“Come up with creative ideas”

An important indicator for Sebastian Hoeneß – in general and particularly at the moment – is how he perceives his team. “I sense an appropriate mood: the boys want to improve and fight against the current run of results, they’re focused and are showing a lot of willingness as a group,” explained the VfB head coach in his press conference ahead of Saturday’s match at FC St. Pauli (kick-off 15:30 CEST).

Solutions needed against Pauli’s defensive block

“We’ve not been far off recently in terms of percentages,” continued Hoeneß. “Ideally we want to eke them out in the away game at St. Pauli and lay the foundation for a successful performance with a corresponding result.” In many areas, it’s little details that the players and coaching team are fine-tuning as they look to force momentum back on their side.

VfB will particularly need good solutions against St. Pauli, both with and without the ball. The Hamburg outfit boast one of the best defences in the Bundesliga this season, with only Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen (both 35) conceding fewer goals than the promoted side (36).

“St. Pauli are a very well-organised team who don't make it easy for opponents to get in front of their goal,” said Hoeneß. “We need to come up with creative ideas and also have a certain variation in our play.”

Stergiou out, Vagnoman fit again

Leonidas Stergiou won’t be able to help with this task because of a foot injury, while Justin Diehl is likewise not yet an option for the trip to Hamburg. On the positive side, Josha Vagnoman is available again after recovering from injury and will be part of the squad.

Enzo Millot, El Bilal, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Anrie Chase and Luca Raimund (all injured) remain sidelined.