“YOU don’t score, you don’t win games.”
Jonjoe Kenny’s assessment of Schalke’s poor recent form was succinct and brutally honest when he faced the media after last weekend’s shock 3-0 home loss at the hands of Augsburg. A sublime Eduard Lowen free-kick had put the visitors ahead in just the sixth minute. But to Schalke’s credit, they dominated possession for the rest of the contest, claiming a 71 per cent share of the ball by the final whistle.
But David Wagner’s side did next to nothing with it, creating few chances of note. Augsburg punished individual errors late on to muster a frankly embarrassing scoreline for a Schalke side clinging desperately to hope of European qualification.
“We were much better than last week,” Kenny said, referencing Schalke meek showing in the previous weekend’s Revierderby, a 4-0 loss to rivals Borussia Dortmund. “But again it’s not good enough.”
And it hasn’t been good enough for some time now, as far as Schalke are concerned. Without a victory in their last nine Bundesliga games, they own the German top flight’s longest winless run at present, and have scored only four goals since Christmas.
The poor run they currently find themselves mired in has almost undone the positivity engendered in the first half of the season. Schalke only confirmed their safety from relegation with three games to go at the tail end of 2018-19, a campaign which saw manager Domenic Tedesco dispensed with before the Gelsenkirchen side eventually finished a disappointing 14th.
So when former Huddersfield Town boss Wagner, appointed last summer, rejuvenated Schalke by instilling his trademark pressing methodology and imbuing giddy energy levels in his players, a top-six finish and Europa League qualification looked a safe bet.
But, whether the result of a regression to the mean after an initial over-performance or simply tired legs from a punishing playing style, Schalke are slumping hard and Wagner must quickly find a solution.
A switch to a back three prior to the pandemic-necessitated shutdown seemed to bring about a noticeable improvement in performances, if not results, seeing Schalke hold their own in a 1-0 DFB Pokal loss to champions Bayern Munich, just weeks after being hammered 5-0 by the same opponents, as well as a creditable 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena.
Schalke in the past nine Bundesliga games:
5 Losses
4 Draws
2 Scored
22 ConcededCrisis mode. #S04FCA pic.twitter.com/Pob9o27Y0B
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) May 24, 2020
The results since the behind-closed-doors return to action, however, suggest any uptick was mercilessly temporary, and there seems to be no remedy forthcoming for Schake’s inability to sufficiently create scoring chances; per understat.com’s model, the Royal Blue’s mustered scoring opportunities worth an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.35 against Dortmund, and only 0.71 against Augsburg, despite dominating possession in the latter fixture. Schalke haven’t produced a single-game xG above 1.12 in the Bundesliga since their impressive 2-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach on 17 January, and they have failed to score in eight of their last 11 all-competitions fixtures.
Schalke’s early season showing likely means, for the time being, Wagner retains enough banked credit to be trusted to turn things around. But the club’s precarious financial state might limit how long the manager is afforded if signs of recovery don’t sprout soon. The magazine Kicker listed Schalke as one of 13 German top- and second-flight clubs at risk of insolvency if the restart did not come soon enough. And season-ticket holders were asked to waive refunds for the remaining home games which will now be played without supporters in the stadium.
Wagner seems to believe that his side aren’t far from finding the right formula, though, and that the ills of their recent performances stem more from a lack of confidence than any tactical inadequacies.
"The game started badly. We weren't dangerous enough with all the possession we had," said the Schalke manager after the 3-0 defeat to Augsburg.
"We were really tense in the second half. Conceding goals from individual errors is typical of the situation we find ourselves in right now. Now we need to support the lads so they start playing with confidence again. We are making too many individual errors leading to goals. A lot of it is psychological.”
On-loan Everton defender Kenny’s assessment of his side’s struggles put a complex problem into simple terms. Despite Wagner’s protestations, though, getting Schalke firing again is unlikely to be so straightforward.
