You're not a bad person. With keller, we play at the level you'd expect with the talent we have. There's no shame in striving for something better, but I think it's best that we let Keller's contract expire. Keller is a fine coach for the time being.
There are rumours about Jung. He has, apparently, again a low buy out clause for this summer. Wolfsburg and we are interested, but Jung may decide to stay in Frankfurt anyway. We only have Uchida as a real rightback in the squad for the moment. We need a second one badly. Yes, competition is an important aspect.
We were also linked to Chandler, but I thought that was equally unlikely, although for different reasons. Heldt told the media to "ask him the same question next week" or something like that. I have no idea what that means. Then there were the Castro rumors.
You can take the answer literally. Last week Heldt didn't want to answer questions regarding transfers because there were still to many things uncertain. There are quite a few rumours linking Schalke to rightbacks. Jung is one, Chandler another. There are even rumours about Castro.
That's a bummer, Tuchel is a much better coach than keller and would be able to do more than bank on Hunter being healthy. More than any player adding tuchel would take you to the next level.
Tuchel is most probably a better coach than Keller, but you're underestimating Keller. It is not just that he has a good chemistry with the team, which is important, but he also managed to develop the team. The improvements in the second half aren't down to Huntelaar but to a improved defense. We scored one goal less than before the break but conceded 12 goals less. In fact we only conceded one goal more than Bayern and three less than Dortmund. Don't forget that our injury problems weren't less than Dortmunds. I'd say we even had worse There are still a lot of questions marks surrounding Keller. I doubt they will ever go away as long as he stays at Schalke and doesn't win anything. But he should be good enough so that we can qualify for the CL again next season, that is the basis for everything else. I'm sure the young players will develop further under Keller. Nobody knows what will happen 2015. Heldt has been going hard after Tuchel for years. He will have the opportunity to sign him next year. Will see if the takes it or if Keller surprises again.
I attribute that to being able to play much more cautiously since Hunter is better at converting chances and doesn't need as much constant support as Szalai did.
I was just breaking some balls (too much Sopranos lately). Of course Elgert is untouchable and Keller earned it to go on. Two successive CL qualifications under difficult circumstances is proof enough that he can do the job. All true, but I'm not so sure if Tuchel will still be available in 2015. And even if he will still be available, what if Keller leads the team to the CL qualifications again, wins the DFB-Pokal and qualifies for the CL knockouts again? I am a bad person. I know Keller can do it but I still want Tuchel. I'd love to see what Tuchel can get out of the team. Players get replaced all the time even if they had a good season, for some reason. With coaches it's different. They can't be replaced after a good season.
Even without Hunter, this team played well enough. In fact, Hunter really wasn't adding all that much towards the end of the spring. He had some really bad games after his fast start in February and March.
Maybe it was Hunter who allowed Keller to play more cautiously but I doubt it. We didn't change the way we played the few times Szalai played in the second half. Most of the tactical changes had nothing to do with the striker and much more with the backline and midfield and how they worked together. @logout No problem, I'm not a vengeful person nor am I without humour, eventhough my German heart cries everytime I laugh. Keller's contract runs out next season. I think that is a different situation even if he reaches our goals again. The only way we could get Tuchel now is by paying Mainz an obscene amount of money. I don't think that is warranted.
Those Szalai starts came after the team had settled in around hunter and established their confidence. Which is someting I do give Keller credit for, once things turned around he did a fine job of helping his young team's confidence grow, but I just don't think he has the tactical nuance to be the reason things turn around for this team, the way a tuchel or a streich can.
Seriously? Tuchel is most probably a better tactician but you make it sound as if Keller is totally inept, not even able to make slight adjustments. I doubt Keller will ever be able to induce the tactical flexibility into his teams, that Tuchel has shown in Mainz but he is able to adjust his tactics.
