TFA Exclusive Interview: St. Pauli Captain Jackson Irvine On Mastering Positional Adaptability

Adaptation is key for a footballer because theyre always facing changes.

Whether its changing clubs or teammates or something more tactical, like changing position or role while playing, its all part of the job.

Thats especially true when it comes to the role or position you play.

You often have to play with different clubs, for different coaches, with different systems, and with different teammates, so you need to be able to adapt.

They must be able to roll with the punches and adapt to whatever changes come their way.

It might not always be their top choice, but they know they must adapt to stay relevant and remain top professionals.

Itd be interesting to know what they think about it all.

How do they feel about changing their role? How about playing in a different position?

I had a chance to ask Jackson Irvine, the St. Pauli captain, this question in the mixed zone at Millerntor Stadium last weekend.

At 32 years old, hes changed clubs more than five times in his professional career, so hes experienced a lot of changes.

Hes played his entire career as a midfielder, but hes also played in various other positions, such as number 6, 8, or 10.

Since joining St. Pauli in 2021, hes had to change positions and roles frequently.

So, lets hear directly from him what it feels like to deal with all these changes.

Changing Position

Tim Eckhardt, a sports journalist who writes about St. Pauli for the Millernton blog, told me he was surprised when he saw Irvine playing as a number eight in the 4-4-2 diamond formation under Timo Schultz during his early career at St. Pauli because we know that hes played in the number 10 position before in the UK.

Before he moved to Hamburg, Irvine played more often as the advanced midfielder behind the strikers in 5-3-2 or 3-4-1-2 formations at Hibernian.

So, when he moved to St. Pauli, he faced a change directly by playing further back as the right central midfielder in a number 8 role.

Later, when Schultz was still at St. Pauli, Irvine played as a double six alongside Eric Smith in the flat 4-4-2 formation.

He started carrying more defensive duties here.

Then, when Fabian Hürzeler took over, Irvine played in the same role as a number six, but now in the 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 formations.

During this time, Irvine had two roles: Still playing more defensively (since he was partnered with Marcel Hartel, who carried more offensive duties) and being a box-crashing midfielder.

Yes, Hürzeler also gave Irvine the freedom to position himself as an additional target in the opponents box.

Defensive Midfielder Era

With that freedom, Irvine did really well.

Under Fabian, he had his best goal contribution numbers in his career, with a total of 22 from 11 goals and 11 assists, which helped St. Pauli become 2. Bundesliga champions last season and secure promotion to the Bundesliga.

Hürzelers term also saw Irvine become the leader for interception statistics in the 2. Bundesliga, showing how valuable his defensive skills are for the team and how he can adapt to more defensive roles even better after playing more offensively before.

And in the current season under Alexander Blessin, who took over from Hürzeler, Irvines still playing in the same position, but his roles are changing, mainly because hes got to play with different partners.

So far this season, hes played with Connor Metcalfe, Moritz Wagner, Carlo Boukhalfa, James Sands, and,