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Oskar Wendt looked like he had just won a practice match. There was no joy against Borussia Mönchengladbach’s defensive specialist, even if he had contributed to the clear 4: 1 (2: 1) victory. In the end, it was not a difficult task for the Niederrhein team to defeat FC Schalke 04.
“The first half of the first was difficult for us. Schalke did well and our legs were still heavy.”said the Swede. “They were fine for the first half hour.” In fact, the Schalke team had started the game with more energy than ever this season. In the end, however, the Royal Blues left the field with their heads hanging and failed to win their 25th consecutive game in the Bundesliga.
Matthew Hoppe as sole forward
After the suspensions of Amine Harit and Nabil Bentaleb and the separation of Vedad Ibisevic and squad planner Michael Reschke during the week, not a few fans wondered who coach Manuel Baum wanted to send on the offensive, with Oczipka, Paciencia, Sané and others. In a crown case, the possibilities for the coach were very limited. The answer: Matthew Hoppe.
A 19-year-old American who had played 15 games at Regionalliga West and scored a goal. With Kilian Ludewig (20) and Malick Thiaw (19), there were also two very young full-backs on the pitch, who are talented but still very inexperienced and extremely prone to making mistakes at the Bundesliga level. Juniors Münir Levent Mercan, Kerim Calhanoglu and Luca Schuler sat on the bench.
A different face sometimes
Baum now apparently trusts the youth and decided against Gladbach by a 4-2-3-1 system. That worked surprisingly well for half an hour, because Schalke’s Suat Serdar and Omar Mascarell harmonized well in central defense and were able to win a lot of balls. And Schalke’s game was very offensive thanks to strong Mark Uth, and Hoppe showed some good approaches as well. Schalke made eleven shots on goal in the first half. This is actually good news for the “Royal Blues”, but only two of the shots went to Gladbach’s goal. “When I see how much effort we have to put in to score a goal, that’s not good. The effort and income are not right for us.” said tree.
After all, Schalke showed a different face in this game, at least on occasion. Even the 0: 1 happily scored by Florian Neuhaus for Gladbach did not initially cause a glitch in Schalke’s system, as had so often happened in the previous weeks. Benito Raman (minute 20) tied after some great preparatory work from Uth, and Schalke were even the best team after that. But when the Gladbachers realized they had to speed up, the Ruhr-area club could barely contain themselves after Wendt’s 1: 2 (36th). “We defend ourselves too naively“Baum criticized. Then the Schalke system collapsed.
Relapse into lethargy
While the first half offered some hope for all Schalke players, Baum’s team fell back into a slumber in the second half that is difficult for everyone involved to bear. “We did well in the first half. With the 3-1 win, he disconnected. I don’t understand that, we have to continue.”Uth said. Markus Thuram scored in the 52nd minute, after which the game was decided in favor of the hosts. The “Royal Blues” managed two shots in the vicinity of the door.
