The FC Schalke 04 does not get out of the crisis mode. Despite the lead at Fortuna Düsseldorf, the squires took the next bitter defeat.
When the final whistle sounded, David Wagner collapsed for a brief moment. The Schalke trainer took a sip from his water bottle and then stomped towards the cabin. He was served.
After the 1:2 (0:0) away bankruptcy at Fortuna Düsseldorf, criticism of the 48-year-old coach is growing. The numbers speak clearly against him: Ten games in a row the royal blue team is now without a win with a goal ratio of 3:24.
The squires are the only Bundesliga team to have lost all three games since the re-start. On this matchday, they were also overtaken by Hoffenheim (won 3:1 against Cologne), are now only ninth, and are increasingly losing their place in the European League.
Head of Sports Jochen Schneider, who followed the game in the empty Düsseldorf Arena from the stands alongside Head of Marketing Alexander Jobst, Finance Boss Peter Peters, Michael Reschke and Sascha Riether, said at the Sky microphone: “This is extremely disappointing. It was not a good game today. There’s no easy way to put it.”
Schalke with 25 percent ball possession before the break
Commenting on the criticism of Coach Wagner, Schneider said: “We speak quite openly and discuss the issues. It is not a criticism of the coach, but of all of us. We all have to do something better. We can’t present ourselves like we did the last three games.”
This time against Düsseldorf, Wagner played in a totally defensive manner and left relegation candidate Düsseldorf completely in charge of the game. After 90 minutes, his team had only 25 percent ball possession.
For the injured Benito Raman (thigh problems), luckless attacker Guido Burgstaller (without a goal for more than a year) attacked. Just how desperate Wagner is with regard to the storm crisis was shown by the inclusion of central defender Salif Sané in the final phase of the attack.