Schalke is in tatters following a promising second place finish in 2010 in the Bundesliga.
Prior to the season’s start, plenty of observers expected Schalke to finish the season as Champions or at least, be in the top five and compete for a European spot. However, when Felix Magath decided to do away with his best defenders, there were some doubts about Schalke’s future in the minds of the fans.
Of the defence that carried a ‘tame’ Schalke side to a second placed finish last season, only Benedikt Howedes and Manuel Neuer have stayed on this season. Magath allowed Heiko Westermann to depart the club and brought in a former Dortmund player, who is past his prime in Christoph Metzelder.
In the Mestalla last Tuesday, Schalke was outplayed in the first half. Peer Kluge and Joel Matip played in defensive midfield. Try as they might, they were unable to do much against Valencia’s highly skilled midfielders. Jose Manuel Jurado and Jefferson Farfan had little success on the wings as the ball hardly came to them. Kluge and Matip hardly provided any service
Lukas Schmitz and Atsuto Uchida, were undone, especially Uchida, more than once, by Valencia’s wing-backs. Schalke was unable to hit Valencia on the counter-attack and didn’t make much of their set-pieces. Klaas Jan Huntelaar looked like he didn’t want to be at the Mestalla. Valencia eventually broke the dead-lock in the 16th minute through Roberto Soldado.
Raul conjured up all his strength in the second half and led his side’s fight-back. He equalized beautifully after being set up by Jurado. Schalke looked a much better side afterwards and few might have wondered why a side that can play good football is languishing in mid-table in the Bundesliga.
The answer is simple: Felix Magath.
Magath is a very good coach and one of the best coaches the Bundesliga has ever seen. However, when a defensive minded coach has too many attackers and very few skilled defenders, the system doesn’t work out as attackers cannot be used to play defensive tactics. Magath has rotated far too may times this season. He has kept almost the same side in the last three matches, though, but the results have been mixed.
The one change that he made to the side that played Valencia was Joel Matip, who played in place of Anthony Annan. Annan’s interviews in Germany when he first came showed his disrespect towards Schalke. How Magath signed a player like that is beyond me no matter how skilful he is. Magath has always valued discipline over skill.
Manuel Neuer is the one person who has saved Schalke from more embarrassing defeats this season. However, even he couldn’t stop Marco Reus from almost breaking the post in Gladbach’s first home win of the season in the previous Bundesliga match-day. Neuer spoke after the match. This is what he had to say:
"We are not a unit and had no plan for how we should play for the 1-0. It cannot be that I always have to punt the ball long to [Klaas-Jan] Huntelaar and Raul because we cannot play the ball out of the back. They dominated us, they could have scored five."
The fact that Magath’s side isn’t a unit is very clear. The team hardly puts together intricate passing moves. The lack of communication at times is almost appalling. Farfan seems to be the only player in Schalke capable of putting in good performances consistently aside from Neuer. Often Neuer has to try to get the ball up front to provide the service for the strikers.
Magath likes to play talented youngsters. Thus, it is quite surprising that Christoph Moritz hasn’t featured regularly. However, may be using Julian Draxler on a regular basis might be a solution to Schalke’s attacking options. One poor decision made by Magath was to send one of his favourite players, youngster Lewis Holtby away on loan to Mainz. Had Holtby been around, Schalke’s attacking play would certainly have been better.
Above all, many Schalke fans are unable to associate with the club due to the many changes that Magath has made- the most recent ones of bringing in Ali Karimi and Angelos Charisteas certainly left a bitter taste in the mouths of many supporters. Also, Manuel Neuer’s future is uncertain. The fans are trying to make Magath hold onto a player who they feel is the ‘soul’ of their club.
Magath recently tried using social networking site Facebook to talk to the fans. His attempts were quite unsuccessful as he seemed awkward in the videos he published.
Schalke is in the German Cup semi-finals where they will play Bayern, a team they have already beaten this season. The winners of the German Cup automatically qualify for a spot in the Europa League.
