind us and over 2400 away fans apparently making the trip.

One factor that I hope can change the away team curse in this fixture is of course ex-Bochum player Mahir Saglik. With Marius Ebbers out injured, Saglik will almost certainly start up front for us. His experience at Bochum and his knowledge of the squad will hopefully help, even in the slightest.

In other injury news, Jan-Philipp Kalla has also not travelled due to a knock picked up in the 3-1 win against Aachen. He'll be missed after a great start to the season. Sebastian Schachten can play on the left and probably will do that.

That'll leave the right back spot vacant and it'll either be taken by Patrick Funk - who has yet to start a league game - or the man who started in our cup tie, Carsten Rothenbach. I think it'll be the latter but wouldn't mind seeing how Funk goes.

Fabio Morena has also returned from injury and will travel to Bochum. Don't think he'll start but could be important off the bench.

Andre Schubert has basically said in his press conference that Bochum are a very good side that needs to be respected and that we'll need to be patient.

It's nothing ground breaking but it is important. I think we need to be defensively strong and focus on not giving away cheap possession in the midfield. With the midfield triangle we've used the ball well so far in the first three matches, but have given the ball away poorly at bad times on occasion. We need to make sure we stay tidy and, as the boss says, patient.

The full squad that's travelled to Bochum:
Benedict Pliquett
Philip Tschauner
Lasse Sobiech
Markus Thorandt
Sebastian Schachten
Ralph Gunesch
Davidson Drobo-Ampem
Fabio Morena
Carsten Rothenbach
Patrick Funk
Fin Bartels
Fabian Boll
Florian Bruns
Charles Takyi
Max Kruse
Dennis Daube
Rouwen Hennings
Mahir Saglik

Will probably line up like this:

--------------------Tschauner
Rothenbach----Thorandt-----Sobiech-------Schachten
----------------------Boll
-------------Kruse------------Takyi
Bartels------------------------------------Bruns
---------------------Saglik

St Pauli 3-1 Alemannia Aachen - Kruse double seals victory

Two goals to Kruse either side of Brun's 45th minute penalty was enough to break the 174 days without a win at the Millerntor in a competition match.

Kruse's 17th minute goal cancelled out Aachen's early strike, and Brun's penalty on the stroke of half time gave us the lead. Kruse's second in stoppage time sealed a well deserved win.

We made just one change from our last league game v Eintracht Frankfurt. With Deniz Naki out injured, Bruns returned to the starting 11 on the left wing.

We looked to play a short passing game within the midfield triangle again, although it was a bit scrappy early. We lost cheap balls in the center of the pitch just a little too often.

The passing in and around the final third was a class above though. Players with there backs to goal - Ebbers or Takyi usually - provided great lay-offs to the players running diagonal lines in behind - often Kruse and Bartels and on even rarer occasions Boll and Bruns.

We went down in the 7th minute through some poor scrambling defence. A ball across the box from the byline was blocked and fell to Thorandt who desperately tried to clear it. But his awkwardly hit clearance only managed to fall to Feisthammel who, from six yards out, volleyed home with intent and gave Tschauner no chance.

But in the 17th minute - following two chances in a matter of minutes - we scored our equaliser. An Aachen defender failed to control a long ball on his chest and allowed Kruse to latch onto it and finish neatly when one-on-one.

From there on in it was mainly all St Pauli. A strong tackle in the 27th minute deflected across to Bartels on the right of the area who should have done better with his effort. It was Ebbers who next threatened to put us in the lead. His near post header from a corner sailed over the crossbar in the 40th minute which was, a minute later, followed by a play which led to a shoulder injury which forced him off the pitch.

Takyi displayed some of the one-touch passing around the box with his lay-off to Bruns, who showed immense skill and composure to thread a through ball to Ebbers. The St Pauli front man managed to beat the keeper to the ball and round him, but his shot towards the open goal was blocked by a defender. It was during this shot that he tumbled towards the ground and hurt his shoulder. He was replaced by Saglik and the same formation was maintained.

The injury didn't stop our late half siege and when Bruns smartly won a penalty, taking the ball away from a defender and going down when his ankles were clipped, he always looked confident as he stepped up to take it. He it it down the middle - with a swerve to the right - to give us a 2-1 lead going into the break. Only a couple of times Tschauner was forced to save in the half.

In the second half we looked to maintain a more solid structure and stay defensively strong. It worked well, with just a far post header drifting over their only chance. The match stayed a lot like this until Aachen decided to push higher up and try get themselves a winner.

