“It was underground today”
Schalke part-time relegation fighters annoy their coach
4/10/2023 9:34 am
FC Schalke 04 has long looked like a safe relegation from the Bundesliga. Hardly competitive you presented in the first half of the season. But then the promoted team works its way back into the fight to stay up – and then misses a very big opportunity.
FC Schalke 04 had been bottom of the Bundesliga since matchday 11, after matchday 17 and a 6-1 loss to RB Leipzig, the promoted team only had nine points – and seemed unstoppable and frustrating without resistance stagger towards a direct descent. But then the mood turned, Thomas Reis’ team managed a great series: They didn’t lose eight games in a row and even if they only won two games during this run, the Ruhr club had worked their way back within striking distance to a non-relegation zone.
On the 27th match day, the jump over the line could have succeeded. But at TSG Hoffenheim they lost to a direct competitor. Although more than 10,000 traveling fans had redecorated the game to a home game. And because his team “didn’t invest everything” in the relegation battle, said Thomas Reis. The coach was very angry with his team after the 0:2 in the direct competitor. When it comes to relegation battles, I’ve only seen one team that put everything into it and that was Hoffenheim. The first half was not worthy of a relegation battle,” said Reis at DAZN. Hoffenheim, who took over the Red Lantern from FC Schalke three weeks ago after a black series with 14 winless games in a row, has now seven points after three wins in a row .
“That hurts”
Even though his team came back stronger from the dressing room and had two good chances to equalize shortly after the restart, in the coach’s eyes it was only enough for a depressing conclusion, even apart from the result: “It was underground today. We’re working on it. I think that few can claim to have come close to their performance if I take Ralf Fährmann out.”
There were also critical tones from the team: “We just couldn’t manage it at all. It hurts. We knew how important the game was, what opportunities we had to climb the table,” said striker Marius Bülter. who had previously scored four times in five games but remained harmless in Sinsheim. “If you don’t take advantage of the opportunity, especially in this way in the first half, it’s extremely bitter.” The vowed ferryman assisted, defeated by an own goal by defender Alex Kral and a penalty by Ihlas Bebou: “All in all, it wasn’t a good game from us.”
“We were way too good”
It was the “basic virtues” (Bülter) that the part-time FC Schalke, who were fighting against relegation, lacked, especially in the first half, and the royal blues agreed: “We were far too good in the first half. Hoffenheim received two yellow cards , none of us. We don’t want to encourage the boys to commit fouls, but you have to present yourself a lot more in duels,” said Reis. “The coach said that we were missing exactly what has distinguished us in the last few weeks. That was a bit too little for one or the other,” said goalkeeper Fährmann.
Next Friday (8.30 p.m. / live ticker on ntv.de) Hertha BSC is the next direct competitor to FC Schalke 04. The capital city travel to Gelsenkirchen in 17th place, one point behind VfB Stuttgart in the relegation rank. FC Schalke, who were still behind after 16 match days, can still hope to stay up in the league, with a win against the capital city they would climb back to at least 17th place. Goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann already called the next trend-setting game a “final”. Schalke, which is now five points behind the first non-relegation zone, is only one point behind the Berliners. Coach Reis said in the press conference, not without irony: “We don’t need to look back, there’s no team.”