Schalke 04 breathes a sigh of relief after winning the basement duel. At Hertha BSC, coach Sandro Schwarz has to worry about his job.
Gelsenkirchen (SID) After falling to the bottom of the table, the losers from Hertha BSC had long since disappeared into the basement of the Schalke Arena when their coach rhetorically prepared himself to be thrown out. “That’s realistic. I’m responsible,” said Sandro Schwarz after the 2: 5 (1: 2) smack at Schalke 04 am DAZN-Micro too, when the fans of the Royal Blues were still enthusiastically celebrating the liberation in the relegation battle.
“It’s legitimate and the club’s responsibility to be concerned,” the coach later said in the press conference when asked about his future. Six games in a row without a win, a frightening system failure of the complete defense in the “final” at the bottom of the table – arguments for continued employment can hardly be found.
Manager Benjamin Weber tried anyway. “We long for continuity and stability with all the restlessness we have,” said the sports director, but admitted: “The coach is the poorest sow when you see this defensive behavior.” It will be difficult to stay up, the debacle at Schalke is “a slap in the face, everyone will write us off now”.
Weber emphasized that he did not want to have a “personnel discussion here on site”, but announced: “We will discuss it, that’s perfectly clear.” Schwarz seemed to suspect that the separation could result: “If you lose a game like that, it’s realistic.” Hertha canceled the planned unit on the training ground on Saturday morning at short notice.
Schalke: Great relief after defeating Hertha
On the other hand, the relief in royal blue was great. For the first time in six months, the promoted team left the direct relegation zone on Friday evening. “As far as the relegation battle is concerned, the team set standards today,” said sporting director Peter Knäbel, “there’s always constant pressure, now there just has to be joy.”
However, in view of 24 points, Knäbel warned six games before the end: “We also have to classify it: We didn’t get relegated last week, but we haven’t stayed in either.” Royal Blue scored five Bundesliga goals in one game for the first time in three and a half years, the changes made by coach Thomas Reis after the sobering 0: 2 at TSG Hoffenheim paid off: Promotion hero Simon Terodde met defender Marcin Kaminski in the Bundesliga for the first time in five months usually only third choice, shone with strength in a tackle and a directly converted free kick, the rarely used captain Danny Latza dominated in a tough duel with Hertha leader Kevin-Prince Boateng. “The pressure was immense, I wanted to spread it over several shoulders,” said Reis, explaining the sometimes surprising changes.
Further changes are possible, because with goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann, winger Tim Skarke and right-back Cedric Brunner three regular players were injured. Not the best conditions for the difficult remainder of Schalke’s program, in which Bayern Munich, SC Freiburg, RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt are waiting, among others.
