FC St. Pauli

...his résumé so far: "I'm not satisfied with myself or with what we've achieved as a team. We've worked on some good things but only reproduced them in certain phases. We've dominated lots of games the way we intended but still have work to do both in defence and attack. We have to do better in both those areas. We can't keep conceding so many goals, especially early on. We also need to create better opportunities and score more goals. I could have got more myself."

...the current situation and a possible relegation play-off: "I'm not thinking about that at all at the moment. I don't look at the table, though I do know the teams are all close together. You can climb several places in one game, so I'm not worried about that now."

...the lack of big chances recently: "We had more than 20 crosses against Karlsruhe but only two of them reached their target. The rest went to the opposition defence. That’s something we need to work on and have been working on. We have to get into better positions – not just me, but all the attacking players. We have to improve together. The closer we get to the goal, the more focused we have to be. The good thing is that we know what details we need to work on and that's what we're doing in training. The more we practice, the more we'll improve over the next few weeks."

Simon Makienok in an aerial challenge with Karlsruhe's Daniel Gordon.

...the lack of headed goals so far: "We have plans on how we want to execute this as well as possible. We try to find solutions in every game. We want to threaten in the air because it can be a big weapon. On the one hand, we have to do better with our crosses, but on the other, we have to get into better positions, which is my job."

...a personal goal tally for this season: "It always depends on how the season goes and how often you play. If you're playing regularly as a striker, a double-digit tally can be a target, but that's not my main consideration. I'm more interested in how I can help the team win games.  Goals are a big part of it, of course, and I want to contribute by scoring."

...his 30th birthday on Saturday: "I'm not bothered about the number, I'm only bothered about how my body feels and it feels much better than three years ago when I suffered a serious injury and had a long spell on the sidelines. I'm not bothered about turning 30 on Saturday. I just want to have a nice birthday and get three points. I'm not thinking about my birthday, I'm thinking about winning the game."

Photos: Witters