A plethora of dropped points has seen Schalke come down from second spot in the Bundesliga to fourth spot. They take on the always unpredictable Stuttgart on Saturday in the biggest clash the league has to offer this week.
Schalke started well enough this season and beat Borussia Dortmund only to find themselves floundering as the winter break nears. Each draw has made Horst Heldt angrier while Huub Stevens genuinely seems to be edgy and unhappy now. He is the ‘grumpy manager’ of the league but up until recent weeks, he seemed to be trying to mask his happiness.
The talks of departures of Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Lewis Holtby certainly haven’t helped the manager’s mood. In fact Stevens is so angry these days that rumours in the press suggest that he might be on his way out too. The season started promisingly for Schalke. The fact that despite their “mini-crisis”, they managed to win their Champions League group should definitely help boost current team morale.
Stuttgart beat 2.Bundesliga bound Greuther Fürth by a meager single goal last week. They haven’t been impressive this season but they have climbed to seventh place. Shinji Okazaki scored the sole goal of the match. Vedad Ibisevic’s penalty was saved by Wolfgang Hesl. Both the players had to help their team defend in the second half as Serdar Tasci was shown a red card. Tasci’s absence won’t help his team at all against Schalke.
Schalke drew at home against Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1-1. Igor de Camargo put the away side in the lead after being set up by Thorben Marx. Schalke managed to salvage a point thanks to an 85th minute goal from Julian Draxler. A defeat at home would have been absolutely disastrous.
In Montpellier in midweek, Schalke struggled. Timo Hildebrand had to put in a brilliant performance in the second half to keep the French side out. Schalke’s attack seemed to function pretty well even with Huntelaar on the bench. Teemu Pukki and Ciprian Marica played in the match as did Tranquillo Barnetta. Joel Matip was given a break and Christoph Metzelder was put into the side.
Schalke took the lead in France through their captain Benedikt Höwedes only to concede just moments later. They had to depend on Arsenal to see them through as group winners. It was Arsene Wenger’s decision to field a different Arsenal side in the other group game which really saw them through in first place. Schalke had dropped some needless points in the group earlier against Montpellier. They failed to beat the side which was beaten twice by the other two sides in the group.
Nonetheless, Schalke can turn things around in the league this week. Stuttgart suffered badly in the Bundesliga after their previous Europa League match-day. Freiburg took them apart 3-0. Schalke could win this one and get out of their current crisis. For now, the Schalke fans and management need to hang on until the winter break.
Prediction: Stuttgart 1-2 Schalke
The talks of departures of Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Lewis Holtby certainly haven’t helped the manager’s mood. In fact Stevens is so angry these days that rumours in the press suggest that he might be on his way out too. The season started promisingly for Schalke. The fact that despite their “mini-crisis”, they managed to win their Champions League group should definitely help boost current team morale.
Stuttgart beat 2.Bundesliga bound Greuther Fürth by a meager single goal last week. They haven’t been impressive this season but they have climbed to seventh place. Shinji Okazaki scored the sole goal of the match. Vedad Ibisevic’s penalty was saved by Wolfgang Hesl. Both the players had to help their team defend in the second half as Serdar Tasci was shown a red card. Tasci’s absence won’t help his team at all against Schalke.
Schalke drew at home against Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1-1. Igor de Camargo put the away side in the lead after being set up by Thorben Marx. Schalke managed to salvage a point thanks to an 85th minute goal from Julian Draxler. A defeat at home would have been absolutely disastrous.
In Montpellier in midweek, Schalke struggled. Timo Hildebrand had to put in a brilliant performance in the second half to keep the French side out. Schalke’s attack seemed to function pretty well even with Huntelaar on the bench. Teemu Pukki and Ciprian Marica played in the match as did Tranquillo Barnetta. Joel Matip was given a break and Christoph Metzelder was put into the side.
Schalke took the lead in France through their captain Benedikt Höwedes only to concede just moments later. They had to depend on Arsenal to see them through as group winners. It was Arsene Wenger’s decision to field a different Arsenal side in the other group game which really saw them through in first place. Schalke had dropped some needless points in the group earlier against Montpellier. They failed to beat the side which was beaten twice by the other two sides in the group.
Nonetheless, Schalke can turn things around in the league this week. Stuttgart suffered badly in the Bundesliga after their previous Europa League match-day. Freiburg took them apart 3-0. Schalke could win this one and get out of their current crisis. For now, the Schalke fans and management need to hang on until the winter break.
Prediction: Stuttgart 1-2 Schalke
