Matchday 01: 1. FC Magdeburg vs FC Sankt Pauli 1-2

Settin off on the right foot!!! Forza FCSP!

source: de.nachrichten.yahoo.com

Ok lads. New season of Sankt Pauli started officially. Seemed like forever this time. We were so damn anxious to see our team perform once again. So many questions needed to be answered. Will the team be ready? Will any of our new players prove worthy? Will the coach prove worthy, considering the fact that in the previous season he didn’t get a fair chance to build on his strategy?  The new faces in the team’s roaster are Marvin Knoll, whom we got from Jahn Regensburg on the 1^st of July, Ersin Zehir, Jakob Münzner and  Luis Coordes as internal changes and of course Mats Möller Daehli which is no new face to the team but so far he’s been playing as loan from Freiburg. From July 1^st and up until June 2021 he is our lad. Too damn curious to see how these players would blend in to the team since the friendlies didn’t show much. Soridon was damn packed. The usual suspects (Scum crew and the Electrician, Herr Kostas) and the fellow comrades from Athens Klub. That, along with Zouz half dead from extended drinking in Glasgow but still eyes fixed upon the game,  were more than enough to give the positive vibes needed for this first match day.

 

First half underway and early action on 5′ for FCM.  Beck receives a distant pass from Türpitz and shoots against Himmelmann almost all alone. Himmelmann blocks and saves us from an early unpleasant situation. Although Magdeburg seemed more offensive in these first minutes, we seemed to be more steady from the middle and on. Mostly pressing  with Allagui  and Möller Daehli, but nothing worthy of mentioning here. The problem of creating was still there for Sankt Pauli. The unpleasant situation Himmelmann saved us from earlier, Ziereis made possible on  16′. A real present for Magdeburg. A high ball to our box and he jumps way too early missing the header, leaving the ball for Beck who was right behind him. Beck scores. As simple as that. FCSP tries to counter with Knoll on 25′. He passes directly to FCM defense where Allagui tries to claim the ball between two defensives. He slightly misses to shoot in time as Niemeyer is there just a sec before him and kicks the ball away before our striker became a threat. Salvation to our anxiety came on 29′.  After a long siege in Magdeburg‘s nets, the ball ends to Buchtmann who shoots a dynamite making it impossible for Fejzic to repel. 1-1 and the counter had only just begun. On 33′, Himmelmann takes the ball and sends it the deepest he can. Allagui receives and passes to Möller Daehli who shoots nicely but kinda weak. Ball ends to Fejzic’s hands. FCM after Buchtmann’s goal clearly lost the upper hand they seemed to be having once the game started. FCSP seemed to have control over the mid line leading to a smooth continuation of the first half til the ref whistled, sending the players to the lockers.

source: http://www.twitter.com/fcstpauli_en

Second half underway and definitely this is our time. FCM seemed dazed and unable to create opportunities able to give them the three points. Early on 47’ after a corner kick the ball ends to Sobota. He passes to Möller Daehli who unfortunately is charged with an offensive foul. On 50’ Knoll executes a free shot a little above Fejzic’s upper post. Sankt Pauli made definitely the steadier steps in the game. FCM’s first attempt came on 62’ with Preißinger. Receives the ball from Türpitz almost alone but sends the ball way up high from our upper post. On 68′ Allagui takes three defensives on him and opens space for Buchtmann who shoots but this time the ball ends to the Fejzic’s hands. Game proceeds with no alternation as Sankt Pauli applied their pace in the game. Magdeburg mostly in defensive positions trying to repel any attempt FCSP made in scoring a second one. Their siege broke on 80’, after a foul of Niemeyer on Sobota. On 81′ Knoll sets the ball to the grass and proceeds to execute the foul. He was said to be an expert in free kicks and here what a nice chance to prove that sayin. Magnificently executed foul kick. A sweet curve to the ball avoiding the wall formed by FCM players in front of him sending it right to the upper left corner of Fejzic leaving him unable to react. 3’ of xtra time and on 90’+4(??) Magdeburg earns a foul kick in really good position. Fucks it up and finally the reff remembers he had a whistle on 90’+5(????). Players sent to the lockers and the first three points in our bag.

source: http://www.twitter.com/fcstpauli_en

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Right? Well…the truth is sliiightly bit different. Three points are three points and it is a hell of a start, but if you look at the game closer, you’ll see that besides us having ball possession over FCM, the problems we had the previous year, still remained. How did our team work on the defense during the break? The previous year we saw players (don’t wanna name em, everyone knows) that where very very far from being the definition of the word “Average Defensive”. Actually I think we had the worst defensive in die ganze Zweite Liga. Season starts and here we are with the same troublesome players on the basic 11. And of course our defense sucked ass big time. The thing is that there was an improvement in the mid line with Knoll and Flum doin an exquisite work feeding the ball constantly to the offence. On top I think that in this season we will see Allagui not trying to score so much but dragging players on him opening spaces for Buchtmann or  Möller Daehli, something that worked against Magdeburg. Our main problem though is defence. Was, Is and looks like it is gonna be a pain in the ass through the entire year. I don’t see how a coach works with a team for half a year, works through the Summer break and starts the season with Avevor  and Ziereis placed in the center of our defence line (Starting 11?????????). Just don’t get it. Let’s leave these thoughts here though. The season just started and our first game left us with three points. At the same time fuckin HSV just suffered a humiliating loss from Kiel making our victory even bigger. On Friday we play against Darmstadt in Millerntor. A home game and last season this was another big thorn for us. Let’s change that now shall we?

Line Up:

Himmelmann

Zander    Ziereis   Avevor   Buballa

  Flum   Knoll

    Sobota  Buchtmann (Neudecker 75′) Möller Daehli (Nehrig 90’+1)  

                       Allagui (Diamantakos 79′)

  

Match goals:

1:0 Beck (16′, Left Foot Shot, Butzen)

1:1 Buchtmann (29′, Left Foot Shot)

1:2 Knoll (81′, Direct Free Kick, Left Foot Shot)

Spectators: 24156 (sold out)

Sankt Pauli cards: Flum(1)

Match goals

 

Further reading:

• Kicker (German)
• Official website
• Magischer FC (German)
• Kleiner Tod (German, MUST read)