A year ago, Domenico Tedesco's star was on the rise as he led unfancied Schalke to second in the Bundesliga. But now the young coach is increasingly under the spotlight as the club start to reshuffle in key positions.
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/A. Grimm
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"There can only be one view on our current situation. Everybody should know what needs to change," said Domenico Tedesco ahead of Saturday's crunch clash with Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Tedesco was referring to the attitude and application of his players, who were abject last weekend in a 3-0 defeat to a Mainz side that had lost their previous three matches by an aggregate score of 11-1.
Not for the first time this season, the 33-year-old didn't pull any punches in his post-match assessment, saying Schalke had "shot ourselves in the foot" and describing the performance as "awful." Moments after their 12th defeat of a miserable league campaign, the club announced that sporting director Christian Heidel would leave his role at the end of the season.
Changes at the top
Heidel, who made his name working with the likes of Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel at Mainz, was widely regarded as a shrewd appointment when he joined the Royal Blues in 2016. But his stock has fallen lower than Tedesco's with Schalke's recruitment at the start of this season patchy at best. Sebastian Rudy, Omar Mascarell and Suat Serdar all had price tags of €10 million or more and have all failed to deliver.
Heiedel's replacement will be appointed by a new face in Gelsenkirchen, with former RB Leipzig employee Jochen Schneider joining the backroom staff days after Heidel's exit was announced.
"We have had some well-structured chats," said Tedesco about his first impressions of the new man. "I think he will fit in very well. He is very down-to-earth and has some clear plans, which will suit Schalke."
Though Tedesco has some credit in the bank from last season, he's savvy enough to know that, with players difficult to shift, there are few other places left to turn for Schalke's top brass so he must improve results fast if he's to keep his job.
Schalke's success last season was built on a expertly-drilled defense, which allowed them to finish second despite scoring significantly fewer goals than the rest of the top six. With a limited squad, Tedesco looked to have cut his cloth accordingly, grinding out victories with little regard for expression or flair.
New signings fail to fire
The summer additions of Rudy and Mark Uth were designed to add some creativity and clinical finishing to a squad lacking those qualities but it hasn't worked. Uth has just two league goals to date and the team have scored a paltry 25 goals in 23 games.
Mark Uth has struggled since moving to SchalkeImage: Getty Images/Bongarts/K. Hessland-Wissel
Tedesco can, justifiably, point to injuries, particularly up front, as mitigation for a campaign that leaves them struggling to keep their head above water but comparison to the side they face on Saturday does him no favors.
Düsseldorf were bottom of the league in November and seemed to be short of the required quality after investing less than €7 million in new players after promotion. But Friedhelm Funkel's side have now won six out of their last nine and will move eight points above their opponents with a win on Saturday.
"We know Fortuna Düsseldorf well, but have to concentrate on ourselves more," said Tedesco. "They have brought in some good players and deserve to be above us in the table right now we need to do our all to change that."
With trips to Werder Bremen and Manchester City and a home match against RB Leipzig to come, Tedesco needs that change to be immediate.
Bundesliga matchday 23 roundup
Wolfsburg notched up another impressive away win against Borussia Mönchengladbach while Dortmund and Bayern secured narrow wins in different ways. Elsewhere, another dispiriting loss meant time for change at Schalke.
Image: Imago/Jan Huebner
Stuttgart 5-1 Hannover
Stuttgart steam-rolled Hannover in the big relegation six-pointer on Sunday. Victory would have seen Hannover climb above Stuttgart in the table, but that was never on the cards. Mario Gomez fired the hosts into a fourth minute lead and an Ozan Muhammed Kabak brace put Stuttgart in firm control. Jonathas de Jesus pulled one back for Hannover, but Steven Zuber added two more to complete the rout.
Image: Imago/J. Huebner
Hannover 0 - 3 Eintracht Frankfurt
Adi Hütter's players completed a perfect week on Sunday. After beating Shakhtar Donetsk in the Europa League on Thursday, Eintracht beat strugglers Hannover, keeping the Eagles unbeaten in 2019. Ante Rebic, Bundesliga top scorer Luka Jovic (pictured) and Filip Kostic were all on the scoresheet for the visitors and Hannover's chances of staying up are looking slimmer by the week.
Image: Imago/Jan Huebner
RB Leipzig 1 - 1 Hoffenheim
For much of this one, an early strike from Andrej Kramaric (above) looked to have given Julian Nagelsmann victory over his future employers. In the absence of Timo Werner, Leipzig looked blunt for much of the match but captain Willi Orban rescued a point from close range in the 89th minute.
Image: Imago/J. Huebner
Borussia Dortmund 3 - 2 Bayer Leverkusen
Mario Götze (center) scored the decisive third as BVB won their first match in six. The hosts opened the scoring through Dan-Axel Zagadou, only to be pegged back immediately by Kevin Volland. Jadon Sancho's sublime volley made it three goals in seven minutes just before the break then Götze struck in the second half. Jonathan Tah's late header couldn't save Peter Bosz on his return to Dortmund.
Image: Imago/DeFodi
Borussia Mönchengladbach 0 - 3 Wolfsburg
A second half double from Admir Mehmedi and Yannick Gerhardt's 38th-minute strike led Wolfsburg to a second successive 3-0 win and up to fifth, for 24 hours at least. The Wolves have now taken 10 points from their last four games and are just five points off their opponents, who are now without a win in three.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
Bayern Munich 1 - 0 Hertha Berlin
Javi Martinez' nodded home a James Rodriguez corner just after the hour mark to secure a hard-fought win for the champions. Hertha had the better of the first half chances but couldn't convert. After bringing on Thiago, Bayern improved after the break but a late injury to substitute Kingsley Coman will be troubling for Niko Kovac.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/C. Stache
Freiburg 5 - 1 Augsburg
Nils Petersen (center) was among the scorers as Freiburg picked up their biggest Bundeslgia win of Christian Streich's long reign as head coach. Petersen scored the first and third as Vincenzo Grifo, Luca Waldschmidt and Florian Niederlechner also got on the scoresheet. Rani Khedira briefly made it a contest while Reece Oxford saw red for the visitors late on.
Image: Getty Images/A. Scheuber
Mainz 3 - 0 Schalke
It's carnival time in Mainz and their club provided even more reason for celebration with a dominant win over Schalke. Karim Onisiwo (pictured) was the star, scoring a spectacular opener after 19 minutes and adding Mainz's third after substitute Jean-Philippe Mateta had scored the second. Schalke announced after the game that sporting director Christain Heidel would leave at the end of the season.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Silz
Fortuna Düsseldorf 2-1 Nuremberg
Friedhelm Funkel's side took a big step towards securing another season in Germany's top flight with a 2-1 win over Nuremberg. The away team were reduced to ten men after Matheus Pereira was sent off four minutes in, but took a 41st minute lead thanks to Eduard Lowen's fine strike. However, Funkel's players turned things around through an own goal from Ewerthon (top) and a late Kaan Ayhan header.
Image: picture-alliance
Werder Bremen 1-1 Stuttgart
Werder Bremen recovered from going behind inside a minute to salvage a point against stuttering Stuttgart on Friday. The visitors got off to the perfect start when Steven Zuber slotted the ball home after 59 seconds, stunning the Weserstadion. But Stuttgart couldn't take their lead into the break as Davy Klaassen leveled in first half injury time.