This opened up space at the back and we exploited this area on the counter three or four times. Most of the time it came to nothing - like when Takyi broke and squared it to Schachten who's shot was deflected - but the attack was still there and it was enough to make sure Aachen, while still attacking, were at least still a little cautious at the back.

But even if that was the case, they didn't tighten the screws and paid for it in the 91st when Kruse scored his second. Kruse broke and put a ball through to Saglik who, after taking a few touches, put it back across to Kruse. The midfielder was through and slid the ball past the keeper with ease, wheeling away with delight as he the three points were secured.

It wasn't a perfect performance, but the hunger and passion was there, and it was a good win. Though it wasn't without problems. Apart from Ebbers injury, Kalla also limped off in the 65th minute, but I don't think it's serious. Lets hope so at least.

Our next game is away to Bochum on Friday night at 8:30pm (4:30am AEST)

St Pauli 3 (Kruse 17' 91', Bruns 43')
Alemannia Aachen 1 (Feisthammel 7')

Eintracht Trier 2-1 St Pauli - Frustration, ecstasy, heartbreak

Minnows have Eintracht Trier knocked us out of the DFB Cup with a 2-1 win. It was a match that featured an insane last 10 minutes which saw two goals, the crossbar struck and a host of chances.

We made four changes from the 1-1 draw with Frankfurt. Pliquett replaced Tschauner in the sticks, Naki made way for Bruns due to injury, Rothenbach came in for Bartels and moved to right back - pushing Schachten into the midfield - and Saglik had his first competitive match start as he was in for Takyi.

The match didn't start out well for us and we fell behind 16 minutes in. A ball across the box caused havoc in a disjointed and confused defence, and Kalabus hit the ball back across the goal and past a helpless Pliquett.

While disappointing to fall behind, it isn't unrealistic to have thought we could have gotten back into the match. But, as Andre Schubert plainly stated post match, "Trier have provided us with tasks that we could not solve."

We looked relatively lost for ideas and it wasn't until Ebbers horribly skewed a shot from a great position after 83 minutes that the match really kicked into gear.

Trier instantly went on the attack after the Ebbers miss and should have found themselves a second, but a rushed shot from a slightly tight angle meant they missed an open goal. Three minutes later and it was St Pauli on the attack again. This time it was through Schachten but his shot deflected off Ebbers for a goal kick.

Though that deflection of Ebbers was unfortunate, his headed flick-on just one minute later to Saglik was vital. The striker slotted home to score his first St Pauli goal and equalise with just two minutes left on the clock. While the goal sent the travelling fans into raptures, it was just a minute later before the home supporters were erupting again.

Trier broke and managed to catch us napping. They got in behind Rothenbach and Hauswald trickled the ball past Pliquett - who perhaps should have done better - and into the far corner.

But it didn't prove to be the end of the drama as Kalla struck the crossbar in injury time. His venomous strike bounced down off the bar and onto the line, but didn't manage to cross the stripe and bounced back into play. The resulting header was weak and easily saved, and it brought an end to proceedings.

The loss is disappointing but we just need to get back to business against Alemannia Aachen on Friday night. Thankfully a potential injury to Boll doesn't seem as bad as first feared, but Takyi couldn't train yesterday and neither did Morena. Both should, hopefully, be back into it in the next few days.

Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 St Pauli + German Cup match line-up

Firstly, I know this is late... But I missed the game live, and struggled to find the time to watch it. Although then the second half failed to work. Splendid. But, I did eventually see the first half and I was impressed with what I saw. Just keep in mind that I can, unfortunately, only comment on the first half.

We played the same formation as in the game against Ingolstadt, with the only change being Ebbers in for Bruns. Ebbers went up front as the lone striker and Takyi dropped into the midfield. It was an effective change and I thought we looked better holding up the ball and maintaining possession.

The defence stayed the same and in the first half they showed they deserved it. Again Sobiech was immense and probably our best in the opening half; He made vital blocks in the 2nd, 29th and 30th minutes as well as various other strong tackles and headers to win possession. He'll prove an extremely important player for us this season as he has already showed he won't be beaten easily.

Schachten had a better half than in the match last weekend I thought. With, again, a majority of our play being down the left, Bartels played relatively narrow. He often cut in behind Ebbers and even deeper to try give us a midfield advantage - Frankfurt lined up in the same formation - and so Schachten played very high up the field to overlap and provide some width on the right.

His 10th minute crross to Naki deserved to see an assist chalked up next to his name, but Deniz glanced it wide of the left post. 10 minutes later and another Schachten ball was headed by Bartels over the crossbar from just six yards out. His accuracy was promising as he hit both of those balls right onto the head of the attackers.

