Dhis gentle smile from Thomas Reis, the relaxed facial features, the honest anticipation of the Schalke coach seem quite strange in these days of ever more concrete threats. A relegation of the traditional Gelsenkirchen club remains likely, and when other coaches such as Freiburg’s Christian Streich talk about the existential stress they felt in comparable situations, then one can only wonder about Reis.
The man actually seems to be enjoying the thriller, which continues on Friday evening with a game at Mainz 05 (8:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on DAZN). “We definitely want to get three points in Mainz,” he explained ahead of the 31st match day after the obligatory “Glück auf”, and probably nobody would have contradicted him if he had said: We have to get three points there. In addition to a home game against Eintracht Frankfurt and the duel in Mainz, Schalke will also play at FC Bayern and in Leipzig.
It is very likely that two wins will be necessary to stay in the Bundesliga, the calculation is simple: the home game against Frankfurt must be won, and since Munich and Leipzig are still a little stronger than Mainz, the much-needed away win should go to coach Bo Svensson succeed. So once again there is a lot at stake, but Reis exudes serenity. He looks healthy and well rested, a voice purrs, he casually brushes aside thoughts about his team’s weakness away from home.
Last weekend in the 2-1 win over Werder Bremen, it was “the first time to come from behind”, so why shouldn’t it also be possible to win away for the second time after Bochum’s 2-0? His team was “perhaps a bit blocked” on the other side of the home arena, says Reis, but now he “has the feeling that turning the deficit against Bremen has released new strength”.
Up until last weekend, Schalke had not managed to win from behind, which is why lay psychologist Reis concludes that weakness away from home shouldn’t be a lasting problem either. The coach grins, and maybe this mixture of maximum intensity during the games and relaxed confidence during the week is a secret to the success of this second half of the season, during which the Gelsenkirchen team is the eighth best team in the league.
There is little doubt that FC Schalke belong in the Bundesliga as they are in 2023, especially since there is currently hardly a stadium with a more intense atmosphere than here. Even away from home, Schalke are more present than any other club; the game in Hoffenheim was made into a kind of home game for around 15,000 Revierklub supporters. A similar invasion was now also feared in Mainz, but since hardly any tickets have been on sale, there will probably only be a few Schalke players on the other side of the guest block. And yet Schalke need the power of emotions this evening, which is one of their most important strengths. Because the lasting motive of this second half of the season is the dance in the extremes, which also has its downsides.
As in the 2-1 win against Bremen, defender Moritz Jenz, who has since been said to be a key factor in the upswing of the past few months and cannot be replaced, will be absent. Under this pressure, Reis accepted putting a lot of strain on Jenz too early after a strain, which is why the Celtic Glasgow player will be out for the time being, and the coach is very open about this approach: “It’s simply because we have a very take a big risk. We can’t lead the players slowly, we’re up to our necks in water, so we’ll just have to live with the consequence that one or the other will drop out.”
Soccer players are more and more often seen as gladiators, whose bodies are almost inevitably drained by the intensity of the game, and this phenomenon is just a little more evident at Schalke than at other locations. Sebastian Polter returned to Bundesliga action last weekend three and a half months after a cruciate ligament rupture (albeit treated conservatively). It’s a risky game that Schalke are playing, but they probably have no other choice. You can’t wait, you need points. Now.