Bundesliga relegated Schalke 04 does not get going in the 2nd division. The Royal Blues conceded their third defeat after a poor performance with 0:2 (0:1) against Holstein Kiel in the fourth league game and thus made the worst start to the season in their club history in the football lower house. After a good 300 days as a Schalke coach, Thomas Reis is also coming under a lot of pressure for the first time. Benedikt Pichler (15th) and Shuto Machino (59th) scored the goals for Kiel, who took the lead in the table at least for one night.
After the red card for Ron Schallenberg after an emergency brake (39th), Schalke had to play outnumbered for over 50 minutes. With only three points, S04 in 15th is already far behind the targeted promotion ranks. However: Two years ago, Royal Blue only had one point more at the same time – and rose at the end of the season.
“Still well served”
“It’s extremely bitter, it was brutal. We’re still well served with the 2-0 win,” admitted captain Simon Terodde on Sky, but emphasized: “We have quality in the squad. It’s no use analyzing everything broken now .” Reis stated soberly: “We didn’t play well, we didn’t have enough grip when moving backwards, we made too many mistakes going forward.” After the 0-1 draw at Eintracht Braunschweig, the coach had opted for more youth and “carelessness” – with the talents Assan Ouedraogo (17) and Keke Topp (19) in the starting XI. The hosts found it very difficult to build up the game, allowing the Kiel team to counterattack again and again. With a bit of luck, Pichler used one of them when the ball bounced right in front of his feet after a shot by Tom Rothe. It wasn’t until the 24th minute that Danny Latza had his first chance to score.
Midfielder Schallenberg was too slow for another counterattack by Kiel, and the newcomer saw red for the push against ex-Schalke player Steven Skrzybski (39th). At the other end, Ouedraogo had the best chance of equalizing (42′) before Skrzybski let the 2-0 go after a solo effort (45’+1′). Whistles from the unbelievably 60,000 spectators accompanied Schalke into the half-time break. In the second half, Reis brought two more young players with Yusuf Kabadayi (19) and professional debutant Joey Müller (22). But the defense continued to blunder: At 0:2, Rothe’s cross flew past three defenders to Machino. In addition, Nicolai Remberg hit the post (87th).
