One goal scored against Leipzig, none conceded against Cologne, plus a good away performance in Frankfurt: Schalke 04 now want to combine these three things against Gladbach.
Unique selling point: Schalke’s Marcin Kaminski is the only failure for the Gladbach game.
IMAGO/RHR-Photo
Coach Thomas Reis’ offensive style of play suits Schalke 04. The Royal Blues actually create significantly more chances than they did under Frank Kramer, but the blatant weakness in the finish has remained.
In the previous seven games under Reis, Schalke have only scored three goals – one by Dominick Drexler against Bremen (1-2), one by Simon Terodde in the 1-0 against Mainz and one by Soichiro Kozuki in the 1-6 against RB Leipzig. After all, Schalke survived the most recent game against Cologne without conceding a goal, which is also the goal on Saturday against Borussia Mönchengladbach (6.30 p.m., LIVE! at kicker).
Squad is full – question marks still at Zalazar and Kral
Central defender Marcin Kaminski is not available. He became ill after playing in the secret test against Wattenscheid 09 (6-0) on Tuesday and is “not in training at the moment,” says Reis. Otherwise, after this winter transfer phase, the squad is full to bursting with a total of seven new players and thanks to a few returnees. The coach is happy about the “significantly greater competition”.
Reis didn’t know on Thursday whether the two midfielders Rodrigo Zalazar (offensive) and Alex Kral (defensive) would be in the starting XI. Both are among the best this squad has to offer, but have recently been out of day-to-day business for weeks. Rice must proceed cautiously.
Schalke has not yet won a game this year, the Royal Blues now want to combine the good things they have achieved in the three games against Frankfurt (0:3), Leipzig and Cologne (0:0) on the Lower Rhine. In Frankfurt they could be satisfied with their away performance, against Leipzig they saw that they can score, after the game against Köln they were happy to have kept the clean sheet.
Thuram warning, ‘best striker in the league’
This alone will be difficult enough against Gladbach, who can fall back on an attacker like Marcus Thuram. Borussia coach Daniel Farke describes his goalscorer as “the best striker in the league” with reference to the fact that he has not needed a penalty for his ten goals this season, and Reis has to adapt his defense to Thuram’s abilities. But not only on that: Gladbach has a high pace in midfield, according to Reis, a Schalke antidote must be “rigorously conducted duels”.
If Schalke actually combines all the good things from the three previous games of the year, it could work with the first win in 2023. More would have to follow. The bottom of the table should win about half of the 16 remaining games in the second half of the season in order to have a chance of staying up.
