Peter Knäbel was angry – more precisely, he was pissed off. After Schalke 04’s 3-1 defeat at SC Paderborn, the sports director mercilessly criticized the team of the struggling Bundesliga relegated team. It was “sadly naive,” complained Knäbel, and he practically talked himself into a rage.
“We can’t talk about quality all the time and then not bring it to the pitch,” said the 56-year-old. If he had hoped for a liberating effect after the dismissal of coach Thomas Reis, he was wrong. In several sentences, Knäbel called the desolate performance discouraged, stupid or incredibly naive: “A big apology to the fans.”
Season goal is promotion
Schalke remained in 16th place in the second Bundesliga table for the time being. Knäbel described the explosive situation in the “Sky” interview as “shit” and “extremely dangerous. We are still in the relegation zone – for now! There are only two places downstairs.”
He can “tell himself all the time how good this team is, how much quality the players have, where they have been and what they would like to do. But in the end what matters is: What do they do with the jersey of the club that pays them?”
Schalke will have to find a coach in the coming days who can turn things around. The clear goal for the season was actually direct promotion back to the Bundesliga. “It is important to have a coach who can deal with such situations, quickly stabilize a team and give the players the appropriate self-confidence,” said Knäbel.
The Royal Blues were missing that in Paderborn from the first minute. After the 0-1 by former Schalke player Felix Platte (43′), the hosts secured a confident victory through Florent Muslija (53′, penalty kick/76′) in the second half. Schalke only got a consolation goal through 19-year-old Yusuf Kabadayi (90+9). “We gave up mentally much too early today. If Yusuf Kabadayi is a role model for those who should be a role model, then that speaks volumes,” raged Knäbel.
He expressly defended the interim coaches Matthias Kreutzer and Mike Büskens; the duo will probably also be on the bench against Hertha BSC next week. After that, a new coach will come, the 16th in the past ten years.
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“It wasn’t an application from the team for the new coach,” Knäbel stated contritely in his disappointment: “But I’m not afraid that one of the candidates we spoke to will now say: ‘Uiuiui, what a shitty performance ‘I don’t want to go to that mess.’”
