Dhe VfL Wolfsburg has lost the great momentum of the past few months. FC Schalke 04, bottom of the table, only managed a happy 0-0 in the Bundesliga game on Friday evening. After the fourth competitive game without a win and a poor performance in the Veltins Arena, VfL in seventh place is about to lose contact with the Europa League ranks. “We have to find our rhythm again,” said Felix Nmecha at DAZN.
Schalke even scored two goals in front of 60,836 spectators. But the goals of Alex Král (50th) and Michael Frey (76th) were disallowed for offside. For the Lower Saxony, the zero number was also a disappointment. In terms of play and fighting, it was a very weak performance by the seventh in the table, who can hardly be considered a European Cup candidate.
“Schalke bought our guts”
Captain Maximilian Arnold also missed a penalty early (9th). After three competitive defeats recently, it was the fourth winless game in a row for coach Niko Kovac’s team. The VW club was able to thank goalkeeper Koen Casteels on Friday that it was not the fourth defeat in a row.
“You can shoot it better by shooting it in,” said Arnold about the missed penalty. “I can only apologize to the team. Then it’s a different game when I make it 1-0. So we didn’t calm down at all.” The captain criticized: “Schalke bought our guts, we didn’t find our game at all. We played without courage.”
The game was made by the bottom of the table, who had improved again and had previously played 0-0 against 1. FC Köln and Borussia Mönchengladbach. With returnee Rodrigo Zalazar and Frey on loan for the winter, Schalke made at least a little alarm this time, also roused by 60,836 vociferous fans.
Defensively, the Reis team was safe again anyway. This was also due to the weak opponents from Wolfsburg this time, who played similarly uninspired as the previous Schalke opponents Mönchengladbach.
Schalke unlucky
With the help of the video referee, the Lower Saxony almost unexpectedly took the lead early on. After almost ten minutes, after studying the video images at the edge of the field, Benjamin Brand suddenly awarded VfL a penalty for no apparent reason. Only the TV pictures showed what was hidden from the spectators in the stadium: Moritz Jenz stepped on the foot of Wolfsburg’s Patrick Wimmer at the edge of the penalty area.
However, VfL captain Arnold put the penalty on the left post, meaning that the new Schalke number one, Ralf Fährmann, did not concede a goal in the third game after returning between the posts of the Royal Blues.
In the second round, Schalke remained committed, poisonous and strong, but also unlucky. Král and Frey’s goals were celebrated like salvation before the referee team intervened. Far too little came from Wolfsburg to put pressure on the European Cup places again.
