After four match days in the upper house, FC St. Pauli has only scored one goal of their own. Carlo Boukhalfa scored for the Kiezkicker in the 1:3 win against FC Augsburg. The 28-year-old was in the starting line-up on the last two matchdays and will most likely start again in the center of midfield alongside Jackson Irvine at the weekend against SC Freiburg.
At the press conference before the game in Breisgau, his coach Alexander Blessin spoke about the competition between him and Connor Metcalfe, who was sidelined against Augsburg due to muscular problems but was back on the bench against Leipzig.
The Australian hadn’t trained much beforehand, but was fit enough for the reserve role. For Blessin it was “important that he was definitely included.” The coach considers him an “extremely important” player, especially because of his flexibility to be used in the double six, the eight or the wing position. A return to the starting line-up is still open. Boukhalfa also did not find himself stuck next to Jackson Irvine, even if “the performance was very appealing,” as Blessin explained. This means competition is declared.
Boukhalfa with a significant boost in performance
Against Augsburg, Blessin rewarded Boukhalfa for his good summer preparation and was then happy about his boost in performance. It is now important to hold on to this and not let up. He has to “consolidate his performances and not be satisfied with the Bundesliga goal and two games from the start,” says Blessin, who appreciates him as a “very open guy,” “who listens and wants to implement what we want, both technically and in terms of running everything comes in and gives us a certain quality.”
On Saturday (3:30 p.m.) he can prove this again. He will face his youth club, for whom he played between 2012 and 2021. However, he never played in the Bundesliga in Freiburg; he only appeared once for the professional team in the DFB Cup.
Those: press conference
