Bye, scaredy-cat!
Who else should understand this FC Schalke 04?
March 2, 2024, 9:35 a.m
League leaders FC St. Pauli experienced their blue miracle: the team suffered a well-deserved defeat at the crisis club FC Schalke 04. The coach sounds the alarm while the people of Gelsenkirchen enjoy their great liberation. Coach Geraerts can breathe a sigh of relief for now.
Who else should understand this FC Schalke 04? Last weekend, the Royal Blues embarrassed themselves to the bone with a 3-0 defeat at 1. FC Magdeburg, are already being emotionally complimented out of the 2nd Bundesliga and are hoping for a loud bang. A week later, coach Karel Geraerts’ team returned with a top performance and took on league leaders FC St. Pauli. In the end it is 3:1 (1:0), the cushion on the relegation places is now seven points. But even more important: Schalke has once again turned the mood around and saved itself from a heated coaching debate.
The Belgian, who only took over the position from Thomas Reis in mid-October, had already been counted. At least publicly. The 33rd coach since the turn of the millennium didn’t seem to be the right one for this club, which has long since become a gigantic devouring monster for trainers. Geraerts has now taken a big step back from the monster’s mouth for the time being. To achieve this, he had massively rebuilt his team after three away defeats and absurdly poor performances. He had switched to five positions, changed the system and converted the six-man Ron Schallenberg into a central defender.
“That’s a lot of nonsense”
The fact that the Belgian can no longer reach the players is “complete nonsense,” said Schallenberg, “that’s a lot of nonsense.” A convincing performance like the one against Hamburg supports this thesis with facts. The big changes had an impact: Not only did top striker Simon Terodde and Bayern loanee Yusuf Kabadayi, who moved into the starting line-up, play crucial roles, the fighting attitude was also right. “It was really, really fun. We brought the audience back in with a lot of passion,” said Schallenberg. Terodde was involved in match winner Kabadayi’s two goals (44’/73′), and Kenan Karaman made the decision in stoppage time (90’+2).
After the decisive goal, total chaos broke out at Schalke. They attacked each other like savages, knowing that they had achieved something great. In this case, big only means that they can possibly avert the worst accident of the season, a fall into the 3rd league. But this victory won’t change the fact that a lot of things have to be different and better in the summer. After all, the lower regions of the table are not the desired habitat for the Royal Blues, but actually they should go back towards the 1st Bundesliga and the European Cup.
A different world, one that didn’t matter on Friday night. “Especially after the 2-1 we had to tremble because St. Pauli threw everything forward,” said Terodde on Sky: “When you then score the third, you could see that in the cheers of the team and the staff, it was neat a bit fallen off.” The veteran wanted to let it rip a bit afterwards. On the eve of his 36th birthday, the record goalscorer in the second division and captain of the Royal Blues wanted to spend one. “You have to allow yourself that. There was a lot of pressure on the kettle. We’ve been playing scary football lately. It’s nice that we were able to give an answer.”
“Maybe some people feel too safe”
Nice especially for Geraerts. He had to put up with a lot. There is no apparent idea for the game, the team too often lacks the basic virtues such as toughness in duels or willingness to run. Schalke were now able to refute that. “Over the 97 minutes, we absolutely deserved the win. I set up the team so that we would press hard – and that’s exactly what we did,” said the Belgian. “This was the only way we could beat an opponent with this high level of individual quality. It was a convincing team performance from us. I am very proud of the team after an intensive week.”
The connection between coach and players is also likely to be intact; that was also questioned. With their intense and bilious playing style, they really pissed off the guests. And their coach immediately sounded the alarm. “Maybe one or two people feel too safe and are thinking about marching through,” said Fabian Hürzeler and urged people to be more serious. The 31-year-old didn’t like the way the crisis team from Gelsenkirchen worked at all. “Schalke definitely deserved to win. They were more gallant and played with more physicality. Schalke simply played football.”
And they could once again rely on the support from the stands. It’s always a special experience for Terodde. “When you drive into the stadium here. 60,000 – no matter how bad things are, Schalke sticks together. That’s extreme.” Just like the team’s performance fluctuations. Who else should understand this FC Schalke 04?