But it looked as though shooting accuracy would be an issue again when Takyi also hit over after 26 minutes. But all doubts were soon put to rest when Bartels saw his goal stand despite the furious protests of the Frankfurt players.

A neat bit of skill from Naki, who was standing still, saw his chipped pass go straight to Ebbers on the edge of the area. The striker showed his value as he jumped highest to header across to Boll. The bouncing ball was athelticly chipped across the area to Bartels - over the head of a defender and past a helpless Kessler - and Fin made no errors in finishing off into an open goal.

Tschauner also showed more of his abilities on the half hour mark when he managed to quickly get off the ground to palm away a shot that looked like it could be curling into the corner. Was a great save.

In the second half I missed it seems we almost stole it at the death when Kalla hit the post. But the 78th minute equaliser from Frankfurt was the final goal of the match which ended 1-1.

The bad news is in the 77th minute, Naki picked up an injury. He tore a tendon in his right thigh muscle.

v Eintracht Trier

We have our German Cup match today at 3:30pm (11:30pm AEST) against minnows Eintracht Trier.

Because of Naki's injury, he wont travel to the game against Eintracht Trier, instead Hennings will go in his place. Morena also has a hamstring injury and wont travel. The full team travelling is:

Benedict Pliquett
Philip Tschauner

Lasse Sobiech
Ralph Gunesch
Markus Thorandt
Sebastian Schachten
Jan-Philipp Kalla
Carsten Rothenbach

Patrick Funk
Fabian Boll
Florian Bruns
Fin Bartels
Max Kruse
Dennis Daube
Charles Takyi
Rouwen Hennings

Marius Ebbers
Mahir Saglik

St Pauli 2-0 Ingolstadt

Two fantastic strikes from distance by Fabian Boll gave St Pauli a well deserved 2-0 win to start the season.

We played a 4-5-1/4-3-3 of sorts with Boll as the holding midfield and Fin Bartels and Florian Bruns working the wings. Deniz Naki and Max Kruse were fluid in the midfield, making diagonal runs and finding space and often Naki was the furtherest man forward on the left wing rather than Bruns.

Naki, who was lively all match, had the first chance for us with a strike from outside the box that went over. Unfortunately those type of wasted opportunities became a regular thing from Naki and he probably could of had a double himself if he could just hit the target.

But he wasn't the only one who struggled to find the target in the first half and Kruse also took a shot that went wide after 20 minutes. That first section of the match went well. We kept the ball well, tried to pass to feet and we were solid at the back. Lasse Sobiech was brilliant and made three or four top interceptions/tackles in just the opening 15 minutes alone.

The left side was particularly strong for us with Bruns and Naki causing havoc, and Jan-Philipp Kalla overlapping to help keep that side of the field dominant. Kruse was pretty fluid in the midfield and often found himself down the left as well.

The problem in the scoreless first half, though, was that Charles Takyi looked a little troubled up front when he tried to hold the ball. He was out-muscled and lost possession far too often. It was probably the difference between going into the break a goal up and going in level. He should have done much better on the stroke of half time when his shot from a superb position inside the area was hesitant, allowing a defender to get across and deflect it out for a corner.

But at the other end of the field, there was a positive factor which kept the scores level at the break. Philip Tschauner on debut was fantastic and he pulled off three world class saves. The first came through his agility to save a shot destined for the top corner right on the stroke of half time as he jumped well to palm the ball out. The second was just on the other side of the break as he reacted quick to tip a ferocious shot over and the third was his speed to get down low and stop a shot heading to the bottom far corner.

The second half continued our good performance. Boll's first goal from a free kick was well deserved and his second, a cracking strike from 25 yards out into the top corner, was the icing on the cake.

Bartels and Boll showed class when they were on the ball, and while they didn't break the defence like Naki, they were instrumental. The right side wasn't as active as the left, though, where Bruns also had a top game with Kruse lending a very valuable helping hand.

Mahir Saglik didn't do much of note when he came on for his debut, but he wasn't bad and helped us hold the ball a bit better up front. Fabio Morena was good when he came on for Takyi at 2-0 up and added defensive stability to help us see the game out.

The fans were excellent and the atmosphere sounded great despite the crowd of just 10,000 up in Lubeck. A great start to the season, and even though everything may not be complete the signs are positive ahead of our big test against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Schalala lalala, we love FC Sankt Pauli, forza Sankt Pauli - 2-0 v Brondby!

The last two friendlies are over, the season is just a week away and excitement is in the air. Forza Sankt Pauli.

On Thursday evening it was a disappointing result against VfL Osnabruck, but we rectified that with a great win against Brondby the next day.

