Eintracht Braunschweig can get out of the relegation zone on Saturday with a win against struggling FC Schalke 04. The fact that the “Lions”, who have been lagging behind in the second division table for a long time, can hope to stay in the league again is thanks in particular to coach Daniel Scherning. For him, the game in Gelsenkirchen is a journey into the past.
By Hanno Bode and Robert Witt
The dream of a great career as a professional footballer did not come true for Daniel Scherning. At the end of his active career, the Paderborn native made 58 appearances in the then third-class regional league as well as various league games. His last stop was in the 2008/2009 season: Schalke 04. In the U23 team of the “Knappen” he played with, among others, the eventual world champions Manuel Neuer and Benedikt Höwedes.
And a certain Ralf Fährmann was also part of Schalke’s youth team at the time. The goalkeeper who is still under contract with the crisis-ridden “Royal Blues” today and who will guard the goal of the Bundesliga relegated team against Schernings Eintracht on Saturday (1 p.m., in the live center on >) if coach Karel Geraerts doesn’t decide for him decides on a goalkeeper change.
Scherning: “Schalke is a special club”
Scherning is looking forward to the game at his old place of work. “Schalke is a special club. This is a highlight game,” said the Braunschweig coach in an NDR interview. In terms of size, the 40-year-old added that the club is one of the top five clubs in Germany. The fans and the stadium in particular are special. “You won’t play anywhere else in the second division in front of 63,000 spectators,” said Scherning: “I’m looking forward to the game.”
BTSV unrecognizable after coaching change
The former striker is aiming for his sixth win with the “Lions” in his eighth game as BTSV coach. With a success, the Braunschweigers would overtake Schalke, who have the same points, in the table and improve to a non-relegation place. A scenario that only the boldest optimists would have dared to dream of before Scherning took office at Hamburger Strasse, as the 1967 champion was at the bottom of the rankings. But then Scherning teased out the team’s true potential.
“It was about defining principles that are system-independent, even though we implemented a clear system from the start. But even if we switch, it shouldn’t mean that we deviate from the principles,” explained the 40-year-old. year olds. Back then he found an unsettled team, but not a “dead” team. At the beginning, video analyzes were a “central point” of his work. “But I also had a lot of conversations to find access to the players.”
Scherning is happy about a “different self-image”
Scherning, who had an unfortunate interlude at Arminia Bielefeld before joining Eintracht, seems to have succeeded in doing this. He managed to boost the actors’ self-confidence through small successes. “I focused on a lot of competitions in training because it was just about wanting to win every competition,” said the coach. The team seems to have internalized his credo “I don’t want to win, I want to win.”
“Now things are no longer new and I notice that there is a different self-image, that the boys are annoyed about little things that perhaps weren’t at the forefront in the first two weeks,” said Scherning happily. “We have become much more ambitious to improve ourselves.”
“Our trend gives us a lot of self-confidence”
The learning curve at BTSV has gone up steeply since Scherning took office – and with it the average points. “We have developed a starting position that no one thought of in November,” said the coach before the Schalke game. Against Gelsenkirchen, who recently lost twice in a row, Lower Saxony, who have won four times in a row, now feel like they are slightly favored in the game. Especially since the pressure is clearly on the Bundesliga relegated team.
“Of course the trend is the opposite, you don’t have to have studied mathematics to interpret it. But I can’t help Schalke’s trend. Ours is good and of course it gives us a lot of self-confidence,” said Scherning.
Two transfers on deadline day, Ujah has to be patient
The fact that the coach can go into the remaining 15 games with hope is not only due to the recent successes, but also to three winter additions. After Niklas Tauer (Mainz 05), who was signed at the beginning of the year, BTSV also brought in Hampus Finndell (Djurgården) and Anderson Lucoqui (Hertha BSC) on the last day of the transfer period. In addition, striker Anthony Ujah, who was injured for months, also feels like a new signing.
“He’s an outstanding guy and an incredibly good footballer who’s doing us all a lot of good,” said Scherning about the 33-year-old. But although the Nigerian, who was BTSV’s most successful shooter with ten goals in the last series, is fit again, he is currently having to get used to the reserve role. Scherning wants to slowly rebuild it. The fact that the coach can afford the luxury of leaving the former Bundesliga top scorer on the bench is a testament to the big step in development that Braunschweig has made.
Possible lineups:
FC Schalke 04: M. Müller – Kalas, M. Kaminski, Murkin – Matriciani, Seguin, Schallenberg, Ouwejan, Karaman – Terodde, Churlinov
Eintracht Braunschweig: R. Hoffmann – Ivanov, Bicakcic, Kurucay – Rittmüller, Tauer, Donkor, Kaufmann, Helgason – Philippe, Gomez
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Sports current | 02/02/2024 | 11:17 am