Debacle for Schalke 04 in the cup: what will become of coach Kramer?

Mith a rigid expression, Frank Kramer accepted the final whistle, which he might have heard for the last time as coach of FC Schalke 04. After the next very weak performance in the 1: 5 (0: 3) in the DFB Cup at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, loud “Kramer raus” calls echoed from the royal blue fan corner in the Sinsheim stadium. Kramer took note of this from the center circle – he has to worry about his job more than ever.

“We have in no way shown the virtues and face that we have to show,” said Kramer after the game. “It almost leaves me speechless how we played this game. The helplessness with which we went to work today is a mystery to me.” Kramer went on to speak of the “undisputed worst performance of the season”. However, he doesn’t feel let down by the players: “I’m part of the team. I’m just assuming now that the players have been rolled over for whatever reason. The most important thing is FC Schalke 04.”

Munas Dabbur (5th and 43rd minutes), Angeliño (16th) with his first goal for TSG, Ozan Kabak (51st) and Pavel Kaderabek (63rd) scored in front of 15,633 spectators against a completely overwhelmed Royal Blues. The displeasure of the traveling guest fans was unmistakable.

Schalke 04 with a desolate performance

Four days after the 0: 3 in the league against the Kraichgauer, the Schalke professionals seemed discouraged and unimaginative for long stretches. So it was the fifth competitive defeat in a row for the penultimate table and Kramer, who had recently been given another deadline by the sporting management around sports director Rouven Schröder. It is unclear whether the 50-year-old will still be on the bench in Sunday’s game at Hertha BSC.

In any case, Schalke, who last won the DFB Cup in 2011, can now fully concentrate on the fight against relegation. From the first few seconds, the guests were exposed to their opponent’s strong combination game. After just a minute and a half, Angeliño’s low shot whizzed just wide of the far post. Winning the ball and a through ball from the former Royal Blues Kabak then led to the early 1-0: Dabbur completed a ripped off goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow.

Before that, there had already been a cup duel between the two teams: in 2013/14, the Kraichgauer S04 bowled out of the round of 16. However, in 20 years in the competition, TSG has never made it past the quarter-finals. Under their new coach André Breitenreiter, once a head coach at Schalke himself, Hoffenheim are now in the round of 16 and recommended themselves with a strong performance for the hit on Saturday against FC Bayern Munich. Her top scorer Andrej Kramaric was absent again because of his ankle injury.

Danny Latza fired the first dangerous shot from Gelsenkirchen just before the break. The former Leipzig Angeliño and again Dabbur had duped Schwolow twice more. Otherwise, the score and what was happening on the field gave the impression that the game was already decided at half-time. Kabak made it 4-0 with a header when keeper Schwolow dived into space before substitute Kaderabek was allowed to score. The 1:5 by Dominick Drexler then fell out of nowhere, but it didn’t change the desolate impression of S04.