With a ‘team’ as uncoordinated and as soulless as Schalke, the only route to Europe might turn out to be the German Cup. Magath’s future is in doubt and Clemens Tonnies just might lose his patience at the end of the season if Schalke continues to put in unconvincing displays.
Of the defence that carried a ‘tame’ Schalke side to a second placed finish last season, only Benedikt Howedes and Manuel Neuer have stayed on this season. Magath allowed Heiko Westermann to depart the club and brought in a former Dortmund player, who is past his prime in Christoph Metzelder.
In the Mestalla last Tuesday, Schalke was outplayed in the first half. Peer Kluge and Joel Matip played in defensive midfield. Try as they might, they were unable to do much against Valencia’s highly skilled midfielders. Jose Manuel Jurado and Jefferson Farfan had little success on the wings as the ball hardly came to them. Kluge and Matip hardly provided any service
Lukas Schmitz and Atsuto Uchida, were undone, especially Uchida, more than once, by Valencia’s wing-backs. Schalke was unable to hit Valencia on the counter-attack and didn’t make much of their set-pieces. Klaas Jan Huntelaar looked like he didn’t want to be at the Mestalla. Valencia eventually broke the dead-lock in the 16th minute through Roberto Soldado.
Raul conjured up all his strength in the second half and led his side’s fight-back. He equalized beautifully after being set up by Jurado. Schalke looked a much better side afterwards and few might have wondered why a side that can play good football is languishing in mid-table in the Bundesliga.
The answer is simple: Felix Magath.
Magath is a very good coach and one of the best coaches the Bundesliga has ever seen. However, when a defensive minded coach has too many attackers and very few skilled defenders, the system doesn’t work out as attackers cannot be used to play defensive tactics. Magath has rotated far too may times this season. He has kept almost the same side in the last three matches, though, but the results have been mixed.
The one change that he made to the side that played Valencia was Joel Matip, who played in place of Anthony Annan. Annan’s interviews in Germany when he first came showed his disrespect towards Schalke. How Magath signed a player like that is beyond me no matter how skilful he is. Magath has always valued discipline over skill.
Manuel Neuer is the one person who has saved Schalke from more embarrassing defeats this season. However, even he couldn’t stop Marco Reus from almost breaking the post in Gladbach’s first home win of the season in the previous Bundesliga match-day. Neuer spoke after the match. This is what he had to say:
"We are not a unit and had no plan for how we should play for the 1-0. It cannot be that I always have to punt the ball long to [Klaas-Jan] Huntelaar and Raul because we cannot play the ball out of the back. They dominated us, they could have scored five."
The fact that Magath’s side isn’t a unit is very clear. The team hardly puts together intricate passing moves. The lack of communication at times is almost appalling. Farfan seems to be the only player in Schalke capable of putting in good performances consistently aside from Neuer. Often Neuer has to try to get the ball up front to provide the service for the strikers.
Magath likes to play talented youngsters. Thus, it is quite surprising that Christoph Moritz hasn’t featured regularly. However, may be using Julian Draxler on a regular basis might be a solution to Schalke’s attacking options. One poor decision made by Magath was to send one of his favourite players, youngster Lewis Holtby away on loan to Mainz. Had Holtby been around, Schalke’s attacking play would certainly have been better.
Above all, many Schalke fans are unable to associate with the club due to the many changes that Magath has made- the most recent ones of bringing in Ali Karimi and Angelos Charisteas certainly left a bitter taste in the mouths of many supporters. Also, Manuel Neuer’s future is uncertain. The fans are trying to make Magath hold onto a player who they feel is the ‘soul’ of their club.
Magath recently tried using social networking site Facebook to talk to the fans. His attempts were quite unsuccessful as he seemed awkward in the videos he published.
Schalke is in the German Cup semi-finals where they will play Bayern, a team they have already beaten this season. The winners of the German Cup automatically qualify for a spot in the Europa League.
With a ‘team’ as uncoordinated and as soulless as Schalke, the only route to Europe might turn out to be the German Cup. Magath’s future is in doubt and Clemens Tonnies just might lose his patience at the end of the season if Schalke continues to put in unconvincing displays.
