Cottbus Cannot Keep Leaking: St. Pauli Visit a Defence That Has Not Kept a Clean Sheet Yet

Energie Cottbus welcome FC St. Pauli to the Stadion der Freundschaft on Sunday 20 September 2026, and if you are looking for a fixture that tells you something honest about where both clubs stand right now, this is it. No clean sheets. No wins for one side. And a home team that has been shipping goals like a side that has not yet agreed on the basics of defending together. End of.

Cottbus: The Goals Are Going In at Both Ends

Let me be blunt about Energie Cottbus. Across their three completed 2. Bundesliga matches before Sunday, they have won one, lost two, and conceded eight goals. Eight. That is not a defensive system that is struggling. That is a defensive situation that requires an honest conversation about desire and accountability.

The numbers tell it simply. Cottbus beat Hannover 96 three goals to one in their opener. Then DSC Arminia Bielefeld came to town and left with a three-nil win. Then SpVgg Greuther Fürth scored four past them in a match Cottbus lost three goals to four. That is a team that started with promise and has since allowed standards to fall away at the back. They have not kept a clean sheet in any of those three matches. Not one.

The thing is, you can score six goals across three matches and still be in serious difficulty if you are conceding eight. That is not attacking football. That is a leaky bucket. Any manager worth his contract has to look his defenders in the eye this week and demand more. Compete. Win your headers. Track your runners. These are not complicated ideas. These are basics.

The positive, if you want one, is that Cottbus are scoring. They have found the net in two of their three matches. The problem is they have also conceded in all three. Both teams have scored in two of their three home matches. That tells you something about the kind of game Sunday could be, but it is not something I would hold up as a badge of honour when you are a home side. You are supposed to be hard to beat on your own ground.

St. Pauli: Draws Are Not Results, They Are Warnings

FC St. Pauli travel to Cottbus without a win in their last three completed 2. Bundesliga matches. Zero wins. Two draws. One defeat. That is not acceptable form for a club with ambitions in this division, and anyone telling you otherwise is not being straight with you.

Their most recent result before the international break was a one-two defeat to Kaiserslautern. Before that, St. Pauli drew two-all with Holstein Kiel and drew one-all with SpVgg Greuther Fürth. Every single one of those three matches ended with both teams scoring. St. Pauli have not kept a clean sheet either. They have conceded five goals in those three matches while scoring four. That is a team that is competing but not yet winning, and there is a difference between the two.

Listen, a draw away from home is sometimes a decent result depending on the opponent and the circumstances. But when you are drawing and losing and not winning, that is a pattern. At some point the attitude towards those results has to shift from acceptance to anger. You do not build anything by collecting draws.

What concerns me most about St. Pauli is the injury situation. The data shows four players currently out for Energie Cottbus, including one with a long-term absence and one rated as a major injury not expected back until the end of December. That kind of availability problem is a real constraint on what a manager can ask from his squad week to week. It limits options and puts pressure on players who may not yet be ready to carry the load. Standards can drop when the depth is not there, and that is not an excuse. It is a fact that needs managing.

What Needs to Happen on Sunday

The thing is, this match is winnable for both teams. That is the honest truth about two sides in this kind of form. Cottbus have the home crowd and the motivation to arrest a run of two consecutive defeats. St. Pauli have the nous to frustrate a home side that has been fragile at the back.

For Cottbus, the priorities are obvious. Sort out the defence. Do not give St. Pauli free headers. Compete for every second ball. If the basics are right at the back, they have shown they can score enough to win. Three goals against Hannover proved that. The question is whether the back line can be trusted to hold a lead, because so far the answer has been no.

For St. Pauli, the task is to take their chance when it arrives. They have shown they can score in every match they have played. But drawing is not enough anymore. A win on Sunday requires more than competing. It requires a clinical edge and a defensive shift from the whole team, not just the back four. Accountability across every position.

The Verdict

Both teams need a result. Both defences have been generous. Both attacks have shown they can score. That combination, in my experience, tends to produce goals. Neither side has the defensive record to suggest Sunday will be a shutout. I would not be surprised if this one ends with both teams on the scoresheet again. But form suggests Cottbus have something to prove at home after two defeats, and home advantage in this division matters when a crowd gets behind a side that is fighting for something.

Whether Cottbus can summon the desire and attitude to turn their home form around, or whether St. Pauli's solidity is enough to earn three points on the road, is the question Sunday will answer. I will not be backing a draw. Draws suit nobody here. This is a results business, and both managers know it.