Massive game against Leverkusen; if we lose, it puts near enough to a two game buffer between us and 4th - and a Cl place is all but impossible esp. with our crappy goal difference. If we win, it keeps us within touching distance of 4th and, given BMG are playing in Munich, probably also 3rd. To be honest, given this is a home against a side who only just played an extremely taxing 120 minutes against Athletico, we have no excuses at all ... At least our upcoming schedule isn't as painful as this one
Just back from some time on the road, mostly in Slovenia. The good news was that it was no problem to see the Leverkusen match on TV there...the bad news was the match itself. I was in Maribor and I did indeed stay in the same hotel as all of the visiting teams in the Champions League group last autumn. I also made a freundschaft visit to the NK Maribor fan shop...picked up a CL group t-shirt at clearance price. Maribor and Gelsenkirchen actually have a fair bit in common. Both are football mad industrial towns struggling to re-invent themselves, with sleepy town centers full of German shops!
Today's game against Augsburg is another must win as they sit only one point back and it could decide the current positioning between clubs. Teams like Werder are also hot on your trail and catching up quickly. Gaining three points today will also keep the gap from 4th place Leverkusen within 6 points. Good news is that Fährmann and Goretzka make their returns and will feature in the starting line up.
the day-care centres of Augsburg seem to have been emptied onto the pitch ... Nordkurve have these colored raincoat things on and doing a Poznan before kickoff
and he's injured again. F** also, that shot more like this; http://gfycat.com/EmbarrassedCoordinatedEasternnewt
Well that sucks, Goretzka subbed off after 15 mins of play. It didn't appear serious as he was able to walk off by himself. Perhaps just precautionary measure or muscle pains.
Did look completely innocuous ..but he's off, and the commentator - no idea how - seemed to think it was his thigh again. If we're that precautionary he must be damn fragile. I'd rather just start Uchida or Aogo instead and not risk it at all. 3-4-3 would be cool; put Sane up front with EMCM and HUntelaar, and have Uchi and Fuchs on the sides, Höger and Meyer central. disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm doing...
Best chance of the game so far. Barnetta does well to pick off the defender and gets in dangerous 3-on-2 possession. Hunterlaar turns away from his marker but blasts straight at the keeper. Looks like he rushed on the shot, should have aimed for the corners.
Farfan has added good energy since entering the game. Made a sweet dribbling run earlier where he deked out two opponents. And he did well just now to get on the end of a Meyer thru ball, but just lacking a bit on the finishing product.
Pretty sure that I jinxed you guys. 3 of the matches I've watched this weekend all ended as nil-nillers (Werder vs Mainz, Heerenveen vs Breda & now this).
Do you think you could watch all of Leverkusen and BMGs remaining matches this season? And stay the hell away from ours
Valencia vs Villarreal also ended scoreless....that's it, from now on I'm only watching RB Leipzig games.
Draxler has been training fully with the team this week and is nearing his return after a 5-month injury layoff. He should be ready this Saturday for the match versus Freiburg. Also tests have shown that there's nothing serious with Goretzka after being subbed off last week, and he has also resumed training. Julian #Draxler is back in team training! Here's a look at what he got up to earlier today. #s04https://t.co/mA6d6Ib9rs— FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) April 7, 2015
Just hope we can score; if that means leaving ourselves vulnerable +/- conceding, so be it. No goals in the past two games is just Good thing about Europa is, against some teams, it's pretty straight forward securing an away ticket (can never forget seeing the 12000 sge in Bordeaux on tv, man that was something) . Good chance/excuse to travel
First half: Meyer had a few half-chances, Huntelaar and EMCM had one shot each ..though more out of hope than opportunity. 0 clear chances created. Same can be said for Freiburg, defensive side of things is pretty good. Kola looking solid, apart from the odd ball control issue which looked a bit silly. Farfan, so so. Got to be patient with both of course. Fans are restless. So is cortisoljunkie. Watching this game, and hearing score updates; Gladbach nailing Dortmund, Bayern and Mirena FC also scoring. Kinda jealous
Sane absolutely unstoppable, like a man on a mission going on that run build up to the goal. He adds an extra element whenever he's on the pitch, hopefully RDM continues to give him starts.