2. Bundesliga 23/24 Season Preview: St. Pauli
The 2022/23 2. Bundesliga season was duality at its finest for St. Pauli. A Hinrunde of complete unbridled disappointment led to the demise of now FC Basel coach Timo Schulz. A popular manager who typified what it means to represent St. Pauli.
A change in coach led to a change in fortunes. Fabian Hürzerler’s start to life as St. Pauli seemed inconceivable, winning their first 10 games leading der Kiezkicker to 5th in the standings. Exactly where they finished 12-months prior.
The additions of Oladapo Afolayan and Karol Mets in the winter also played a pivotal role in improving the defence, whilst adding a much needed kick to St. Pauli’s play in the final third.
There are many questions heading into the new season. Let’s see if St. Pauli has learnt from its previous mistakes heading into a new campaign.
Team Details
Stadion (Capacity): Millerntor-Stadion (29,546)
Kit manufacturer: DIIY (in-house brand)
Nicknames: Kiezkicker (Neighbourhood Kickers), Freibeuter der Liga (League Buccaneers), The Boys In Brown
Coach: Fabian Hürzeler
Captain: Jackson Irvine
Signings & Departures
Signings: Karol Mets (Zürich, loan made permanent), Philipp Treu (SC Freiburg II), Hauke Wahl (Holstein Kiel), Bennet Wimmer (St. Pauli II), Andreas Albers (Jahn Regensburg), Danel Sinani (Norwich City FC)
Departures: Christopher Avevor (without club), Marcel Beifus (Karlsruher SC), Betim Fazliji (St. Gallen), Igor Matanovic (Eintracht Frankfurt, end of loan), Leart Paqarada (1. FC Köln), Franz Roggow (Borussia Dortmund II), Dennis Smarsch (MSV Duisburg), Jannes Wieckhoff (Heracles Almelo), Luca Zander (SV Sandhausen), Lukas Daschner (VfL Bochum)
The summer window for St. Pauli has been quiet, quite the contrary to this time last season and that’s not to say this is a bad thing. Last summer, David Nemeth was the big signing for the club, however, injury completely ruined his first season. St. Pauli have identified a need to bolster the defence, adding Holstein Kiel captain Hauke Wahl and signing Karol Mets on a permanent role.
Mets was outstanding during the rückrunde and played a pivotal role in leading St. Pauli to the best defence in 2023. St. Pauli still need a left-back to replace Leart Paqarada, and I expect to see one signed in the coming weeks.
In attack, Andreas Albers comes from Jahn Regensburg. The Dane didn’t have his best seasons in Bavaria and seeks a fresh start with St. Pauli. At his best, Albers is a set-piece threat with goal-poaching qualities.
Additionally, St. Pauli signed Luxembourg international Danel Sinani to ensure Hürzerler has plenty of attacking options to call upon this season. Sinani managed only a single goal from 16 appearances for the Canaries in the EFL Championship. St. Pauli will hope one of their new signings can replace the outgoing production of Lukas Daschner.
Potential setup
Fabian Hürzeler was able to stabilise a struggling defensive unit, and helped improve the efficiency of progressing the ball forward. But, will he change the setup that worked, or will Hürzeler change the way St. Pauli plays this season?
Last season, Hürzeler opted to play three at the back with Mets, the highly-rated Jakov Medić and Eric Smith. Smith is usually a six or an eight, but in this system Smith acquainted himself well to life as a centre-back. The returning Nemeth missed most of last season and new signing Wahl offers St. Pauli a strong defensive unit.
With Paqarada’s departure, finding an option on the left-side doesn’t seem final at the time of writing this. And, perhaps they may find someone to fill the large void on that side. St. Pauli did add Philipp Treu from SC Freiburg II, a versatile full-back who can play on both wings with strong competency. At the moment, he would be favourite to start on the left vs Kaiserslautern on matchday one.
