The season didn't have to get very old before the familiar feeling of crisis settled back over the club grounds of FC Schalke 04.

Even in Bundesliga times, the club leadership would have come under pressure after four points from four games and 13th place, in league two such a record is devastating.

Game systems, the professionals deployed and the quality of newcomers are discussed, and initial commentators raise doubts about the suitability of trainer Dimitrios Grammozis. On Thursday, sports director Rouven Schröder was asked whether he would also have a "job guarantee" in the event of a defeat in the game against Fortuna Düsseldorf, which will take place this Saturday evening (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the 2nd Bundesliga, Sport1 and Sky) the head coach could give. This is what crisis sounds like.

Schröder responded professionally.

“I don't really want to comment on the topic of job guarantee, I don't have that thought,” he said.

However, he is not at all satisfied with the season so far.

In none of the five competitive games did the team perform confidently and convincingly.

"But that doesn't mean that we just walk around negatively shaking our heads," assured Schröder.

"We had that at Schalke long enough that we keep pulling ourselves down."

Focus on trainer Grammozis

As for the game idea, his team will "take a significant step forward" during the upcoming international break, said Grammozis, the coach asks for time. But if the game against Fortuna is lost with another poor performance, Schröder is faced with the question of whether he would rather make the valuable units available to another coach during the break from the competition.

So it's about driving away the bad mood, generating self-confidence and, last but not least, the reputation of the coach.

Grammozis can give good reasons for the problems.

The team was “thrown together”, he recently said, with more than 30 transfer movements it is hardly possible to develop a stable team within a few weeks.

But the work of this soccer teacher hardly convinced anyone at the end of last season.

When asked about his situation on Thursday, Grammozis said that he already knew “if the results are not good, that there will also be a mood that is not good for our side”.

But the relationship with Schröder and sports director Peter Knäbel is "still very good".

It is unknown how much those responsible believe in Grammozis' abilities.

But the expectations for the duel with Fortuna Düsseldorf are clear: The team must "keep a cool head, show a certain resistance to stress, and be prepared to keep their nerves," said Schröder. The last league game to date that the club won in front of an audience in the home arena was a duel against Borussia Mönchengladbach in January 2020, when people still perceived their club as a Champions League authority. That was an unbelievable year and a half ago.

There is not much left from this time, only the goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann is still there, as well as the professionals Amine Harit and Ozan Kabak, who are only allowed to train. These last big earners in the squad after Schröder's radical restructuring should urgently change clubs. The fact that Schröder has succeeded in getting rid of the million-dollar players Serdar, Raman, Nastasic, Uth, Rudy, Mascarell, Matondo, Mendyl and Schöpf is already a considerable success. Especially since the sports director is firmly convinced that he has “a lot, a lot of quality” in the new squad. “And a lot of quality will also prevail in the end,” said Schröder.

At this point he probably forgot the history of FC Schalke for a brief moment: In the past season, the club almost broke several records of the legendary losers of Tasmania Berlin. In order for quality to develop, a good everyday atmosphere is also required, and it is anything but carefree before the fifth match day.