FC St. Pauli vs. Borussia Dortmund: Winners and Losers from DFB Pokal

Borussia Dortmund returned to their winning ways on Tuesday night with a confident 3-0 win over St. Pauli in the heart of Hamburg.

In what was a very comfortable win in the DFB-Pokal for Jurgen Klopp's side, Mats Hummels and Co. finally got back in the win column on German soil against a poor 2. Bundesliga opponent. 

The Dortmund coach opted to shake things up in terms of formation and personnel ahead of the game and it clearly worked, as the Black and Yellows pulled off a professional job in one of the country's most notorious grounds.

The famous Millerntor-Stadion was, of course, the stage for Dortmund's return to welcome ways, lining up a strong performance ahead of their first, genuine challenge of the season: Bayern Munich on Saturday night. 

Here are all the winners and losers from the 3-0 match.

Winner: Ciro Immobile

Michael Sohn/Associated Press

One of the most notable differences between Dortmund on Tuesday night and the troubled performances they've put in of late was the cutting edge they had to their attack. This was almost entirely down to the inclusion of Ciro Immobile.

Although Klopp may still prefer Adrian Ramos for the time being, there's no denying that the young Italian striker offers more options when his side are in the attack. While Ramos plays the role of a target man, Immobile is comfortable running the lines and constantly offering to get on the end of the barrage of through balls delivered by Dortmund's midfield. 

It was this kind of play that led to Immobile's goal (he had another that was incorrectly ruled offside) and his wonderful assist for Marco Reus.

Loser: Roman Weidenfeller

Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press

If Klopp did leave Hamburg on Tuesday night with any trouble in his mind, it will undoubtedly have been over which of his two goalkeepers deserves to play against Bayern on Saturday.

Long regarded as simple cover for the German international and longterm Dortmund chief shot-stopper Roman Weidenfeller, Mitch Langerak has recently proven himself as a genuine alternative to his aging counterpart who has been anything but prone to errors in goals this season. 

Although Klopp will almost undoubtedly stick by his aging keeper for the weekend's test, the young Australian would have offered plenty to think about for the remainder of the season. Perhaps it's time Klopp afforded this young keeper a chance to shine.

Loser: St Pauli's Continued Poor Form

Michael Sohn/Associated Press

Tuesday's defeat to Dortmund now means that St Pauli have lost their last three games in all competitions and have only won one of their last five.

The Hamburg-based club have been struggling in the 2. Bundesliga—much like Dortmund have in the top division—and would have hoped they could have turned their fortunes around against Klopp's wounded squad. 

Thomas Meggle's side certainly came into the game in the second half when Dortmund began to sit back, but they were ultimately well beaten by a much better side. Now they must try to regather themselves again and get on with their tough league campaign.

Winner: Sokratis Papastathopoulos

Michael Probst/Associated Press

With Klopp opting to keep Lukasz Piszczek on the bench (in the hope of keeping the Polish full-back fit for the coming league match with Bayern Munich), we saw central defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos coming in at right-back and truly thriving.

To accompany his famous passion for the game, we saw the Greek international enjoy more space and time as he ventured forward in attack. Not unlike Branislav Ivanovic's play at Chelsea, Dortmund enjoyed both the physical intimidation that Sokratis brought to the defense and his deceiving pace and technical ability going forward. 

Klopp may already have a wonderful full-back in Piszczek, but should he ever need replacing, there's a ready-made replacement in Sokratis.

Winner: Dortmund's 4-3-3

Michael Sohn/Associated Press

Klopp was undoubtedly forced to shake things up in Tuesday's match—in light of the recent horrendous run of form that his club were going through—and he did so with a shift in formations against St Pauli. 

Dortmund usually play a simple 4-2-3-1 system with a typical attacking midfielder playing through the centre of the pitch and two sitting midfielders behind him—yet in the DFB Pokal match, we saw the Black and Yellows play something of a 4-3-3.

Unlike the traditional style of the formation, Klopp played Reus and Shinji Kagawa directly behind Immobile through the centre of the pitch, while Kevin Grosskreutz, Sebastian Kehl and Henrikh Mkhitaryan functioned as something of a midfield trio.

This clearly worked wonders against an admittedly outgunned St Pauli side, as Dortmund dominated the midfield and were able to play the quick, attacking football that has brought them so much success. 

Perhaps this new system could be the reason for the club's current turn in form?