{"id":74202,"date":"2025-11-29T11:49:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T14:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/st-pauli-euphoria-gives-way-to-reality\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T11:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T14:49:23","slug":"st-pauli-euphoria-gives-way-to-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/st-pauli-euphoria-gives-way-to-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pauli: Euphoria gives way to reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2018Second season syndrome\u2019 is one of the many sayings that probably every football fan knows \u2013\u00a0the phenomenon where the second year after promotion is much harder than the first. When the euphoria has faded and expectations are higher, it\u2019s said that many teams also lose some of their easiness. That\u2019s pretty much what is happening to FC St. Pauli in the second season following their return to the Bundesliga<\/a>: having proved many supposed experts wrong last season and stayed up pretty comfortably, Bayern\u2019s next opponents currently find themselves in a downward spiral.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

From best start to negative record<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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In mid-September, it looked as though the Hamburg side might seamlessly pick up from where they left off in the 2024\/25 campaign. With seven points from the first three matches, St. Pauli recorded their best ever start to a Bundesliga<\/a> season. Since then, however, they\u2019ve not added to that points tally, suffering eight defeats in a row \u2013\u00a0the club\u2019s worst losing run in the German top flight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They\u2019ve not been comprehensively beaten in many of those matches, though. 2-1 against Leverkusen, 1-0 at Bremen, 1-0 at Freiburg and most recently 1-0 against Union Berlin \u2013\u00a0Alexander Blessin\u2019s men have often been close to getting points during their barren run. \u201cI can\u2019t fault the team, they\u2019ve tried everything. Unfortunately we didn\u2019t manage to get the point we deserved,\u201d said the Pauli head coach after the defeat at home to Union last Sunday. In a game that was low on chances at both ends, the capital club were more efficient while the post got in the way of the Hamburg side\u2019s best opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Harmless going forward but stable defensively<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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Now they just need to \u201cget a scrappy 0-0 or 1-0, take confidence from that and start a mini run\u201d, continued Blessin. Like they did last season, when the North Germans managed more frequently to swing the pendulum in their favour. However, their main problem continues to be putting the ball in the back of the net \u2013\u00a0especially since their top scorer in 2024\/25,\u00a0Morgan Guilavogui<\/a> (six goals), left the club in the summer. St. Pauli have just nine goals to their name after 11 games, the second-lowest number after Heidenheim (eight). They\u2019ve not scored in over half their games (six) \u2013\u00a0a league high together with Hamburger SV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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To make up for that, the centrepiece of last season must at least function again: the defence. With 41 goals conceded, St. Pauli boasted the best defence in the Bundesliga<\/a> after Bayern<\/a> (32) last term. The average of 1.2 goals conceded per match has almost doubled to 1.9 in the current campaign, although the Pauli rearguard is generally pretty solid and allows the third-fewest opposition attempts on goal (around 10 per game) in the league. Goalkeeper\u00a0Nikola Vasilj also continues to do his bit, making the most saves in the competition (42). What\u2019s more, there have hardly been any changes to the centre of defence. The regulars\u00a0Hauke Wahl (32 years old), Adam D\u017awiga\u0142a (30), Karol Mets (32) and Eric Smith (28), from whom Blessin largely formed his back three last season, are still at the club. Only David Nemeth (24) is yet to feature this term because of injury.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Conceding more than necessary<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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Whether it\u2019s down to a lack of luck or because St. Pauli can\u2019t sustain the level of last season, the statisticians have calculated that the\u00a0Kiezkicker\u00a0<\/em>have already conceded five more goals than would be expected from the opponents\u2019 chances. Only Bayer 04 Leverkusen (+9) have a larger discrepancy in their xG (expected goals) value.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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St. Pauli have also spent the most time behind (571 minutes) in matches this season. It\u2019s hard to play cautious, underdog football when you\u2019re trailing, but that\u2019s exactly what served them so well last season, when they collected 18 of 32 points on the road. In the current campaign, though, Blessin\u2019s men have yet to pick up any points outside Hamburg \u2013\u00a0the only away victory was in the derby against HSV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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St. Pauli certainly have what it takes to turn things around in the league \u2013\u00a0just hopefully not this weekend, from a Munich point of view. They\u2019re not making any bold statements ahead of the meeting with the unbeaten league leaders in Hamburg, either. Instead, club president\u00a0Oke G\u00f6ttlich prefers to handle the current situation with humour: \u201cLet me put it this way: the next game is against Bayern<\/a>. We’re not going to win that by a large margin.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"Saiba mais sobre o ve\u00edculo<\/a>