Andre Schubert took the opportunity to try a new formation against Osnabruck. Rather than a 4-2-3-1 he played a 4-4-2 with Filipovic and Becken up front. The only goal scorer in our 3-1 loss was Charles Takyi who, while playing in mifield, found the net through a diving header.

Pliquett was the 'keeper in this fixture - It was Tschauner against Brondby - and although he will be disappointed to be beaten three times, Schubert said post game it was individual mistakes that led to goals.

According to the match report we probably had the better of the first half with three fairly good chances before they scored from a misplaced pass. After Takyi's equaliser, Thorandt conceded a penalty and then they scored the third not long after.

It's of course a disappointing result but not one to dwell over. Post match Schubert said

"We have played for the first time in the 4-4-2. Here we have still lacked the compactness and we have often made ​​it too complicated. Individual mistakes led to goals against. We must develop more aggressive and feel."

But the win against Brondby on Friday night is the perfect end to preseason preparations. Changing back to a 4-2-3-1, I believe, goals to Schachten and Bartels gave us a 2-0 win.

Bartels, Kruse and Naki were in the thick of the action and both had chances in the first half - Bartels numerous ones. Brondby's first strike on goal didn't come until the 51st minute.

The most interesting about this match was Schubert's decision to play Takyi up front in the 4-2-3-1. With Ebbers unavailable due to a niggling injury and the coach still clearly not ready to give Saglik 90 minutes, the decision seemed to work out okay.

Fabian Morena - who will be captain next season - came on Boll in the 65th minute and played as a defensive midfielder, while Gunesch and Rothenbach both came on in the 75th minute to play center back - replacing Thorandt and Schachten. New loan signing Sobiech played at right back.

Schubert said after the match that he was "satisfied, but without breaking out into euphoria" and that "we could play more consistently to the end, more calm in front of goal would have been necessary - but it was very much positive here."

Florian Bruns said "That was a good match, we played much better today compared to yesterday's encounter" and that "Now we have another week to get to the final finish. Not everything worked, but we are well on our way." (Quoutes are rough google translations)

PS. We love FC Sankt Pauli!

Out with the old, in with the new + training knocks

When you move down a tier into the second division, change is expected. For St Pauli the changes have been relatively positive. New coach Andre Schubert is trialling new systems and formations, the new players are class and young and the average age of the squad has dropped to 26 years old.

A story on Hamburg Morgenpost has shown that the nine players who have left - Mathias Hain (38), Timo Schultz (33), Gerald Asamoah (32), Florian Lechner (30), Marcel Eger (28), Matthias Lehmann (28), Thomas Kessler (25), Bastian Oczipka (22) and Richard Sukuta-Pasu (21) - had an average age of 29.

While the loss of players in their prime such as 28-year-olds Eger and Lehmann is disappoint, the new lads have an average age of just 25.

The intake of these new young players will give the club a refreshing change, and if coupled with the perfect system we could see some decent success come about in the 2. Bundesliga next season.

Striker Mahir Saglik is the eldest of the five new signings. At 28 years old, he is the most experienced new face by two years, with defender Sebastian Schachten (26) and Philipp Tschauner (25) the next.

Lasse Sobiech (20) on loan from BVB Dortmund will add some youth to the defence and Patrick Funk (21) will add experience too. He was a captain in his youth days and will hopefully provide stability in the midfield.

Also, in training news, Max Kruse sat out of the session the other day due to a knock on the knee but was thankfully back into it yesterday.

Marius Ebbers couldn't finish training and was looked at properly yesterday to see the problem. An MRI confirmed he has a slight hamstring injury but it doesn't sound too serious.

During one on one's, Carsten Rothenbach, who only just returned from injury, starting limping. Thankfully it's only a small knock and he'll be back into training in a few days. I don't expect him to play in the friendly with VfL Osnabrueck, though he may appear the next day when we face Brondby.

Second training camp + Schubert to let team decide captain

The side has entered it's second training camp of the preseason, this one out at Bad Lippspringe, about 290km south of Hamburg. The physical side of things were covered at the first training camp in Schneverdingen, and this one is focused more on the tactics and the finishing touches to our game with the first match just over a week away.

Andre Schubert said the team was relatively strong physically and were fresh after the 1-0 result against Mydtjylland.

He's given no hints to what the formation will be for the coming season, but will continue to work on different tactics and formations in this training camp. He said on the official site:

"We now want to play football in different ways, rehearse different systems."

and

"The physical strain in the second training camp will not be so high. Working in Bad Lippspringe will be influenced more by tactics."

