First game, first defeat: For the new Schalke coach Thomas Reis, the debut is anything but good. The Bundesliga returnee leaves the field as a clear loser against the third SC Freiburg and is stuck at the bottom of the table. Not even Reis seems convinced that this will change in the near future.
The signs were once again pointing to a new beginning around the Schalke stadium. Before the home game against SC Freiburg, the fans used the end of a turbulent week as an opportunity to greet their new coach and hopeful Thomas Reis with an impressive choreography. A jersey as huge as the legendary north stand, which was initially white and then filled with blue smoke, was intended to be a symbol of the size of the Ruhr area club, which was once again in trouble. And end another exciting time around the Schalker Markt.
But because this concentrated creativity of the passionate fan community was not directly transferred to the team, the start of the new Reis season failed from the point of view of the Gelsenkirchen Bundesliga kickers. The hoped-for football liberation did not materialize. FC Schalke 04 deservedly lost 2-0 (1-0) to the Freiburg sports club, which was always in a commanding position, and after a very solid initial phase revealed the deficits that were already known as the game went on. "We were very negligent in the transition moments. The last pass didn't come. We didn't finish properly," said Reis.
Even though the club from Breisgau, which is in such good form at the moment, is an ungrateful opponent when they start work in a highly insecure club, the new chief coach rated his debut at Schalke as a failure. "There must be more for sure," said Reis after the Knappen's sixth defeat in a row. "We lost and we had periods of uncertainty at the beginning of the second half."
It would also have been surprising if everything had suddenly gone smoothly just a few days after sensational personnel decisions. What hadn't they had to digest in the last few days at Schalke? Not only that with Reis the orphaned head position on the bench after Frank Kramer was kicked out was filled, sporting director Rouven Schröder surprisingly took his hat. The architect of the promotion team had asked for his contract to be terminated, but the club did not disclose the details that led to this unexpected decision, which led to wild speculation everywhere. Royal blue obviously cannot do without these absurdities.
The change of coach had also caused minor distortions in football. It was not very surprising that Reis, who even digged deep into his own wallet to buy his way out of his old employer for his new job, would prescribe a 4-3-3 system for his new club, especially since the football teacher was already a player in Bochum followers of this football philosophy. A back four with Alex Kral and Tom Krauß as a double six in front should finally give the recently vulnerable Schalke defense what they have been desperately looking for since the beginning of the season: stability. The coach had already propagated this during the week in the few units that he was able to practice together with the team. "In the first few sessions, we focused on the defensive to give the team a good feeling on the pitch," said Reis. "If you concede a lot of goals and only score a few up front, you don't get any points." How true.
Unfortunately, the fact that the revised defensive concept began to crack after just over half an hour because full-back Thomas Ouwejan twisted his knee during a straddling action and had to be substituted was not the reason for the renewed defeat. Substituting Kerim Calhanoglu, who had only played four Bundesliga minutes under Reis predecessor Frank Kramer this season, immediately introduced himself well. He could have enthralled the stadium with a brilliant volley just seconds after coming on, but the ball went just over the bar.
But it was the same Calhanoglu who conceded a penalty after exactly one hour, in which he acted moderately skilfully against his opponent Jeong and was convicted of his misdeed with the help of the video assistant. Vincenzo Grifo set the ball straight and scored to make it 2-0, which then already meant the final score. Shortly before referee Christian Dingert whistle for half-time, Grifo had used the only defensive weakness of the hosts in the first half to give him a well-deserved lead and forced Thomas Reis to rewrite his half-time speech at short notice. "We mustn't concede this 0-1 like this," said goalkeeper Alexander Schwlolow, who was considered Reis's first prank candidate due to numerous mistakes in the past encounters.
Instead, however, the new coach put promotion legend Simon Terrodde on the bench and gave preference to Sebastian Polter, his protégé from Bochum. Like everyone else at Schalke, Polter struggled with the deficit just before half-time, but was then optimistic about the future. "The season is still long to get the necessary points," said the attacker. "Now we have to listen to what the coach is saying and then work to turn things around."
That sounds a bit like the classic perseverance slogans. After this game at the latest, Reis knows how ambitious the task at Schalke will be. The situation has not only been existential since Sunday's defeat against Freiburg. "We will not stick our heads in the sand, but it will be very, very difficult," he said on DAZN. The squad obviously has only limited first division suitability. "Especially on the defensive we don't have that many good players to fuel a competition," says Reis, who certainly still has a few reinforcements on his wish list to attack in the second half of the season. "We absolutely have to improve quality," he says. It will be interesting to see what the finance department of the traditional club will say about this.
