“Scheiß Spiel” causes anger: Powerful alarm on Schalke


“Shit game” causes anger
Powerful alarm on Schalke

By Tobias Nordmann

The start of the season of FC Schalke 04 is finally botched. At SSV Jahn Regensburg, the team receives a rough slap that ensures clear words and announcements. The fans are already discussing a successor to the coach, who is meanwhile promoting himself.

Simon Terodde had the cardboard on. Although it has to be said differently, after all, the striker is now playing in the Ruhr area. He plays for FC Schalke 04. What he does pretty well, by the way, after four match days, the phenomenon of the 2nd Bundesliga has already scored four goals again. So, Terodde not only had the cardboard open, he was really fed up with the situation on Saturday afternoon. “It was a shitty game! A 4-1 defeat is extremely tough.” The relegated was lost in the league leader, SSV Jahn Regensburg (!).

Well, things like that can happen, of course. But they shouldn’t do it at Schalke right now. Because the situation is extremely tense. Although the squad restructuring after the relegation horror was astonishingly quick and successful, the team has not yet been properly exploited to their potential. Which, by the way, leads to discussions about coach Dimitrios Grammzois again. After all, he is (also) responsible for the fact that the start of the season has not been successful. The top favorite for promotion had only collected four points from four games so far. Means: The Schalke leaders can no longer push Regensburg from the top of the table on their own (little joke, even if it’s true).

Now nobody needs to panic, because after four game days the matter of promotion or non-promotion was never decided. VfL Bochum, the champions of last season, also stumbled into the season in late summer 2020, after four match days the team had (at least) five points. You can still press the alarm button at Berger Feld. Because it’s not the chiseled truth of the table that should be causing concern, but the way the team is trying to get into this league. It’s a pretty desperate battle between defensive stability (it doesn’t work out) and offensive dominance, which a) you can trust yourself as a relegated team and which b) the squad absolutely gives away.

What does Grammozis actually want?

Trainer Grammzois is also leading this desperate battle. He has still not decided whether he wants to defend with a back three or whether he would rather trust a back four. The current status looks like this: In front of Ralf Fährmann, three men try to clean the crime scene, but they don’t do it particularly well. It looked more stable when the coach bet on the venerable four-bar on the previous day. Against Erzgebirge Aue there was only a 1: 1 and when equalizing goal scorer Sascha Härtel was surprisingly free, but overall the attacking efforts of the Saxons were worked away very sensibly.

Against Regensburg, the Schalke back team may not adorn themselves with this fame. Especially in the standard situations of the SSV, the behavior was absolutely confused. The goals conceded two to four came after a dead ball. The early deficit, after just eight minutes, the Gelsenkirchen team must also note on their own error sheet. Florian Flick had given the ball on his own sixteen too easily. However, the middle man in the back three had been badly alluded to and immediately received pressure from two opponents. Playful solutions are good and always welcome. But they don’t always make sense.

Sure, the Gelsenkirchen team was completely turned on the left after relegation. In an insane transfer frenzy, expensive stars were given away and, in return, a team was actually put together that definitely met the criteria of sense and understanding. But it just doesn’t work yet. Dominick Drexler, the new playmaker of the Knappen, judged himself and his colleagues harshly: “We showed a very bad performance. Every player who was on the field has to question himself so that we can function better as a team. I will everyone Take players to account, myself too, and then I hope that we will show a different face against Düsseldorf as early as next week. “

“We are not allowed to present ourselves like that”

Grammozis also made the squad restructuring an issue. “We have to quickly become a team, not just in the dressing room, but on the pitch. We mustn’t present ourselves like that and lose ourselves in height,” said the Greek at the press conference. “We are not allowed to present ourselves like that. That was not a good day for us.” And that in both halves of the field. Because in addition to the defensive dropouts, the game in the direction of the opponent’s goal was extremely expandable. Schalke tried hard, they also had a lot of the ball, but then made too little of their game. Grammozis complained about the lack of sharpness and speed in the passing game. A team that includes Drexler, Rodrigo Zalazar, Terodde and Marius Bülter must actually bring more to the field than an unimaginative and harmless attachment.

Despite the weak start to the season, Grammozis encouraged the fans to be patient for his work and for the team, which can also be called a false start. “We know that it will not be an easy season,” he said, referring to the huge upheaval with around 30 transfer movements so far, a little something should and will probably do. “We know we cannot make quantum leaps,” he warned. The fans are getting nervous, they are already discussing possible successors, they are discussing Uwe Neuhaus (most recently with Arminia Bielefeld), Florian Kohfeldt (most recently Werder Bremen) or also about ex-coach Domenico Tedesco (most recently Spartak Moscow). “It’s never quiet at Schalke,” said Grammozis, but “internally we are quiet.”

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