If I made it sound like Keller is jogi-level inept than that's poor wording on my part, but he's tremendously mediocre. To me coaches can hold their team back, can have limited effect, or they can create more than the sum of the parts they been given to work with. To me Tuchel is clearly in that third category while Keller has worked his way up to the second category. But I still place most of his "success" on you guys simply having more talent to work with, even amongst the injuries, than everyone except Bayern and BVB.
I can understand that and to a degree share the sentiment. It is not like I think Keller is the second coming of Rinus Michels or Ernst Happel. I have also decided, mainly based on my wobbling gut, that I will operate the next year as if Schalke and Tuchel already have some kind of understanding. I wouldn't be suprised if I'm wrong and they extend Keller's contract but I find at least as possible that they will announce Tuchel as our coach for 2015 someday next spring.
I agree that Tuchel and Schalke probably already have some sort of understanding or agreement. I'm sure we indicated that that we're willing to throw a boat load of money his way. Keller may even have an inkling of these dealings. I feel like Keller and Heldt have such a good working relationship that the whole situation won't be an issue going forward.
I can actually see that, not sure if it's on Tuchel wanting to take a year off or on you guys wanting to break the pattern of your coaching carousel while also letting Keller bolster his resume for his next job, but I can see it. May just be wishful thinking on my part though, because I watch what great coaches like Klopp and Favre can do when given top third of the table talent, and I get excited imagining what a Tuchel or Streich could do with your crew. Cause damn man, if you guys sold Papa, and brought in Jung to play over Uchida there's not really much to change about the roster for you to become title contenders in a year or two other than maybe bring Geis in if Ayhan doesn't take the 6 over.
I think the main obstacle is Heidel's stubborness, not that I can fault him. I also think that Schalke is, in a way, pretty happy with it, because they can avoid the press carnage that would ensue if they fired Keller, and they save the transfer fee if they wait until Tuchel's contract runs out. Don't know exactly what Tuchel's reasons were to escalate the situation but maybe he really came to the conclusion that he can't improve the team any further. Truth be told the two, very weak, reasons why I believe there is an agreement with Tuchel are 1) His co-trainer is, as far I as I understand, pulling the same stunt. Or at least caught up in Tuchels. His contract also runs until 2015, so if Tuchel was really taking a year off, he could have stayed the year at Mainz and then joined Tuchel to where ever he wants to go. Instead his getting a similar treatment. 2) Heidel's statement that Tuchel's answer to the question if he wanted to coach a different club next season (or something along that way) was "I'm not looking for a new club". The first assumption is, that Tuchel does indeed not want to coach but it could also be that he already found his new club.
Oh Hamburg...just barely...just barely. Mighty Hamburger, winning on away goals. So the 2013-2014 season is officially over now, right?
I'm disappointed. Would have loved to see them have to tear down that ridiculous clock. Might actually be able to carve out an identity other than "We've been not completely awful since the 80s, when we were actually relevant!" had that occurred.
Atm I'm mainly disgusted by Fürth. Scoring only once against this Hamburg team. HSV was dead after 50mins, absolutely dead. They could only hoof the ball out of the defense and run down the clock. Fürth's attack was so incredibly inept. They should just scrap the play off and only promote two teams. The gap between the two leagues is too wide so that newly promoted teams are hardly competitive anyway. It won't close unless the 2.Bundesliga gets more money, which won't happen.
In fairness, the gap between divisions is much smaller in Germany than it is in Italy, England, or Spain. Germany is pretty good about keeping things relatively even compared to those other countries. I think next year there should be a pretty god chance of a 2 BL team moving up, so I'm in favor of keeping it.
Yeah, I was going to say we usually only see one of the promoted teams go straight back a year, that's amazing for a top flight league.
I don't find that amazing at all. I find that pretty poor, especially if you consider that there are quite a few times when only two teams are getting promoted, f.e. all newly promoted teams are staying in the league in Spain and France this year. But its not just that one team gets relegated straight away but how poor that team often times is. Although I may be biased because of Braunschweig this and Fürth last year.