In the away game at Preußen Münster, FC Schalke 04 failed to put themselves in an even better starting position before the top game in the second division against SC Paderborn. Despite the majority, S04 struggled in the 0-0 draw in Münster, head coach Miron Muslic explained the reason.
“It wasn’t all bad, but a lot of things weren’t good,” said Miron Muslic, summing up the goalless draw between Preußen Münster and FC Schalke 04 on Saturday.
He emphasized positively: “We had two or three top-class chances” after winning big balls – one of the match plans against Prussia. “But we also knew that – if we couldn’t do that – they would simply play through the press. Prussia did that two or three times with a lot of quality and appeared dangerous in front of Loris (Karius, editor’s note). Once it was an incredibly close offside decision.”
Karius became one of the best players on the Royal Blues side and made several saves.
Muslic: “Structure” lost in majority
The red card against Prussia keeper Johannes Schenk, who had to leave the field after 55 minutes, could have given an additional boost. However, the guests from Gelsenkirchen were unable to convert their majority into victory as hoped.
“In the last 30 or 35 minutes we lost a bit of our structure, our clear processes in eleven against eleven, because we think we have to do something different. Every player had the feeling that they had to play the special pass now,” complained Muslic: “We didn’t make the game easy.”
Prussia “collectively” defended everything when they were outnumbered, and Muslic paid their opponent “great respect” for this.
His counterpart Alexander Ende also praised him: “Miron, I can tell you that too: an outstanding season so far, respect for this work. You’re not up there somewhere by chance, but you also bring an incredible mentality to the pitch. To survive against this team, in the context of the red card: Wow!”
Despite the draw, FC Schalke remains in second place with 28 points. Next matchday (Friday, 6:30 p.m.) they face league leaders SC Paderborn. Preußen Münster is in 12th place in the 2nd Bundesliga.