Nothing seemed to go right for St.Pauli other than the fact they survived the drop, constant changes to the team, injuries and management controversies all led to a season of struggle.
After a shaky start St.Pauli soon found their rhythm and were up to as high as fifth in mid-October, that was to be as good as it got for Jos Luhukay’s men, a run of 8 without a win followed and they were to spend the rest of the season in the bottom half, flirting with relegation.
The main attribute to their ailing form was their abysmal record away from home, losing 10 of the 17 games and winning just once. At home it was a completely different story, they were much more solid and won 8 games, which in the end kept them afloat.
Manager Luhukay would often change his starting eleven and only kept the same team on just two occasions all season, many of the changes were forced upon him by injuries but this was to have a detrimental effect on the side.
Strikers Henk Veerman and Dimitrios Diamantakos were both dangerous up front and each hit over double figures for the season. The two would also find themselves in and out of the side and well publicised disagreements with Luhukay would eventually lead to the end of the manager’s reign.
A replacement for Luhukay in the summer will be the first start of their rebuilding for next season, there is no denying the quality they have in the squad but they need stability if they want to move forward.
