Hechelmann was “ashamed”
Karel Geraerts was combative after the bitter defeat. “I won’t give up,” said the FC Schalke 04 coach after the 3-5 defeat at Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday evening. This means that the Bundesliga relegated team is deep in the relegation battle of the 2nd league. “It’s not five to twelve, it’s twelve!” warned the coach. “And I hope all the players understand that. If not, I’ll explain it to you,” said the new Schalke head coach, who already has four defeats after six games.
After his team’s bloodless performance in the first half, Geraerts had two recipes ready. First of all, he changed three players after half an hour and also caused the displeasure of Thomas Ouwejan. The Dutchman was angry about the early substitution, refused to shake hands and showed no understanding. His coach was very angry. “I will not accept such behavior,” explained the coach and complained about his player’s lack of respect.
The Belgian also became very loud in the dressing room at halftime. “That’s normal,” he said. At least his team, which was quickly down 3-0, got into the game better, scoring three goals from Marcin Kaminski, Tomas Kalas and Bryan Lasme, but Düsseldorf countered the 3-4 goal, hit back again to win 5-3 and secured once again creating a great spectacle at a Saturday evening game in the arena. Most recently, the team turned a 3-0 deficit against 1. FC Kaiserslautern into a 4-3 win.
With 33 goals conceded, Schalke have conceded the most goals, are stuck in 16th place and show little hope of improvement. Goalscorer Kaminski, one of Schalke’s better players, explained that all players were aware of the seriousness of the situation. “It annoys everyone and we want to do everything we can to get out of this situation,” said the Polish international.
Schalke sports director Hechelmann calls for a relegation battle
“I was ashamed. That was a reflection of Elversberg. We worked on this game for two weeks and made it better in the two friendly matches during the international break. But that doesn’t help. You have to deliver when it comes to points. There is no excuse. It’s about attitude, about your own honor. It hurts my heart for everyone who came here,” explained sports director André Hechelmann (quoted via “WAZ“) after the ninth defeat of the season and at the same time looked ahead: “It’s no use standing there petrified. I have to move forward, I have to get to the bottom of this.” The manager called out the relegation battle: “Period. Clearly. This is a relegation battle. You have to be ready to fight. That’s what’s top of mind for us over the next three weeks.”
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