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Schalke historical false start: the air is getting thin

2020-09-27T07:38:44.782Z


A historically bad start in the league, a coach under heavy pressure, poorly filled positions in the squad: This list of worries for FC Schalke 04 is long - and doesn't stop at sporting matters.


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Schalke's Gonçalo Paciência

Photo: Martin Meissner / AP

The rain pelted the arena roof, the players shouted at each other or at the referee: It was quite loud at Schalke, even if the stands had to remain empty because of the high number of infections in Gelsenkirchen.

At the very end of a sobering football game for the hosts, the noise level almost reached the limit of pain.

The gate music echoed through the arena.

That sounded bizarre, because it sounded like there was something to celebrate for FC Schalke 04. But only cynics saw Mark Uth's goal in stoppage time to make it 3-1 against Werder Bremen a reason to celebrate.

Jochen Schneider, the board member responsible for sports and communication, left the arena without speaking publicly about the game or coach David Wagner's situation.

Schneider's silence said a lot.

Wagner spoke, and he saw himself as "part of the solution" even after 18 Bundesliga games without a win and without any signs of improvement.

He took this conviction "from the training impressions".

The only thing is: "But we cannot implement that."

The reasoning is pretty thin.

It is therefore expected that Wagner will also be a former Schalke coach very soon.

A new coach would find a squad that has shortcomings in many areas.

However, he also basically has the ability to stay up in the Bundesliga.

That should even succeed quite effortlessly if the elementary mistakes - such as those in standard situations on the defensive - are eliminated.

The prerequisite is that the players regain a basic level of trust in themselves and probably also in the coach.

With some professionals who started or sat on the bench on Saturday, the basic trust in the coach can at least be questioned.

Ralf Fährmann, Nabil Bentaleb, Sebastian Rudy, Mark Uth - they were all loaned out to other clubs since Wagner joined FC Schalke in July 2019.

Some of them even expressed their wish to stay with their new club.

Now they should, as sports director Schneider said last week, "pull the cart out of the mud".

In fact, if there was a very good phase after the break, in which Schalke had several chances to score, one could get the impression that this could succeed.

But a foul by Ozan Kabak, which resulted in a penalty, ended this phase after less than 15 minutes.

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Didn't have his best day: Schalke's Ozan Kabak (against Bremen's Niclas Füllkrug)

Photo: Guido Kirchner / dpa

Ozan Kabak is a 20 year old, very talented central defender.

But this Saturday wasn't his.

Before the corner kick, which led to the 0: 1, a clarification attempt failed.

Many duels looked wooden, which culminated in the penalty whistle and a yellow card.

A tactical foul on the center line brought him yellow-red in the 85th minute.

He will be missing in the upcoming game at RB Leipzig.

But there could also be a longer suspension, because in the first half Kabak spat at his opponent Ludwig Augustinsson, who was lying on the ground.

"It was not intended to fool the view from the outside," wrote Kabak on Twitter that evening.

It can be assumed that neither referee Markus Schmidt nor video assistant Sascha Stegemann noticed the spitting close to the action.

The control committee of the DFB could therefore still take action and determine if necessary.

"A clear red card," said Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt after listing all the arguments in favor of Kabak.

David Wagner defended his player: "The scene looks incredibly unfortunate, but I am firmly convinced that it was not on purpose, even if the pictures don't reveal it."

A coach under heavy pressure, a historically bad start to the league after the 8-0 defeat at Bayern, an important professional who is threatened with a longer suspension, weak positions in the squad, an empty stadium and financial bottlenecks anyway: this list of worries of the FC Schalke is long - and it doesn't end there.

In the background there is also the concern of many, also influential fans, that Clemens Tönnies could continue to be important for the club even without an office.

"CT and executive board close together, everything the same as before?" Read a banner at the arena on Saturday.

It referred to Tönnies, who no longer has an office, but still sat in the stands with the Schalke delegation in Munich.

Little seems to be left of the FC Schalke 04 transparency offensive announced at the beginning of July.

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Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2020-09-27

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