Gute Nachrichten erneut: Soeben wurde Fabian Hürzeler als neuer ………. anerkannt.
Teams often fall victim to second-season syndrome: following a surprising success in the league with a baffling, almost comedic inability to perform, as if they couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. St. Pauli fans, however, will be hoping that their team’s specific issue, a Jekyll-and-Hyde syndrome with halves of the season, doesn’t rear its head in 2023/24. Fortunately, there’s no sign of it so far.
That said, they’d gladly take another dose of what energized the club in the second half of the 2022/23 season. After a disastrous Hinrunde that left them teetering just above the relegation zone on goal difference, head coach Timo Schultz was replaced by his former assistant, Fabian Hürzeler.
Surely, few – even among Pauli’s die-hard fans – expected what came next. Hürzeler, the youngest coach in German professional football and the second-youngest ever in Bundesliga 2 at just 29, led the team to a phenomenal Rückrunde. Pauli earned seven more points than any other club and, despite their dreadful first half of the season, improbably finished in fifth place.
When the 2023/24 season began with a five-game unbeaten run that included four consecutive draws, the high expectations of Pauli supporters—boosted by last season’s strong finish—likely shifted to simply appreciating the no-frills but steady season that seemed to be ahead. Then again, considering what Hürzeler—born in the USA to a Swiss dentist and German mother—had accomplished in his first nine months in charge, perhaps they should have shown more faith.
“We’ve become much more stable defensively, and things are clicking better up front,” said Johannes Eggestein earlier in the season, highlighting Pauli’s simple yet challenging formula for success under Hürzeler. Fast forward several months, and they now boast the best defense in the league and the third-best attack.
Since those opening five games, they have only lost twice, and their thrilling 4-3 victory over second-place Holstein Kiel on Matchday 23 has given them a comfortable lead over their closest rivals.
