FC St. Pauli

Director of sport Andreas Rettig: "Today we saw the difference between the teams at the top end of the table and the ones at the bottom, though it was a good performance from the lads. It hasn't been a happy weekend for us. It'll come down to the games against the teams who are down there with us."

Lasse Sobiech: "We didn't have to lose that game. We had some good moments in attack and our build-up play worked as well. Stuttgart are obviously a strong team but results like this are extremely annoying."

Lennart Thy: "It was an even game that ended in an unlucky and bitterly disappointing defeat for us. We started the game well and had some chances but unfortunately we didn't take them because our finishing lacked a bit of precision. We got into the Stuttgart box a lot but were unable to find the final pass to a teammate. On the positive side we held our own against one of the league's top sides and presented ourselves as a unit. We'll continue to work hard in the next few weeks and want to get our reward."

Philipp Heerwagen: "The game didn't deserve a winner really. No one could have complained if it had ended 0-0. We put in a good performance but were unable to get our reward. We mustn't lose our belief. We can drag ourselves out of this situation ourselves."

Daniel Buballa: "We put a lot of the things we worked on in the winter break into practice today. In the first half we got into the tackles well and our build-up play was assured but in the second we made it easy for Stuttgart with too many long balls and the odd uncertainty. We didn't defend rigorously enough in the ten minutes leading up to the goal. I felt better today than in the first half of the season. I played a more active role and was able to leave a mark on things, so it's obviously even more annoying to pick up a fifth yellow card."

Bernd Nehrig: "Today again went like some of the games in the first half of the season. We were not one jot worse than our opponents and then just before the end we concede the kind of goal he'll probably score only once in his life. We can take some positives from the game even though we lost. When all's said and done it isn't over until the final day anyway, so we've still got another 16 chances."

Yi-Young Park: "I felt good and am happy to have made my senior debut. The only thing wrong is the result. I knew I was playing yesterday. At first I couldn't believe I was going to play at the Millerntor. Although it wasn't my normal position – I usually play in holding midfield or at right-back – I didn't give it too much thought and tried to enjoy it."

Christian Gentner (VfB Stuttgart): "It wasn't an undeserved win. It was a hard-fought game that went back and forth. Every point, every win, is important for us. After losing twice before the winter break it was doubly important to start the second half of the season with a win."

Kevin Grosskreutz (VfB Stuttgart): "We were prepared to battle on a difficult surface and deserved to win. As in all our warm-up matches we kept another clean sheet today. Apart from two chances for St. Pauli we were solid at the back. We also have an outstanding keeper between the posts."

Photo: Witters