The successes of Freiburg, Mainz and Frankfurt demonstrate that Schalke can’t do without Peter Knäbel. At least that’s what Peter Knäbel believes.Image: dpa / Tim Rehbein
Bundesliga
After the first half of the season, there is often a way off at the bottom of the table: last year it was Greuther Fürth that bobbed around at the bottom of the table without a chance. For a long time this year it looked as if Bochum would be relegated without a fight. In the meantime, VfL has come back impressively, with Schalke 04 now wearing the Red Lantern instead.
However, there is no trace of a fighting spirit like in Bochum at Schalke. In fact, people in Gelsenkirchen seem to have already come to terms with the descent.
After the 1:6 home defeat against RB Leipzig, even S04 coach Thomas Reis questioned the Bundesliga suitability of his own team. Sports director Peter Knäbel is meanwhile thinking about why things are going so badly and what consequences one has to draw from a relegation.
Thomas Reis was dismissed in Bochum as the bottom of the table. Now he’s training bottom side Schalke.Image: dpa / David Indian song
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Knäbel blames Schalke misery Rouven Schröder
In an interview with “Sport Bild”, Knäbel indicated that he had exposed the sole culprit of the current misery: “We analyzed the summer transfer phase intensively and drew conclusions from it,” Knäbel summarized his first half of the season. “One look at the table is enough to show that not everything was done right in the summer”he waves with the fence post.
So Rouven Schröder is to blame, the sports director who put together the squad for the current season in the summer.
As sports director at Schalke, Rouven Schröder created the squad for promotion, among other things.Image: Imago / district photo
To illustrate this, “Sport Bild” lists all the failed Schröder transfers: Florent Mollet and Jordan Larsson are gone again, Ibrahima Cissé and Timothée Kolodziejczak are currently only playing for the U23s. In addition, Tobias Mohr, Maya Yoshida and Kenan Karaman are not reinforcements.
The fact that Schröder, in addition to these flops, also signed all Schalke hopefuls such as Bülter, Terodde and Kral – after all, he had to put together a completely new team after relegation in 2021 – is left out.
Schalke 04: Knäbel excludes resignation
In general, Knäbel thinks things are looking up for Schalke after Schröder’s surprising resignation: “We were – with the exception of Leipzig – in every game at eye level, but of course we should have scored more points,” he assesses Schalke’s performance since the restart. Most recently, the home game against Cologne even ended 0-0 – and thus a point. Knäbel thinks “that we have definitely made progress in terms of play.”
That’s why Knäbel dares a cautious declaration of war in the “Sport Bild”: “The goal is and remains direct relegation, nothing has changed about that. I’m convinced that we can do it with this team.”
Despite his conviction but he already rules out a resignation should Schalke relegate. “Personnel continuity – as the examples of Mainz, Frankfurt and Freiburg show – is of crucial importance in the long term,” he explains to “Sport Bild”.
Freiburg reached the DFB Cup final for the first time last year, Eintracht even won the Europa League and is currently in the last 16 of the Champions League. To what extent the Frankfurt and Freiburg successes contribute to Peter Knäbel’s job security is quite questionable.
Football commentators are often viewed critically by fans. Attention is paid to the choice of words or to the fact that all players are recognized, named and pronounced correctly. If viewers find even a small mistake, a hate comment on Twitter or Instagram is quickly written.
