Marked for Benjamin Lorenz
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Benjamin Lorenz
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. St. Pauli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
St. Pauli close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market5 Feb 2029
Lennart Karl wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at St. Pauli hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match3 Feb 2029
No end in sight to St. Pauli's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at St. Pauli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at St. Pauli
Jeff Chabot and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A move Andrés Monsalve would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andrés Monsalve is living that version at St. Pauli, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathias Pereira Lage is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match3 Feb 2029
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Jan 2029
Benjamin Lorenz damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match27 Jan 2029
Nowhere to hide for St. Pauli
0‑3 against Bayern Munich, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market29 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market29 Jan 2029
Schalke 04 paid $3.5M and St. Pauli took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Samuel Klein: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” St. Pauli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market29 Jan 2029
The name of Jannik Robatsch has come up in conversations St. Pauli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Mathias Pereira Lage falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hamburger SV have kept their man, and St. Pauli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomoya Ando, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Jan 2029
Benjamin Lorenz damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market22 Jan 2029
The bid was some way short and St. Pauli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
Failed medical for Yll Gashi
The deal with Bayern Munich died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Leopold Querfeld and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
St. Pauli asked and Eintracht Braunschweig said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Gomes Rodríguez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market22 Jan 2029
A season-long audition: Bayern Munich still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are St. Pauli's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Nov 2028
No end in sight to St. Pauli's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at St. Pauli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Jeff Chabot in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Pauli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Mathias Pereira Lage falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Both jobs done by Lennart Karl — 6.90
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.90, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad27 Nov 2028
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market27 Nov 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jannik Robatsch has his answer from St. Pauli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Joane Gadou is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Till Neininger, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Karol Mets breaks a bone — 76 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” St. Pauli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vitoria Guimaraes is saying, and nobody at St. Pauli is enjoying the guessing.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Leopold Querfeld was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
5 academy graduates step up at St. Pauli
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
St. Pauli asked and ZTE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.