The midfield group of Marcel Hartel and Jackson Irvine is undoubtedly set, both complement each other's games well and it showed during St. Pauli’s 10-game winning run. Hartel is typically given licence to press forward and be aggressive, whilst Irvine is the rock holding the midfield together. Don’t sleep on Irvine’s ability to score with eight goals last time out.
An issue that needs addressing is who will play as the number nine? St. Pauli did add Albers to join a group of Etienne Amenyido, Maurides, David Otto and Johannes Eggestein. All are solid options, but throughout last season the existing core failed to stake a consistent claim to start each game. Amenyido had his previous season ruined by injury, however, for me he is the best option to start the first game at least.
Players like new signing Sinani, and the existing core of Afolayan, Connor Metcalfe and Elias Saad all provide strong options to provide width in the attacking third. St. Pauli certainly has a stronger squad than last season, however, can they strike the balance with this cast of players?
Fan Perspective
As St. Pauli prepares for the upcoming, I wanted to know what the overall feeling was. So, I’ve asked the MillernTon’s Tim Ecksteen to provide some context and what we could expect from St. Pauli.
MK: What are your hopes for the upcoming season?
TE: That every club in the 2. Bundesliga is becoming brave and tries to implement ideas of build-up play. Even though a few teams have tried it (and succeeded) last season, the trend is more into a style of avoiding mistakes. We have seen this from 2015-2019 in 2. Bundesliga and I’m not willing to see so much bad football again.
MK: Which summer signing are you most looking forward to seeing play?
TE: Hm, I like to see Hauke Wahl playing for FCSP. He is one of the best central backs for the build-up play and a similar player to Eric Smith was needed in the squad. However, a few days ago the club signed out of a sudden Danel Sinani, an offensive winger. From the style of play he will be definitely the one who brings aesthetics to FC St. Pauli.
MK: Who is one player from St. Pauli fans of the league should keep an eye on?
TE: Definitely Elias Saad, also an offensive winger. He is from Hamburg, played for the Futsal national team and came from the fourth division during the winter break. Everyone who knew him already said, that he can be the one who makes the difference, even in the second league. And by the end of the season, we were able to see what they meant. He is very creative, ultra-fast and a goal scorer. This summer he seems to get even stronger, and I can’t wait to watch him play next season.
MK: What would you like to see Fabian Hürzeler improve upon heading into his first full season as St. Pauli coach?
TE: Even though it is not good for the club, I’m interested how Fabian Hürzeler would manage a few games in a row without three points. He is a very ambitious coach and I’m curious if he tends to get really angry or sticks to his plan or even gets more focused.
MK: Fans should go to the Millerntor-Stadion this season because?
TE: Fans should go to the Millerntor every season. But in this case: It might be the last season in den second league, as they get promoted…
MK: Where do you think St. Pauli will finish this season?
TE: Look above!
The squad is quite stable on a high level, players like Hartel, Irvine, Smith, Saliakas and Medic represent the top-level in the 2. Bundesliga. The new players even improved the squad, filled (quality) gaps. St. Pauli still might need a new striker, but even without him, they should play a role in the combat for promotion. And I’m sure that they are a step ahead of Schalke and Hertha as they already have a stable playing style and not so much rotation in the squad. The last season (Darmstadt, Heidenheim), but also the years before had always shown that continuity is the most important thing. FCSP is leading here and therefore a promotion is more or less an inevitably happening.
Predictions
We can expect one of the toughest seasons in 2. Bundesliga, and for a club like St. Pauli, building upon the base of what they produced in the rückrunde is mightily important. St. Pauli under Hürzerler had balance, continuity and most importantly a defensive three that was difficult to break down.
St. Pauli are still going to be active in the window, I’m not convinced the current mix of number nine’s at the club are strong enough to keep St. Pauli in the top six. The additions of Albers and Sinani are ones with points to prove, both had disappointing campaigns last time out and St. Pauli will be hoping that they can hit the ground running against Kaiserslautern.
I believe St. Pauli are a mid-table team at worst, with the potential of being a dark horse in this intense promotion race.