Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Fährmann resumed training and as of now is expected to play Saturday. Escudero, Kenia, Mortiz, Hoogland, Farfan and Marica will probably miss the match due to injuries, no big surprises. Marica wasn't expected to play anyway but he had a slight injury yesterday which makes it a certainity. I hope we can win the match, Stuttgart is definitely beatable, but we never looked good there. On the season I expect the team to qualify for the EL again. If some things fall their way, a CL place may be possible, though I rate Dortmund, Leverkusen and Bayern higher. Anyone else is fair game.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Thanks for the good Fährmann news. My season expectations are about the same as yours. HJK Helsinki was a reasonable draw in the Europa League today...maybe we will get to see 40 year old Jari Litmanen!
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Stuttgart with enormous defensive injuries. Offense still looks bad, but against Stuttgart you have to imagine Schalke can score a goal or two. Good draw with Helsinki. With Mainz knocked out and Hannover having a difficult draw (Sevilla) it looks like Germany could only have 4 teams in Europe this season. Really hoping Schalke can have a strong EL run to help the coefficient and cement that 4th CL spot for future years.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] I don't know about Leverkusen. They're certainly a front runner for the top 4, but they're not guarenteed a top 4 finish like Dortmund and Bayern this year. I expect us to grab one of the EL spots. If January goes well, we could potentially compete for a CL spot.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Yes, Helsinki is a fine draw. Shouldn't be too difficult to get to the groups. We will see what happens then, a good run is possible. Leverkusen will miss Vidal but they are pretty deep at DMid. Its hard to see anybody else threatening their CL spot. Hamburg, Bremen, Schalke, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg all have to show a big improvment compared to last year before they can claim anything. I see a hard time for Mainz, Hannover and the other surprise teams to repeat last year's performance. So I guess Leverkusen chances to finish in the top 4 are pretty good, the extra CL spot really helps them here. I was pretty impressed with Dortmund today. Götze and Kagawa are a brilliant, brilliant pairing. Maybe HSV is pretty bad this year but remembering Dortmund's show at the Supercup and I would put the reason for todays match more on Dortmund's strength than on Hamburg's weakness. I would be surprised if they don't qualify for the CL again though it may be that they cannot keep up such a high intensive game for the whole season.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] It was definitely a little of both. Dortmond is going own in the CL this year. It kills me to say this, but they're very fun to watch.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Yikes. Not a good first half. At least we're not playing Dortmund.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] The defense looks awful, but I actually think the cause of this is the 3 attacking mids. The one thing they seem capable of doing is loosing the ball and putting their head in their hands while they watch Stuttgart sprint down the field on a counter. Jones looks good. Matip, not so much. I also thought Holtby lost his mark a few times leading to scoring opportunities. Baumjohann wasn't much better.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Höger looked better in the second half. He isn't really a RB. I don't get it why Rangnick prefers him there instead of Uchida but at least he used Höger there consistently. Holtby was usually used in the center and had to play on the wing today. No wonder he looked lost. We could use Höger far more in DMid. Jones adds absolutely nothing on attack or build up play in general. Matip is still not aggressive enough. Huntelaar looks like a snail. I would prefer a midfield and attack of Raul Draxler - Holtby - Jurado Moravek - Höger I don't think Rangnick will ever play them this way, there are too many doubts on the defensive end. But I think the players would fit together pretty well Edit: Yes, Fuchs looked pretty bad going back. But that was already known when he played in Mainz. He should still be better than today.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] I agree for the most part on Jones. I thought he looked good early in the second half (when I commented), but he returned to his first half form late in the game. With your lineup, I would worry about Moravek getting caught up field and leaving Höger exposed. In a 4-2-3-1 I prefer both CDMs to have good defensive skills AND passing skills. Unfortunately, I feel Schalke has very few of these players. I don't get why Rangnick played SO many players out of position. The whole team looked lost.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Not much to recommend out of that performance. Hard to imagine where the offense is going to from...especially without Farfan on the pitch.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] .................Raul................... Draxler........................Farfan .................Holtby.................. ...........Jones........Kluge..........
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Mainz dominated the game today against Leverkusen.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Uchita looked pretty damn good to me last year...so hard to imagine how size plays into it, unless he's shrunk.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Size doesn't really matter much at RB. Uchida also isn't small, he may be smaller than the average German but he is f.e. bigger than Lahm or Lizarazu or Roberto Carlos. Höger is not too small for a dmid either. Kicker lists him at 1,86m which should be more than enough for the position. My problem isn't really with prefering Höger instead of Uchida. I think the differences between them are too small to find a definite answer. But that Höger could offer more in midfield than the current players there without seeing much of a drop off at RB.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Haha, I actually agree with you. I was merely hypothesizing.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Now THAT is more like it! Even so, the first 42 minutes were not very good at all. Can we PLEASE be done with Metzelder?
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Big win for Schalke. What a sublime goal from Raul. Maybe this season Huntelaar will break out
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Yes, a fine showing and (again) another sign for the offensive potential the team has when most things work. I hope they can stabilize the level it will then be a good season. Huntelaar will score regularly if you get him into position. There wasn't much doubt about that only if the team is able to produce the chances. The defense looked too vulnerable to counter attacks for my liking. But better this way with a potent offense than last year's attacking nightmares.
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] Think there is anything to the rash of "Raul is on his way out" stories?
Re: You Rang(nick)? An FC Schalke 04 2011/12 Thread! [R] I don't think so. But I don't know more than what is reported. The thing is that all of these reports are just conjecture. Interpreting Raul's facial expression when he scores or while he practises and such things. If you really think about it, the whole thing is ludicrous worse than an old wife's jibberjabber but reported on a national level. The facts are: 1) Raul doesn't give any interviews at the moment (didn't since the cup final) 2) Raul's agent told the press that the extension of the contract was suspended because of Raul's wishes shortly after it came up in March 3) Rangnick repeatedly explained that Raul plays the exact same position and role as he did last year. He did it in the last three(!) press conferences. Everybody who watches the games agrees with Rangnick. 4) Raul declined an election to the team council. His agent said it is because he can't speak German and thus can't negotiate with club officials. Of course one of his biggest problems at Madrid was the demand put on him because of his role as team captain. No wonder he isn't exactly keen on getting in something similar at Schalke. 5) Raul visited a training camp from Malaga (Hierro is manager there). Malaga run a couple of pretty big stories about it in their webpage. Bild interpreted it as a secret meeting in preparation of a transfer. 6) Bild is reporting about Rauls unhappiness for weeks, utterly undetered by any of those facts and completely ignoring them in their articles. Pretty much all other reports are based on Bild's articles. I don't know if Raul is really unhappy. Rangnick is a complicated character who might have problems with him and definitely isn't as accomodating to him as Magath was. Of course the summer here in Germany is abysmal with hardly any sunshine, a lot of rain and clouds and the number of days with a temperature rising above 25°C can be counted on a hand. I would guess a difficult summer weather for a Spanaird.