FC St. Pauli - 1.FC Köln

Top match between fourth St. Pauli and second 1.FC Cologne on this friday evening. With a win St. Pauli can overcome Cologne as they are only two Points ahead of them. The situation is a bit different St. Pauli coming from two wins in a row under new Coach Vrabec while high flying Cologne suffered their first two defeats in a row now. This is a big blow after the strong start of the season and they fall down from the top. If they continue with the bad streak they fall out of the promotion places but the sign is more as good as the results were often well in Hamburg against Pauli.

At Pauli there are no personnel or tactical changes expected compared to the 1-0 win to Aalen. Coach Vrabec counts again on his more offensive minded system 4-4-2 with two attackers Fin Bartels and Christopher Nöthe as both previously complement each other very well in recent games. He plays much more offensive as former Coach Frontzeck and therefore a lot of hope is back to play some role in promotion race. According to the unchanged starting lineup the fit again striker Verhoek is sitting on the bench first and he has to wait for his opportunity to come in. The same situation face youngster Maier who played really well after coming in for Kringe in Aalen but must let his experienced colleagues let go first and come from bench maybe.

Although both last matches were lost 0-1 to Bochum and Ingolstadt there are not radical changes expected. However Coach Stöger maybe changes a bit his offensive lineup and brings again two strikers with Ujah and Helmes after counting only on one of them in the past games. But the offensive midfield disappointed in recent games and found not a way to crack both defensive minded teams from Bochum and Ingolstadt. Therefore one of the three Risse, Halfar or Peszko loses his place in starting lineup today. For Risse speaks that he scored very well and was a key factor in some matches, Halfar fights very well for the team while Peszko can be the one who must on bench compared to the others. Defensive remains unchanged as this is by far the best part of Cologne’s team. With only seven goals allowed they have the best defense of the league and gave them a lot of stability. If the offensive returns to normal things it is not obvious to get back on track today.