Too little to (league) life …: Schalke 04 remains a huge mystery

Too little for (league) life …
Schalke 04 remains a huge mystery

By Arnulf Beckmann

A strong first half, the return of the hopeful – but in the end there is a sobering draw against Werder Bremen at FC Schalke. In the severely troubled Revierklub, coach Gross and striker Huntelaar still spread optimism.

At Schalke, the little things are currently big news. The Bundesliga club announced the extension of two major sponsors in the middle of the week via the same announcement channel that had been used to announce the return of Ajax striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar days before. Things like these cannot be taken for granted in the current situation, because the team of the big club is currently at the bottom of the Bundesliga table. To call something like this a beacon for the urgently needed race to catch up would certainly be overinterpreted. The new signings that Royal Blue had made in the past few weeks would have been more suitable.

Werder Bremen – Schalke 04 1: 1 (0: 1)

Gates: 0: 1 Mascarell (38th), 1: 1 Möhwald (77th)
Bremen: Pavlenka – Veljkovic, Toprak (90th + 1 Moisander), Friedl – Gebre Selassie, Maximilian Eggestein, Agu (46th Augustinsson) – Bittencourt, Mbom (46th Möhwald) – Sargent (61st Osako), Schmid (46th Rashica) ; Trainer: Kohfeldt.
Schalke: Ferryman – Becker, Kabak, Nastasic, Kolasinac – Stambouli, Mascarell (80th Thiaw) – Schöpf (46th Boujellab), Uth, Harit (70th William) – Hoppe (80th Huntelaar); Trainer: Large.
Referee: Sören Storks (Velen)
Yellow cards: – Stambouli (4), Ferryman (2), Huntelaar, Thiaw (2)

But even in Bremen at host Werder, the names of the recovered ex-Schalke Sead Kolasinac or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who almost certainly waived a championship with Amsterdam in the Dutch Eredivisie to help his old club out of trouble, only partially affected. With the tailwind of the big names, those responsible for the miners wanted to give the insecure team stability. In the empty Weserstadion, that didn't work out in total. Green-white and blue-white separated 1: 1 (0: 1), which is not enough from the point of view of the Schalke team, who are threatened with relegation. After all, Huntelaar remained optimistic after the game. "This point is a small achievement that we can build on," said the Dutchman. "Now we just have to keep going for the next few weeks."

Perhaps the 37-year-old was still frightened from stoppage time when Maxi Eggestein maneuvered the ball into the Gelsenkirchen goal. Fortunately for the guests, the preparer Theodor Gebre Selassie was previously sidelined, the winning goal was canceled by the video assistant. The situation in the table has changed only minimally as a result and could get even worse if two direct competitors, 1. FC Köln and Arminia Bielefeld, play against each other. The Ruhrpottklub currently has eight points and is seven behind the relegation place. Should the Rhinelander win, there are nine (Bielefeld would then stay at 17). "That was certainly not a break today, but this point win really brings us forward," noted coach Christian Gross. "It is not optimistic about purpose when I say: We believe that we can still make it."

"No longer dared to play football"

At least the first half of this game feeds this belief. After three defeats in a row, Schalke, where Huntelaar initially only sat on the bench, presented themselves as the dominant team. However, erratic Bremer didn't make it very difficult for the Royal Blues. After just two minutes, Matthew Hoppe had the lead on his foot after an unsuccessful return from Gebre Selassie, but from a tight angle he only hit the outside netting. Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt had set the trap for the opponent to leave the game to him and to wait for his own switching situations, in which Schalke was extremely vulnerable throughout the season. But: blue and white did not grope in. The miners played concentrated and rewarded themselves after a great combination with the 1-0 by Omar Mascarell (38th) Amine Harit had prepared well. Schalke had everything under control until the break whistle.

After the break, however – Kohfeldt had turned his team upside down with three changes – the team completely lost the thread and came under more and more pressure. Schalke had no chance of scoring in the second half and not unjustly conceded the equalization by substitute Kevin Möhwald (76th), who had been staged by substitute Milot Rashica. Worse than the goal, however, weighs the bloodless appearance of the team, which actually acted like a relegated after the break. "We came under more and more pressure," said Huntelaar, who came on for Hoppe in the 80th minute but was unable to turn the game around. "We didn't dare play football anymore and too often chose the simple solutions with long balls."

To this day it is difficult to understand why this nominally so high-caliber collective can become insecure so quickly. There are still 15 games in which Schalke can avert the worst-case scenario. But the belief in it must be nourished with success. If they are missing, those responsible are well advised to start planning for the second division now. To hope for the miracle without a plan B would be reckless. It is obvious that this has to be accompanied by extreme cuts. "We don't have a team that is put together for the 2nd league," says Jochen Schneider, Director of Sport. "There would be huge changes. But we have an obligation to apply for a license for the 2nd division as well."

"Financially non-existential"

What will be of decisive importance will be how the club’s financial situation looks. Over the past few months, reports have been rampant that Schalke is extremely heavily in debt, without the opportunity to react personally. That's not true: In addition to Huntelaar and Kolasinac, they recently convinced William, who was unlucky in Wolfsburg, to move. The Brazilian should provide more offensive power on the right side. "We are very happy that we were able to strengthen ourselves in all prioritized positions – left and right-backs as well as strikers – despite a tight budget," said Schneider.

In addition, other names are circulating around the Schalke market, which are still committed in the last hours of the changeover period ending on Monday and could help in the relegation battle. Nobody will come any more. "Currently," said Christian Gross on Saturday, "we are not planning any further commitments." Because there is not enough money here too? "Even if we are currently in a very difficult sporting situation, it does not threaten our existence financially," said Schneider. "Rather, it is extremely challenging." In this respect, the announcement from the sponsorship sector, which expanded the financial framework by around six million euros, was the only good one in these gloomy days.

. (tagsToTranslate) Fußball (t) FC Schalke 04 (t) Fußball (t) Fußball-Bundesliga (t) Werder Bremen