Schalke in crisis

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

Winless and pointless, Bundesliga giants FC Schalke 04 have made the worst start to a domestic campaign in their long and distinguished history.

The 1997 UEFA Cup winners are regular challengers for the UEFA Champions League qualifying positions in Germany. Instead, they are propping up the table after five consecutive defeats that see them even below a hapless SV Werder Bremen and Bundesliga’s great survivors, Hamburger SV.

This is not the outcome anyone at the ‘Royal Blues’ was hoping for as the season approaches its second international break. With lots of fresh faces, a new manager and ambitious newcomer in the boardroom, optimism was high before the campaign began in Gelsenkirchen.

Now, they have reached the ultimate crossroads. They are at crisis point and have some tough decisions to make.

All change

Fifth place last season was considered not good enough for the ex-SC Paderborn 07 manager Andre Breitenreiter. He was informed on the eve of the final game of the 2015/2016 season that his contract was not going to be renewed.

Schalke’s season last term was typical of their most recent Bundesliga efforts. Some wonderful performances mixed up with costly dropped points and silly defeats. What broke Breitenreiter’s back was the club’s diabolical record away from home against the top teams. Against last season’s top eight, Schalke collected a dismal one point from a possible 21 – a 1-1 draw with Bayer 04 Leverkusen in November 2015. It was this that proved to be their undoing in their quest for a Champions League spot.

Changes were made at boardroom level. The often outspoken Horst Heldt was ousted in April as the club’s sporting director and replaced by Christian Heidel, who had been on the board at 1. FSV Mainz 05 when Thomas Tuchel was manager.

In came Markus Weinzierl as the club’s new head coach. Weinzierl opted to leave his good work behind at FC Augsburg for a bigger and exciting challenge in Gelsenkirchen. He is now in Schalke’s record books, but for all the wrong reasons.

No manager in the club’s history had ever lost their first five league matches in charge before his arrival. Apart from opening UEFA Europa League group stage successes over OGC Nice and RB Salzburg, Weinzierl has had precious little to cheer. The writing seems to be on the wall and he might be wondering deep down why he decided to leave the comforts of Augsburg behind for this job.

In these situations, you can’t always blame the manager. For the talent Schalke still have, they are frankly in a ridiculous position in the table. It has to improve, surely?

Individual errors

Dennis Aogo and Johannes Geis argue after losing to Eintracht Frankfurt

Die Königsblauen can’t even blame the fixtures for their poor start. A 1-0 defeat away to Eintracht Frankfurt, who only narrowly escaped relegation last term, was a dodgy beginning (players arguing pictured).

Next up was defending champions FC Bayern München and they actually played pretty well. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar struck the crossbar and the game was still goalless into the last 10 minutes. Defensive lapses let Robert Lewandowski in though for the opening goal before Joshua Kimmich sealed victory for the visitors. No points but a valiant effort and it seemed like Schalke’s early-season position was just a false start.

That was still considered after Matchday 3’s 2-0 reverse at Hertha BSC. Individual errors from new signings Nabil Bentaleb and Benjamin Stambouli allowed the German capital side in to score their two goals. Not the start anyone wanted in Gelsenkirchen but with two quick fixtures following, surely points and goals were to follow.

The goal did eventually come against 1. FC Köln. Huntelaar ended their drought in the 35^th minute of game four this season. Schalke though were stunned by a late show again from their opponents. Yuya Osako took the perfect opportunity to end his 13-month Bundesliga goal drought. The 3-1 win guided Köln into second spot and still left Weinzierl without any joy.

Last Sunday, they travelled to an unbeaten but winless TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. It started well, as Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored inside of four minutes. The celebrations weren’t for lasting though. Bentaleb made another costly mistake, allowing Lukas Rupp in to score the winning goal after Andrej Kramaric had levelled proceedings. Hoffenheim won 2-1 and left Schalke propping up the table with no points and no wins to their name.  

Failing to shine

Fresh injection has been brought into the squad over the summer but it hasn’t worked so far.

Schalke saw off stiff competition from RB Leipzig and Manchester United to sign the highly-rated Swiss striker Breel Embolo, breaking their transfer record in the process. It hasn’t gone to plan for the hotshot so far. Embolo is a raw talent and will come good but will it be too late for Weinzierl to see the benefits?

Bentaleb’s arrival looks already to be a mistake. Desperate to prove a point after being frozen out at Tottenham Hotspur, the Algerian has been careless in possession and not offered the protection that the ageing but still leading central defenders Benedikt Höwedes and Naldo desperately need.

Stambouli arrived as a title winner in France with PSG. His lack of match practice over the last 12 months though has been shown up and the same goes for Yevhen Konoplyanka. The man Liverpool FC nearly landed in 2014 from Dnipro is desperate to revive his career after a frustrating year at Sevilla and a poor EURO 2016 with Ukraine.

Even Naldo looks half the shadow of the player who was the best centre-back in the league two seasons ago with VfL Wolfsburg. So much so, he was dropped for the Hoffenheim game last weekend.

Abdul Rahman Baba’s arrival on-loan from Chelsea has been a good addition. He’s added some positive input on the flanks and knows the Bundesliga and Weinzierl’s game from his previous work at FC Augsburg.

Schalke did lose their star asset Leroy Sane in the summer to Manchester City, but should have more than enough to challenge for the top four positions. So far, the majority of the new signings have failed to shine.

Markus needs a win

So what about the manager’s job security? That could all depend on what happens on Sunday. Borussia Mönchengladbach are the visitors to the VELTINS-Arena and they are known in the Bundesliga for their lack of results on the road. They’ve only recorded one win on their travels since Halloween last season and that was a final day triumph at SV Darmstadt 98.

It is a must-win game for Schalke and their embattled manager. Whilst many within the club will be concerned by this terrible start, they also must be convinced that the tide will turn around very soon.

Mönchengladbach knows how that feels. They lost their first five fixtures last campaign but Lucien Favre stepped aside and gave André Schubert his chance. They recovered brilliantly to finish in the top four.

Two seasons ago, Borussia Dortmund had a disastrous time in the first half of the campaign. They were bottom of the table after a home defeat to FC Augsburg in late January but recovered strongly to finish 7^th and steal a Europa League qualifying spot.

With SV Werder Bremen and Hamburger SV having already changed their faces in the dugout five games in, Markus Weinzierl is under severe pressure and he can’t lose on Sunday or he might be looking for alternate employment during the international break.

He must get time to adopt his methods on Schalke but will he? 90 minutes at the weekend might decide his fate.

Schalke are at crisis point. They have to turn things around but sooner rather than later. Relegation would be unthinkable but as VfB Stuttgart proved last season – big names don’t have a clear right to stay in the Bundesliga if they approach things the wrong way.