2nd league
Dusseldorf (dpa) – This time the professionals of FC Schalke 04 were allowed to watch on the couch after their work was done as the prominent rivals from Bremen and Hamburg stumbled.
At the beginning of the last third of the season, the battle for promotion in the 2nd Bundesliga becomes a battle of nerves – in which the schedule definitely plays a role. Because after the Schalke players had completely lost their nerve when they tried to refill the game last week, the two northern lights made a mistake this time and are only one or two points ahead.
Who submits wins?
“Last week the competition showed up, we were under pressure on Sunday and couldn’t cope with it,” said Schalke goalkeeper Martin Fraisl, looking at the 1-2 draw in Düsseldorf. And rejoiced after the 2-0 win against SC Paderborn on Friday evening: “This time we presented. Now the others have to win if they want to keep the gap on us.”
That didn’t happen promptly on Saturday: After seven wins under coach Ole Werner, Werder Bremen only drew 1-1 against bottom club FC Ingolstadt. Werner thus missed setting the starting record set by club icon Otto Rehhagel. And Hamburger SV had to settle for the same result against relegation candidates SV Sandhausen. Nobody made a connection to the previous victory of Schalke, which was so bad in Düsseldorf. But the game and the result were surprisingly sobering after the high of the past few weeks.
Criticism of own achievements
“We didn’t call up the performances of the previous weeks and you will be punished for that in this league,” said Bremen captain Ömer Toprak. “It feels like a defeat,” said defender Marco Friedl. And goalscorer Niclas Füllkrug, whose 1-0 was not enough with fifteen minutes to go, demanded: “We have to give 100 percent in every game.”
HSV was able to do that for half a time at best. “We just slept through the first half and then it will be difficult to win games in this league,” said captain Sebastian Schonlau. After all, according to coach Tim Walter, Hamburg found “the right adjustments” and saved a point through Sonny Kittel (59th). “It’s completely normal to have a half-time that’s not so good,” said Walter, trying to remain calm: “But the fact that we got back into the game like this is important and crucial for me.”
Grammozis doesn’t want psycho tricks
Schalke coach Dimitrios Grammozis also prefers not to get involved in mind games. “I told my players last week that we shouldn’t be so influenced when the others play,” he said. “Whether HSV or Werder win or not, that’s not our construction site.”
But it’s not just a three-way battle between Werder (42), HSV (41) and Schalke (40). In addition to FC St. Pauli and Darmstadt 98 playing on Sunday, 1. FC Heidenheim (38) are also involved, although they gave away points in the 1-1 draw in Dresden. And 1. FC Nürnberg (36) also came back after two bitter defeats with a 2-0 win against Jahn Regensburg.
By the way, Schalke can present again on the next matchday. The Royal Blues play in Karlsruhe on Saturday, HSV and Werder meet in the north derby the following day.