He was already beating Liverpool: Schalke’s new coach Muslic – pressing love and charisma

Miron Muslic – The name of the new Schalke coach is only known in the football world. The association goes into risk with the commitment of the Austrian – and yet the charismatic Austrian could be exactly the man it needs in Gelsenkirchen.

At first glance, Miron Muslics is very amazed as a new coach on Schalke. A coach, which is largely unknown in Germany, should stop the free fall of the traditional club? And then also one who only descends with Plymouth Argyle from the second English league this summer and still costs Schalke?

Quite a few supporters of the royal blue expressed their displeasure on social media. Christian Titz, successful in Magdeburg as a trainer, or Lukas Kwasniok, Paderborn’s trainer in the pre -season, was already happy in Schalke circles. Then the no-name Muslic appeared to many.

“Brave and determined” with Muslic?

A more comprehensive examination of the personnel then suggests that behind the decision of the Schalke management team around the new sports director Frank Baumann is a plan. Because Muslic combines many of the qualities that are introduced to Schalke.

“The new trainer should bring a recognizable handwriting that is to the game philosophy of Schalke 04 Fits “, the Gelsenkirchener had announced in April in the course of the discharge of the moderately successful coach Kees van Wonderens:” With ball we want to play courageously and determined in a courageous and determined way, work intensively and emotionally against the ball. “

Muslics time in Plymouth

The description of a way of playing that Muslic has previously enforced at each of his stations. Finally, in Plymouth, Muslic almost drove this to the extreme. The Austrian took over Argyle in January 2025 when the club as the bottom of the table was looking for a way to stay in the league – in view of a below -average squad, a very difficult undertaking. And even if Muslic ultimately relegated with Plymouth: a manuscript was clearly recognizable and also reflected in the results.

The Muslic table clearly speaks for the Austrian, who would have landed in the table with a point cut of 1.26 points. What is striking: the way of playing, which was clearly designed for quick and happy vertical game, followed by an aggressive pressing – “determined” and “brave”. Plymouth recorded the lowest ball possession of the league (38.6 % on average) under Muslic.

Plymouth’s coup against Liverpool

This tactic not only worked regularly in the league, but also against one of the very big ones: Against FC Liverpool, Plymouth in the FA Cup achieved a sensation victory with a 1-0 – for Muslic “without a doubt the greatest moment of my coaching career”.

From the time in Plymouth, however, there is above all a moment in memory: Muslic’s first cabin address, which the association staged publicly on YouTube. The Austrian, born in Mihac (Bosnia), speaks in very good English about his idea of ​​working with the team, causes a laugh, looks charismatic and full of confidence. The clip was called up at Tikkok over a million times.

Muslic turns straight to his team calmly, clearly, yet emotionally. “Emotionality”, explicitly addressed by the Schalke and urgently wanted for more difficult accessors Karel Geraerts and van Wonderen – Muslic also stands for that.

Young Brügger shine under Muslic

The bottom line was Mulic’s time at Cercle Bruges in Belgium. Here, too, the Austrian competed in September 2022 to lead the club out of the table cellar. This was achieved with flying colors. After a furious debut season, Muslic even led the young Brügger team (average age 23.2) to international business in his second season before he had to go in his third year after weak first rounds in December 2024.

From a statistical point of view, in turn: In his three seasons in Bruges, his team always came up with the best “defensive packing value” in the league, which shows how many high ball conversions a team could force. Pressing, the Muslic School. The ball possession values ​​of his teams were also significantly below in Bruges – with a league -like squad more competitive than in Plymouth.

Flexible list, clear game idea

So Muslic gives a clear game idea. In his formations, the 42-year-old former striker varies, already set up his teams in several constellations (three, four-man and five-man and five chain) and wants to remain flexible. With a triple chain, Muslic usually sets up a 3-4-3 (his boroned formation in Plymouth), with a four-four chain usually a 4-2-3-1 (go-to-variant in Bruges). Rather, team leadership is important for Muslic.

“I want to be authentic, I want to be honest, I want to be promoting, but also helpful,” said Muslic in an interview with transfermarkt.de. “The players know what I ask, I know what the players demand from me. Clarity creates trust and credibility. And a trainer without credibility does not manage to convince a team of a common path.”

Save Muslic Schalke 04?

After turbulent years, the crash into the second division stamping battle, twelve different coaches since spring 2019 in office and in the middle of a financial imbalance must be Schalke 04 stabilize sporty. A strong coach with a clear game idea, behind which fans like the restless environment can gather, could be a first step towards a better future.

“I know how it is when you drive to work with abdominal pain or a headache because you don’t really feel like it or because the mood within the company is modest,” said Muslic and described a situation that was often the case at Schalke. Muslic wants to counteract this: “If you do what you love, you don’t need motivation. Above all, you are even more motivated if everyone around you believes in an idea or a plan as you are.”

Miron Muslic – Risk and Opportunity

Nice words – and yet the question marks about the obligation are understandable. Muslic was not yet in Germany because of the 2nd Bundesliga, was not successful in the long term in any of his clubs and, after the failed experiments with the Belgian Geraerts and the Dutch van Wonderen, is the third coach from abroad, which is not a term for most followers.

The new sports tour around Frank Baumann therefore takes a risk with Muslics obligation. The pressure to be successful at the beginning of the season and to take the wind out of the sails will be enormous on Schalke. In addition, the squad planning around Ben Manga must ensure that the player material is available to implement Muslics plan: pressing, running work and a lot of emotionality.

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