FC Schalke 04 is still in free fall after Frank Kramer was kicked out. Under interim coach Matthias Kreutzer, the badly battered Royal Blues lost the Bundesliga crisis duel at Hertha BSC 1-2 (0-0) on Sunday. After the sixth competitive defeat in a row, the Knappen fell to 18th place.
Lucas Tousart (49th) after a serious mistake by goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow and Wilfried Kanga (88th) on loan from Hertha shot the Berliners to their first home win of the season – and Schalke even deeper into the crisis. Florent Mollet (85th) equalized in the closing stages and gave Schalke at least hope for a point.
After the success of neighboring VfL Bochum against Hertha’s city rivals Union (2:1), the Gelsenkirchen team are new bottom after the eleventh matchday with just one win and six points.
During the week, sports director Rouven Schröder and sports director Peter Knäbel want to introduce a new head coach. It would be Schalke’s eighth coach in the past two years, after assistant coach Kreutzer took over responsibility at TSG Hoffenheim after Kramer was fired after Wednesday’s 5-1 debacle in the DFB Cup.
Schalke and Hertha at a low level
In front of 60,165 spectators, both teams could see the great uncertainty at the beginning. Very little went together in terms of play, simple mistakes crept in, especially in the game structure. Hertha repeatedly invited the guests to counterattack, Schalke came dangerously in front of the goal of Berlin goalkeeper Oliver Christensen in an easy way.
But luck was lacking. After a cross, Marius Bülter hammered the ball directly into the right angle (15′). The guests cheered exuberantly. However, there was an offside position in the build-up and the dream goal was conceded by the video assistant. Bülter was there again for just six minutes and again the goal didn’t count. This time, storm partner Simon Terodde was just offside.
The Berliners, where Jean-Paul Boetius was back in the squad just four weeks after his testicular tumor diagnosis and was substituted on shortly before the end, only had one chance in front of the opposing goal in the first half. Stevan Jovetic failed to catch the ball properly from around ten meters out (26′) after strong preliminary work from Dodi Lukebakio.
Shortly after the change of sides, Schwolow of all people made a mistake. The Schalke keeper, who came on loan from Hertha before the start of the season, let a shot from Tousart that was actually too central slip through. The Kreutzer team seemed shocked, but didn’t give up. Until the end, the poorly limited promoted player fought for every ball – and was not rewarded.