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Even coach number four does not bring Schalke any success

2021-01-02T19:22:41.114Z


Christian Gross should save Schalke from relegation, but the premiere as S04 coach went wrong: At Hertha BSC, the Gross team lost 0: 3. Tasmania Berlin's negative record is now very close.


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Awarded Schalke's best scoring chance: Mark Uth

Photo: Tim Rehbein / RHR-FOTO / imago images / RHR-Foto

Schalke 04 lost in coach Christian Gross' debut.

At Hertha BSC, the bottom of the table was defeated by the Bundesliga 0: 3 (0: 1) and thus continued his series of horrors.

Schalke has not won 30 league games in the meantime, the last time they succeeded almost a year ago (2-0 against Mönchengladbach on January 17, 2020).

Should S04 not win against Hoffenheim on the next matchday, the club has set the negative record for Tasmania Berlin.

Tasmania had not won 31 games in a row in 1965/1966.

In order to save Schalke from this mark, the club had presented the fourth coach of the current season at the end of the year: Gross, 66, started to keep the Royal Blues in the league.

There were two signs against Hertha: How Gross wants to tackle the rescue.

And that it will be very difficult to reach them.

Gross relied on a rather cautiously aligned 4-4-2 formation, his Schalke players left the larger parts of the game to the Berliners and even lurked counteracts.

So that was not a completely different approach than under his predecessors David Wagner or Manuel Baum, who had played in a similar way.

After all, it worked really well in Berlin at least once.

After a safe finish from Hertha's Vladimír Darida, Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann quickly threw the ball towards Amine Harit;

he used Mark Uth with a remarkable pass, but striker Uth missed the possible lead from half right (28th minute).

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Schalke coach Gross before kick-off

Photo: CLEMENS BILAN / POOL / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

It would not have come as a complete surprise, Schalke seemed to have more confidence in themselves than in previous league games, and defensively they gave Hertha few chances.

But one of them was sitting, and that changed the game. 

After a throw-in, a shot by Matheus Cunha was blocked, the rebound landed at Matteo Guendouzi, and Hertha's playmaker flicked the ball into the far corner from around 15 meters (36th).

Before this 1-0 win, Dodi Lukébakio failed because of Schalke keeper Fährmann (22nd minute), and the hosts hadn't developed much more clear opportunities.

With the 1-0 but the game tipped in favor of the Berliners.

Even after the 0-2, Schalke continue to play waiting

In the minutes after the lead, but especially after the break, Hertha was much closer to a second goal than Schalke to equalize, the 2-0 through Jhon Córdoba was logical: Suat Serdar lost the ball in midfield, seconds later Darida played in front of Schalke's goal crossed the ball and found striker Cordoba (52nd).

Even now, Schalke played from a wait-and-see attitude, always waiting to win the ball.

Which made it easy for the now cautious Berliners to control the game.

The 3: 0 by substitute Krzysztof Piatek (79th) was the consequence, the goal was prepared by a through pass from the strong Darida.

In the end, Schalke had around 38 percent possession - and a goal shot ratio of 10:20.

In the table, Schalke remains last with four points from 14 games, Hertha is twelfth with 16 points.

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Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-01-02

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