What a game can change.
The 4-0 win against TSG Hoffenheim last Saturday turned permanently depressed Schalke players into a team that looks to the future full of optimism.
One of the heroes of the temporary resurrection was goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann, who became number 1 again under the new coach Christian Gross.
“We also have to thank Ralle in the first half, who held up two or three times,” said returnees Sead Kolasinac after the game. (Results and schedule of the Bundesliga)
Ferryman experiences ups and downs
For Fährmann, things are looking up again in a season that has been a real rollercoaster ride for him so far and that should have cost him a lot of nerves.
Starting the season as number 1 under coach David Wagner, he could only be sure of his position for a short time. In the background, the now dismissed squad planner Michael Reschke was actively looking for a new goalkeeper.
He first made contact with SC Freiburg and Alexander Schwolow, who, as is well known, went to Hertha in Berlin. In September, Frederik Rönnow was then surprisingly presented as goalkeeper – and made regular goalkeeper by Wagner’s successor Manuel Baum.
That in turn angered Ferryman so much that it after SPORT1-Information in the coaching office about a row between the goalkeeper and the coach came when Baum informed the ferryman of his decision.
A week later there was another clarifying conversation between the two, in which Baum made it clear to his keeper that he would suspend him if he continued to resist the demotion.
Baum suspended Bentaleb and Harit
Baum made such threats true on the same day with the suspension of Nabil Bentaleb and Amine Harit.
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Ferryman finally got away with it. After Baum was released and Christian Gross arrived, the 32-year-old pushed the Dane Rönnow out of the Schalke box again.
So now Fährmann is number 1 again, which he impressively demonstrated against Hoffenheim. “The past weeks and months have not been easy for us, and especially for me. That is why a zero victory with a few parades is particularly good,” he is quoted on the Schalke club website.
Schalke is still in the middle of the relegation battle as penultimate table with only seven points. But if the path leads further out of the crisis, Fährmann will remain number 1.
Licensed player boss Sascha Riether confirms this SPORT1: “Now it’s Ralf’s turn. The coach decided that and will continue to rely on Ralf.”
