Schalke was off to a great start into “project rebuild” under new coach David Wagner as the team first achieved good results. However, they became the laughing stock of the Bundesliga as they lost an all-time low of 16 games in a row in second half and ended up far off in 12th position.
Their performance in the first half of the campaign was respectable. Taking merely that half, S04 would have ended up in 5th position and would have met their own target to play in a European competition for 2020/21. The defensive performance seemed particularly convincing as Schalke was among the teams that had conceded least goals after 17 rounds.
However, those first 17 games also foreshadowed Schalke’s later development. Throughout the season, Schalke’s attacking game remained unorganised and uninspired. This culminated in them scoring merely 9 goals in the final 17 games of the season. Accordingly, Schalke scored the second-least points of all sides in the second half of the campaign (9).
Many players seemed to develop positively under Wagner at first. Previously disappointing players such as Amine Harit, Omar Mascarell and Benjamin Stambouli quickly became key regulars under Wagner. Suat Serdar stood out as both the top scorer and the key player in midfield.
Yet, they fell short of their initial shape in the second half. Even more so, it proved a big problem that many key players were missing injured in final matches. Consequently, Schalke have recently sacked their fitness coaches.
Moreover, there were confusions around the goalkeepers when regular keeper Alexander Nübel confirmed his transfer to Bayern Munich after the season. Wagner then seemed to prefer substitute keeper Markus Schubert. However, neither Schubert’s nor Nübel’s performances were sufficiently stable after this announcement so that Wagner ended up rotating between the keepers several times, creating even more unrest.
Schalke have announced they will continue with Wagner. To rebuild the team successfully, they will yet not only have to change their tactics and training regimes. They will have to appease the restless club environment that was shaken by scandals around chairman Clemens Tönnies and financial problems during the CoVid-19 crisis.
