Albion will look for evolution rather than revolution when they appoint their new head coach.

From some stage during Friday and across the weekend, the clear indications were that man would be Fabian Huerzeler, who has most recently guided St Pauli to the title in the German second tier.

Huerzeler is a big admirer of previous Seagulls head coach Roberto De Zerbi and employs similar techniques and tactics to the Italian in build-up play.

He has the reputation for being rather keener on protecting clean sheets, of which St Paul had ten in the league last term.

But one wonders whether shut-outs are less difficult to come by in the Bundesliga.2 than in the ruthless world of the Premier League.

The key numbers show that St Pauli had the best defensive record in their division last season, conceding 36 goals in their 34 games.

They ranked sixth for goals scored with 62, which was almost ten better than their xG of 52.2 (which ranked ninth).

The areas which look familiar to what we saw with Albion are in terms of passing and possession.

St Pauli were second in their league terms of possession share with 57.2%.

Albion had 60.2% - and it perhaps says something about the two leagues that such a share only ranked fourth in the Prem.

St Pauli averaged 456 accurate passes per match, which was second in the table.

Albion’s number was 551 per game, also ranking second in their league.

By contrast, both teams came well down the list for successful long passes per match.

Going long was not a gameplan either team favoured.

St Pauli ranked a lowly 14th for successful long passes (24.8 per game), Albion 17th.

There is a good reason for that. Huerzeler sees short passing as a more secure method.

Bayer Leverkusen had the shortest passing distances in international football last season at an average of around 15 metres.

St Pauli were just under 18 metres.

Huerzeler sees that as a good way of constructing play but also avoiding defensive problems.

He said: “The shorter the distance, the more reliable the passing rate and the more dominant you can play.

“With all the admiration for Leverkusen’s offence, you forget that they are extremely secure defensively.

“Even in the Champions League, the teams that can defend well get far.”

St Pauli’s pass accuracy of 85.4% was the best in their league while Albion ranked second in the Prem with 89%, behind only Manchester City.

One number which will enthuse Seagulls fans, assuming Hurzeler takes charge, is that his St Pauli team led their division last season in terms of possession won in the final third.

They conceded the fewest fouls in Bundesliga.2 (9.5 per match) and had the joint fewest yellow cards (57), although there were four reds.

There is another similarity between Huerzeler and De Zerbi in turns of intentions.

De Zerbi said at one stage last season he would like his players to make more decisions of their own on the pitch rather than carrying out instructions or looking to the bench.

Huerzeler sees things that way, too, and those who watch St Pauli say they could note that in the way they played.

Players were expected to be ready and able to adapt during games.

Huerzeler often says that he “wants decision-makers on the pitch, not machines”.

That would appear to put onus on more experienced squad members.

As was widely pointed out this weekend, Albion have several players who are older than Huerzeler.

Which is true - but they also have a fair few important players who are a good ten years his junior.

As the weekend progressed, focus in Germany appeared to be switching from whether Huerzeler would leave to how much compensation St Pauli could secure for their coach and who would replace him.

They will be keen to do business as soon as possible as they prepare for their return to the top tier.