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The picture said everything about Schalke.
Mark Uth stood on the escalator that takes the players from the interior of the Berlin Olympic Stadium back up to the cabin wing, leaned on the handrail and was comforted by a team supervisor.
He looked dejected.
The reason for this was not only the fact that the Royal Blues had also lost the 30th Bundesliga game in a row and thus approached the inglorious record of the Berlin Tasmanians, who had 31 consecutive games without a win in 1965/66.
"Sorry for the wording: But I don't give a shit," said Uth.
Rather, it was their own lack of chances that pulled the Schalke attacker down.
"If we play the way we did in the second half, we're not competitive," he said.
He basically declared his own team bankrupt.
So Schalke will relegate.
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The fourth coach didn't change anything about that in the current season.
Even under Christian Gross, who only succeeded interim coach Huub Stevens on the day after Christmas, Schalke gave a similarly pitiful picture as in the weeks and months before: hard-working to decent start - but after the first goal conceded, the heads of the players went down, and after the second it was all over.
"Must be much more efficient"
“The first 30 minutes were okay, the second goal broke our necks a bit.
We have to become significantly more efficient, ”said Gross.
In the few days in which he was able to work with the team, the 66-year-old Swiss had done exactly what David Wagner and Manuel Baum had tried before him with manageable success: The result was a thoroughly structured beginning, until then next Another dilemma became apparent to the uncertainty.
The beginning of the end: Hertha's Matteo Guendouzi (left) scores to 1-0 against Schalke
Source: Getty Images
Schalke have long denied this by sports director Jochen Schneider, a quality problem.
In terms of their potential, they may be able to play more pleasantly than competitors such as Bielefeld, Mainz or Cologne.
But in the areas where it matters, they are weaker: in defense and in attack.
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“The trainer tries to bring in positive energy and mood.
The team spirit is there.
We lack the quality, the joy of playing ”, said midfielder Alessandro Schöpf the broadcaster Sky.
That's why the team keeps breaking in.
It lacks both to consistently seal the sides, which means that the opponents can repeatedly come to dangerous actions with fast attacks, as well as the penetration on the offensive.
In Berlin, Gross let 19-year-old Matthew Hoppe play in attack alongside Uth - a willing but unfinished young talent.
“He's doing it well, he's really into it.
But it's just difficult in the Bundesliga, ”said Uth.
This statement was also deep.
There is a lack of, and there is a broad consensus in the team, at least one right-back and one healthy, experienced striker to be able to stay in the class.
“Those responsible still have to take action on the transfer market.
We absolutely need players who can help us immediately, ”said Uth.
This is an unusually clear request to Schneider to make further additions to Sead Kolasinac, the left-back already on loan from Arsenal FC.
Kolasinac, who is valued for his combative nature, will not be enough on its own.
Kenny Loan Again?
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The only question is whether it will succeed.
“Jochen Schneider tries the impossible day and night, because there are simply financial bottlenecks.
I hope we can still sign one or the other player who already has a personality and doesn't have to be trained, ”said Gross.
In fact, Schneider is trying to get Jonjoe Kenny on loan again.
Maybe that could work.
The right-back usually sits on the bench at Everton.
It will be much more difficult to get a striker.
There are two options - both of which are difficult to implement.
FC Augsburg does not want to give up Marco Richter, 23.
Divock Origi, 25, from Liverpool FC would be financially difficult to manage even as a loan player.
Unless: Schneider would be able to sell players like Ozan Kabak or Ahmed Kutucu beforehand.
Or Schalke would accept an offer from Clemens Tönnies.
The former chairman of the supervisory board had offered to help again.
The meat manufacturer had hinted at this in an RTL interview.
Tönnies would be ready, is heard from his environment, to step in with a personal loan in the lower double-digit million range.
However, this offer divides the club because it calls its opponents on the scene.
“I am shocked that Clemens Tönnies is still causing unrest in the club.
A public statement about a possible financial commitment does more harm in the current situation than it could help, ”said former electoral committee employee Stefan Barta, who had already organized a fan demonstration last spring - with the aim of getting Tönnies to resign.
The Schalke Supervisory Board has not yet commented on the Tönnies offer.
Tönnies was the supervisory board boss of FC Schalke 04 from 2001 to 2020
Source: dpa
There is little that gives hope. The mini-rally by a few fans of Tasmania Berlin, who had come together in front of the Olympic Stadium to encourage Schalke, also looked rather bizarre. “Save TAS the record,” they demanded. Next Saturday, the Tasmanians' unique selling point - 31 winless Bundesliga games in a row - could be history: if Schalke shouldn't win their home game against Hoffenheim either.