2023-07-06 12:28:00
It’s nothing new that Jackson Irvine is a special football pro. Now he has even passed the time. More precisely: the schedule for his return to the pitch. The midfielder put his foot down for 45 minutes in the third friendly against Randers, also grappled with opponents and was in the best of spirits after the strong 4-1 win. He’s bursting with energy.
The calf injury he picked up in the last game of the season? Damn bitter, but cured and ticked off. Irvine looks ahead. Full of confidence. “The plan was that I would be ready for the training camp. Luckily I’m five or six days ahead of schedule. I’m further than I thought and I feel strong.”
Irvine doesn’t want to hear about last season
His team is also in early form. But the 30-year-old doesn’t want to hear too much about the fact that St. Pauli seems to be picking up on the outstanding second half of last season.
“We don’t want to dwell too much on what we achieved last season,” said Irvine. And certainly not to be satisfied with it and think that it will automatically go on like this. “We want to raise the bar even higher, set new standards and goals.”
Lead player calls for more ruthlessness
What is clearly visible, however, is that the Kiezkicker can build on a really good basis and a functioning game system and that is why a lot is already working. “We feel really good in the back two thirds of the field, are defensively good, have a good build-up play and a good rhythm, a clear structure,” says Irvine.
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The construction site is the front third. “We can still do some things better.” Develop more pressure in the attacking game, play with more precision in the penalty area, be better positioned there, show more finishing quality. St. Pauli must become “more ruthless”, as Irvine calls it, which translates to “more ruthless”. In context, it could also be translated as more consistent, merciless, hardened. In short: The team can and must create more big chances and use them better, be ice cold – and also be more versatile in scoring, as Irvine says. “We can become an even bigger problem for the opponent.”
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