Second division soccer club FC Schalke 04 showed a desolate performance in the 1:2 defeat against Fortuna Düsseldorf. A topic for the promotion aspirant from Gelsenkirchen was the line-up of coach Dimitrios Grammozis afterwards. Why did he do without right-back Reinhold Ranftl despite several absences?
Difficult personnel decision for head coach Dimitrios Grammozis: Mehmet Aydin (thigh injury) and new signing Andreas Vindheim (calf injury) were missing for the away game in Düsseldorf, the two regular rail players on the right side.
Despite the thinned-out squad, Grammozis stuck to his preferred 3-5-2 formation. And so he sent Marius Bülter to the right flank, the second best attacker in the team. The 28-year-old therefore temporarily took on the duties of a right-back. A plan that didn’t work out.
The decision seems particularly surprising because Reinhold Ranftl is another trained right-back with FC Schalke 04 under contract. But the Austrian, who came from Linz in the summer and signed until 2024, was not even in the squad recently.
Schalke professional Ranftl “should clear his head first”
Grammozis confirmed before kick-off on “Sky” that he had a long conversation with the 30-year-old. Both would have decided together that Ranftl would be left out despite the shortage of personnel. The mental strain on the summer newcomer seems to be too high. “We think it’s for the best. He should first clear his head, then he’ll attack again on Monday,” said the 43-year-old.
Meanwhile, the head coach does not want to write off his veteran. Schalke would not have brought him in the summer if they were not convinced of his qualities.
According to “kicker”, the astonishment remains why Grammozis stuck to his system despite the lack of personnel and put Marius Bülter on the right side.
Due to the defeat of Schalke and the victories of the competition from Hamburg and Bremen, the distance to the relegation place is now three points. On the coming match day, the Knappen welcome SC Paderborn (February 18, 6:30 p.m.).