It'll be interesting to see how we line up in the first game. Their isn't much time until we start the season though, so I'd hope he decides on a system soon in the final two friendly matches between VfL Osnabrück and Brondby IF.

Another interesting thing of note is that Schubert will allow the team to chose the captain out of three or four candidates. MOPO believes it may be between Fabio Morena, Fabian Boll, Carsten Rothenbach and Marius Ebbers, although he is in no rush for the election.

Whether it'll bring the team closer or what, I'm not sure. Either way I wouldn't be surprised if Fabio Morena is elected.

Also, it looks like Carsten Rothenbach is definitely back and we'll be seeing more of him in the next few friendlies. Phew. Thank goodness.

St Pauli 1-0 FC Midtjylland

Deniz Naki scored his ninth goal this preseason to give St Pauli a 1-0 win against the Danish superliga fourth place finishers FC Midtjylland at Stadion an der Meldorfer Straße in Heide, Germany.

It's a massive win against a decent team. We'll be tested even further next week when we play the team that finished one above Midtjylland, Brondby, at the Millerntor.

In even better news, Carsten Rothenbach played the first half of the match before being replaced by Ralph Gunesch. It's good to see Rothenbach back in the squad and hopefully he has even more game time in the next friendly.

By the sounds of the report on the official site we played fairly well. Deniz Herber had a couple of chances in the 18th and and 38th. Mahir Saglik had a chance to score his first at the club just before half time but hit his shot over.

The goal for half time substitute Naki came after he teamed up with Marius Ebbers in the 65th minute.

Naki, Charles Takyi and Ebbers all had chances in the last 25 minutes. Paired with Benedikt Pliquett's strong goalkeeping it sounds like a great performance from St Pauli and one to take many positives from.

The team sheet was Pliquett, Rothenbach, Morena, Sobiech, Kalla, Funk, Herber, Kruse, Bruns, Takyi, Saglik. I assume in a 4-2-3-1 formation like so:

Another day, another injury

A fifth injury for FC St Pauli was announced by Hamburger Morgenpost.

Carlos Zambrano joins Moritz Volz, Carsten Rothenbach, Dennis Daube and Rouwen Hennings on the injury list as we tick over to July and the first game of the season creeping up on us.

Zambrano injured his right thigh muscle when playing for Peru in a 1-0 win over Senegal. The defender will now miss out on the Copa America, a dream destroyed for him, and I think google translator is telling me he'll be out until the end of August.

The loss of the CB, coupled with right backs Rothenbach and Volz out, is significant. If we move Markus Thorandt to the right, we'll be two CB's down. I can only assume Fabio Morena and Ralph Gunesch or Lasse Sobiech will play center back.

Unless Patrick Funk plays at right back instead of Thorandt. Without being able to watch the friendlies I can't know what Andre Schubert has in mind. Hopefully the friendly in a weeks time on the 8th of July against Brondby will give us a better idea.

St Pauli finally tested away in Bielefeld, Takyi to stay + injury news

16 days out from the start of the season - we welcome FC Ingolstadt 04 to the Millerntor - and FC St Pauli have had their first actual test in our fourth friendly away to Arminia Bielefeld.

After beating TV Grundhof 14-0, TSV Heiligenstedten 17-1 and SV Eintracht Luneburg 8-0, we had a tough 1-1 draw in extremely hot conditions. Taking in the factor of the 38 degree heat, matched with the four hour bus trip there, after having trained earlier in the day, 1-1 isn't the worst result.

Marius Ebbers scored a far post header after eight minutes, but it was canceled out nine minutes later by Arminia. It was Ebbers third strike in his third friendly. It's a decent return, but compare that to Naki's eight goals and it's a little less impressive.

Overall it's not a bad result in the difficult circumstances. The teamsheet was: Tschauner, Bruns, Ebbers, Takyi, Gunesch, Thorandt, Boll, Kruse, Schachten, Bartels, Naki.


Also, in more positive news, it looks as if Charles Takyi will remain a St Pauli player and wont make the switch to FC Augsburg. The recently promoted side aren't willing to spend £600,000, so it looks as if the transfer won't go through.

FC Augsburg manager Andreas Rettig said:

"Of course, we have been interested in Charles Takyi. However, we are not expecting to see a move go through."

But, good news never comes without a catch. And for St Pauli it's an increasingly worrying injury list. Dennis Daube(knee) is out indefinitely and Rouwen Hennings (Hernia) joined Carsten Rothenbach and Moritz Volz on the injury list.

With the season starting in just over a couple of weeks, hopefully this list doesn't grow anymore and the injured can recover quick.