Matchday 01: VfB Stuttgart – FC Sankt Pauli 2-1

Posted: August 9, 2016 by AndyChristos in Zweite Liga 2016-17
Tags: FCSP, PAULI, Sankt Pauli, St. Pauli, stuttgart, VfB Stuttgart

Strong Body – Bitter Aftertaste

source: http://www.focus.de

First game of the season. Yep. Expectations were high enough even from day 1. Team had shown a really good face in the friendlies and we saw many players adapt to the team and perform well. VfB was a direct jump in the deep. Nothing can scare us of course cos we’re lions aren’t we? Stuttgart hey? Fuck , yeah. Bring it! A good gathering for this first matchday to our joint and all we had to do was wait for the first whistle of the game…

First minutes of the first half showed us exactly what we expected from Sankt Pauli. The Boys in Brown owned the field. Got Stuttgart by surprise, as they had no idea Sankt Pauli would be as furious as they were. Constant pressure in search of an opener and this lead to VfB being stuck mostly back to their defense line. With Fafa and Bouhaddouz up front we seemed unstoppable. On 10’ Picault runs from right and tries to open a nice high ball aiming for someone’s head but Sunjic is closer and clears the ball. On 11’ the answer from VfB with Özcan on a direct shot to Himmelmann that of course gets blocked. Picault on 14’ earns a corner. Buchtmann executes but no luck. On 20’ it is Nehrig’s turn to test his shot. He fires of a thunder from something like 30 meters, but the ball goes way above Stuttgart’s posts. On 22’ comes the first big chance from VfB. Terodde plays through Ziereis like he was not even there and tries a shot really close to Himmelmann but the ball goes slightly far from our post. On 26’ a corner kick from Buchtmann goes infertile, but on 28’ it was the time to end this. Fafa Picault does a magnificent sprint between the VfB defensives and opens a great pass to Bouhaddouz who seems to know how to place his body against the ball. He just lifts his leg a bit changing the course of the ball in VfB’s nets. 0-1 for Sankt Pauli and it seems that this wasn’t enough cos later on 36’ after a high ball from Buchtmann, Bouhaddouz jumps higher than everyone and gets the header. Bad luck though as the ball goes unattended directly in the nets, but in the last minute it hits VfB post and follows the post line out of the field. First half belonged to Sankt Pauli definitely. Better game plan and better chances. Some minutes later the whistle blows half time.

source: http://www.focus.de

Second half underway and things couldn’t look better. Fafa giving all sorts of trouble to VfB defensives and along with Bouhaddouz they looked like they were going to do what our bad luck took away from us on 36’. VfB seemed troubled. At least in these first minutes of the second half. They were desperately looking for a way to even the score. On 51’ Picault gets stopped really early before he started to become dangerous. On 55’ Fafa once more for Bouhaddouz but it ain’t working this time. On the other side, VfB tries to flank with Maxim. On 58’ he takes it all on him. Sprints and shoots but his ball goes high above our posts. Corner for Stuttgart on 59’. Maxim executes and Sankt Pauli provides them with another. This time Sama finds the ball with his head but sends it away from our post. The gap VfB were looking for , they found on our defense line. Especially in Ziereis’s side which they could penetrate easily. While our front line seemed to push, VfB found it easy to break our line in the back with one or two players so they started a game of counter attacking. And this of course bared fruit on 67’ when Gentner takes VfB on the counter and after passing through our defense like they weren’t even there, he passes to Maxim who unattended scores. 1-1 and VfB looked like they found the solution they were looking for, in the counter attacks. Nothing much happened. The worst we could do was barricade ourselves in our box to hold this draw. And this is what we did, giving VfB the space they needed to unfold their game. On 87’, the man who created the first goal for Stuttgart, scored the second. Gentner receives the ball on a counter attack, passes through our defense and scores the second. So simple as that. A while later, the final whistle sounded, sending both teams to the lockers.

source: http://www.t-online.de

So what’s left from the game as a lesson? Defense damn it. This was our game. OUR GAME!!!!! Stuttgart looked desperate in the first half. Didn’t know what hit em. Sankt Pauli was relentless in their attacks and in how the middle pushed the game up front. We finally seem to have solved the issues of finalizing an attack. Bouhaddouz seems to be an exquisite player that blended in with the team and apparently along with Fafa they create a great solution to our attacking problem. The solution VfB needed, once again they found in our so generous defense. This is apparently our Achilles ferse. The previous season was the one we could only whisper the name Bundesliga. Noone dared to scream it loud, as it would vanish in the air or something. This year everyone is loud about it, but trust me. The way to Bundesliga is the one through games won. If we keep fucking up our own games, I don’t see how we can do this. Still, we got big road ahead of us. Next stop is Saturday against Eintracht Braunschweig in Millerntor. About time we started a winning streak right?

Line Up:

Himmelmann

Hedenstad L. Sobiech Ziereis Buballa

Nehrig (Gonther 79′) Buchtmann

Sobota Kalla

Picault ( Miyaichi 67′) Bouhaddouz ( Dudziak 70′)

Match goals:

0:1 Bouhaddouz (28′, Left foot shot, Picault)

1:1 Maxim (67′, Right foot shot)

2:1 Gentner (87′, Right foot shot, Insua)

Spectators: 60000 (sold out)

Sankt Pauli cards: Kalla(1), Nehrig(1), Ziereis(1), Buballa(1)