Sebastian Rudy was supposed to bring defensive stability and tactical nous to Schalke, but this season he has spent much of his time on the bench. The club's hierarchy may be losing their patience.
Image: picture-alliance/G. Kirchner
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Nothing seems to be going well for Schalke this season, but one particularly disappointing aspect of the team's current predicament is Sebastian Rudy's underperformance.
His move to the Ruhr valley was supposed to fill the void left by the off-season departures of Leon Goretzka and Max Meyer. Coming from Bayern Munich and being a German international, Rudy was supposed to deliver the quality necessary to keep Schalke's success going, following their second-place finish in the Bundesliga last season.
For €16 million ($18.6 million), Schalke were supposed to get more stability in the front of their defense. But Rudy was also seen as a player that could be instrumental in the offense.
Instead, he has only played in the first three of the last seven Bundesliga games. While Rudy featured in two out of three of Schalke's Champions League's appearances, he has not made the impact the club expected.
Poor form
Schalke's problems go beyond their new signing's lack of spark. But the question does remain: What is going on with Rudy? Coach Domenico Tedesco has said that the 28-year-old is simply not fit.
Tedesco has shown patience toward Rudy and as recently as the eve of Schalke's clash with Werder Bremen last weekend, he said Rudy still "needed time to be 100 percent." He noted the midfielder had not played a full 90 minutes in four or five months.
Predictably, Rudy was on the bench for the Bremen game and the Royal Blues went on to lose.
Schalke have only scored 5 goals this season, and while it is evident that the forwards need to step it up, it is also apparent that the team urgently need Rudy's skills in building through the center of the park.
German newspaper Sport Bild reported on Wednesday that concern is building in the Royal Blues upper management over Rudy. Schalke's bosses are reportedly upset that he chose to participate in the Nations League games with the national team during last week's international break.
The complaint centers on the fact that Rudy could have used that time to focus and work on his form and fitness in a special training session.
To make matters worse, Rudy didn't even leave the bench for Germany in either game.
One can understand why the coaches wish he shared their urgency in getting back to form. Will the pressure on Rudy spread to the locker room? For the time being, it doesn't seem that way.
Schalke captain Ralf Fährmann shares Tedesco's patience with the struggling 28-year-old, not criticizing his decision during the international break, but noting only that the "change of scenery" with national team should be good for him mentally.
Looking ahead, Schalke are set face RB Leipzig on Matchday 9, a team that was also vying for Rudy's services during the summer transfer window. At the time, it seemed as if Schalke had snatched a valuable asset from Leipzig. Things now look very different
It is hard to say whether Rudy could come off the bench and if he did, whether he can turn his fate around.
But with the way things are going, the Red Bulls will go into the game with more confidence. They are doing fine without him and may even be thinking about the bullet they just dodged.
Bundesliga matchday 8 in pictures
There were crushing wins for Eintracht Frankfurt, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund, while Bayern Munich got back to winning ways in Wolfsburg. Werder Bremen also impressed while RB Leipzig were frustrated.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Becker
Borussia Mönchengladbach 4 - 0 Mainz
Dieter Hecking's men moved up to second with a clinical dismantling of Mainz. Jonas Hofmann finished off Thorgan Hazard passes either side of the break then completed his hat-trick after Hazard scored himself. That's 10 points from the last 12 for The Foals. Things couldn't be much more different for Mainz. The Zerofivers have two points from their last five and haven't scored in 450 minutes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Becker
Stuttgart 0-4 Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund are the only remaining unbeaten team in the Bundesliga, and that never looked like changing away at struggling Stuttgart under new coach Markus Weinzierl. Jadon Sancho (pictured) gave the visitors the lead inside three minutes before Marco Reus and Paco Alcacer made it 3-0 after just 25 minutes. Max Philipp added a fourth as full-time approached to cap off a comfortable day.
Image: Imago/kolbert-press
Hertha Berlin 1 - 1 Freiburg
The hosts started strongly on Sunday, with Ondrej Duda's sixth of the season (pictured) completing a great move to give them an early lead. Pal Dardai's side were pegged back by a deflected Robin Koch strike just before the break. Freiburg had their chances but Hertha almost won it late on when Dardai's son Palko was fouled in the box, only for the penalty decision to be overturned by VAR.
Image: imago/Camera 4/T. Wiedensohler
Wolfsburg 1-3 Bayern Munich
Robert Lewandowski (second from left) scored twice as Bayern Munich ended a run of four games without a win. The champions were reduced to ten men in the second half when Arjen Robben was shown a second yellow card (the first for diving) before Wolfsburg pulled one back through Wout Weghorst. But James Rodriguez restored the two-goal cushion to relieve the pressure on coach Niko Kovac.
Image: Reuters/F. Bimmer
Schalke 0-2 Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen inflicted a sixth defeat in eight games on Schalke and moved up to second in the Bundesliga, behind Borussia Dortmund. Maximilian Eggestein struck twice for the Green and Whites either side of half-time against a wasteful Schalke side. Mark Uth saw a header cannon back off the crossbar in the closing minutes, but it was the closest the Royal Blues came.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Kirchner
Nuremberg 1-3 Hoffenheim
Hoffenheim came from behind to inflict a first home defeat of the season on newly-promoted Nuremberg. Captain Hanno Behrens gave the "Club" the lead from the spot in an even first half but a quick-fire brace from English teenager Reiss Nelson (number 9, pictured) turned the game in the visitors' favor. Adam Szalai made it three for Julian Nagelsmann's side who moved up to eighth.
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/A. Pretty
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Hannover
Bayer Leverkusen left it late to come from behind for the second time in the match and rescue a point at home to struggling Hannover. Lars Bender cancelled out Florent Muslija's opener before the break but Felipe Martins restored the visitors' lead in the second half. The home fans had to wait until the 94th minute for Karim Bellerabi's equalizer but there were still boos at full-time.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Vennenbernd
Augsburg 0-0 RB Leipzig
In a match characterized by fouls and regular interruptions, both Augsburg and RB Leipzig settled for a point. The visitors thought they should have had a penalty when Jeffrey Gouweleeuw brought down Timo Werner in the box but the video assistant referee decided - four minutes later - that it wasn't a foul. RB captain Willi Orban came close in stoppage time but the match ended goalless.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
Eintracht Frankfurt 7-1 Fortuna Düsseldorf
Luka Jovic was the star of the show for Eintracht Frankfurt, who ruthlessly disposed of Fortuna Düsseldorf to move above Bayern into sixth in the Bundesliga. But this game was all about Luka Jovic, who scored five goals in a devastating attacking display. Jovic becomes the Bundesliga's top scorer with a total of seven, and the first Frankfurt player to ever score five goals in a Bundesliga game.
