Bundesliga: Bayern the acid test for new look Schalke
January 24, 2020
Bayern Munich may have misplaced their usual air of domestic invincibility during a turbulent 2019 but for most of the division, the Bavarians remain the team to beat.
"Playing against Bayern is the most difficult game of the season. They are the best team in Germany in terms of quality," said Schalke left back Bastian Oczipka after signing a new contract this week. "We have to perform to the best of our abilities and hope that Bayern are both wasteful in front of goal and sloppy in defence."
The first half of that equation has rarely been a problem for the Royal Blues this season, with new coach David Wagner quick to instill the relentless team ethic that helped him to an unlikely promotion to the Premier League with Huddersfield Town.
The Gelsenkirchen side have lost just one of their last ten league games, picking up 19 points in the process, and ruthlessly picked apart former league leader Borussia Mönchengladbach in an impressive 2-0 win in the Bundesliga's first match after the winter break.
New loan signing Michael Gregoritsch scored one, made one and cleared a goalbound effort off the line in a game he described as a "dream debut" and Wagner will hope the former Augsburg man can go some way towards solving the club's chronic and long-term lack of a genuine goalscorer. Gregoritsch scored 13 league goals in 2017-18, the last time a Schalke player scored that many in a campaign was when Klass-Jan Huntelaar bagged 29 in 2011-12.
Existing players stepping up
But Wagner, like his predecessor Domenico Tedesco in 2017-18, has found a way to overcome the lack of a clinical front man. While the man who won the UEFA Cup with the club as a player hasn't transformed Schalke in to freewheeling entertainers, they have developed a street-smartness and strong mentality absent for much of last season.
But, perhaps most crucially, he's managed to bring the best out of a number of players who had shown signs of potential but been unable to deliver consistency. Chief among them are midfielders Suat Serdar and Amine Harit.
Serdar, 22, signed from Mainz last season but failed to make any significant impact. This term, he's been a man transformed. He's been given the freedom to carry the ball and to use his physical attributes to drive from box to box. That's already bought seven goals from the center of the park, making him the side's top scorer, and he's arguably been the league's best central midfielder to date.
"I had set the aim of being more dangerous in front of goal, something I’ve been able to do quite well so far," Serdar told his club's website this week. "But, I didn’t allow other equally important things to fall to the wayside, such as working to win back the ball."
That form has been rewarded with a first Germany cap but Serdar had largely gone under the radar before Christmas thanks to the displays of Amine Harit. The Moroccan international, 22, tends to play the more advanced role that his vision and dribbling demands and notched six goals and four assists in a purple patch between matchdays 4 and 15.
Creative spark returns for trip to Allianz
Harit missed the win over Gladbach with a hamstring strain but is available again for the trip to the Allianz Arena on Saturday. The performances, and youth, of their new look side offers Schalke some hope but their recent record against the serial champions does not. The last time the Royal Blues beat the Bavarians was in December 2010, with Huntelaar and Raul up front and Manuel Neuer in goal. Thomas Müller is the only other survivor from either side.
"I asked the lads who had beaten Bayern before, and not many had, I think that says it all," said Wagner on Friday. "We are clear outsiders but will do our best to play a part in the game. We can't wait."
A win for Schalke would put them level on points with their opponents and, given their form, a degree of anticipation is to be expected. But even if the result ends up being painfully familiar for the travelling fans, a sense of positivity should remain. Though, with their club, they never quite know how long even that will last.