2. Bundesliga 23/24 Season Preview: FC Schalke 04
Schalke were hopeful of avoiding the yo-yo effect when they entered the 2022/23 Bundesliga season after winning the 2. Bundesliga league title a season prior. But, Die Königsblauen didn’t endear themselves by hiring former Arminia Bielefeld manager Frank Kramer. Someone with a suspect track record at Bundesliga level.
Kramer’s tenure was poor as expected and his time in Gelsenkirchen was short-lived. His replacement was the candidate Schalke wanted all along, that being Bochum’s Thomas Reis who himself had been relieved from his post. Reis gave Schalke the fighting belief the team lacked, but ultimately, the quality differential and inability to turn draws into wins proved costly.
The pressure is high in Gelsenkirchen, a quick bounce back to the Bundesliga is expected. But, do they have the squad capable of ascending back to the division the club, fans and romantics of German football believe this giant club belongs to?
Team Details
Stadion (Capacity): Veltins-Arena (62,271)
Kit manufacturer: Adidas
Nicknames: Die Königsblauen (The Royal Blues), Die Knappen (The Miners)
Coach: Thomas Reis
Captain: Simon Terodde
Signings & Departures
Signings: Ron Schallenberg (SC Paderborn 07), Paul Seguin (Union Berlin), Marius Müller (FC Luzern), Bryan Lasme (Arminia Bielefeld), Assan Ouédraogo (FC Schalke 04 U19), Lino Tempelmann (SC Freiburg), Kerim Calhanoglu (SV Sandhausen, loan return), Florian Flick (1. FC Nürnberg, loan return), Blendi Idrizi (Jahn Regensburg, loan return), Jordan Larsson (Copenhagen, loan return), Marvin Pieringer (Paderborn, loan return), Reinhold Ranftl (Austria Wien, loan return), Dries Wouters (Mechelen, loan return)
Departures: Marius Bülter (TSG Hoffenheim), Eder Balanta (Club Brugge, end of loan), Can Bozdogan (Utrecht, loan made permanent), Kerim Calhanoglu (Greuther Fürth), Michael Frey (Royal Antwerp, end of loan), Amine Harit (Marseille, loan made permanent), Moritz Jenz (Lorient, end of loan), Timothee Kolodziekczak (without club), Alex Kral (Spartak Moscow, end of loan), Tom Krauß (RB Leipzig, end of loan), Jordan Larsson (Copenhagen, loan made permanent), Alexander Schwolow (Hertha BSC, end of loan), Tim Skarke (Union Berlin, end of loan), Jere Uronen (Stade Brest, end of loan), Sepp van den Berg (Liverpool, end of loan), Maya Yoshida (without club), Nassim Boujellab (Arminia Bielefeld), Dries Wouters (Lommel SK), Marvin Pieringer (1. FC Heidenheim), Rodrigo Zalazar (SC Braga)
Relegation forces plenty of changes in terms of squad building, players you could afford in the first division are no longer viable options. Money becomes more of a factor, and, for Schalke the financial situation has been strenuous over the past few seasons.
An area which has experienced an overhaul is midfield. Tom Krauß was superb in first campaign in Gelsenkirchen, but with Schalke going down they were unable to make a genuine offer to turn his loan deal into a permanent affair. Same for Alex Kral, both will play in the Bundesliga this coming season for Mainz and Union Berlin. Rodrigo Zalazar’s desire to play in the first tier was recognised when he joined Portuguese side SC Braga. A good deal for both parties with Schalke getting a more than respectable fee for the Uruguayan international.
The replacements come in the form Ron Schallenberg, Paul Seguin and Lino Tempelmann. Schallenberg has been a stalwart in the 2. Bundesliga for several seasons with Paderborn, and now he gets to live out a lifelong dream of playing for Schalke. Seguin is looking to reignite his career after stagnation with Union Berlin. Replacing the departed Krauß and Kral with Schallenberg and Seguin is the best case scenario. Tempelmann played at Nürnberg last season and was one of the bright spots in a gloomy season for Der club.
The signing of Bryan Lasme is an interesting one, he showed glimpses at Arminia Bielefeld but all too often he can be an anonymous quantity. With the departure of Marius Bülter, Lasme is still a pretty good replacement given the circumstances.
Potential setup
Reis gave Schalke life with his arrival in their survival effort, but now the hunters will become the hunted in the 2. Bundesliga. So with different pressures, how will Schalke shape up?
The goalkeeping situation would’ve been a formality if not for Ralf Fährmann’s injury. In my mind, if Fährmann was 100%, without question he would start the new season. But, with doubt plaguing the minds of many it looks likely that Marius Müller will get the nod of approval. Müller has produced several strong seasons in Switzerland and now he gets the chance to play for a footballing giant.
Defensively, Henning Matriciani became a Schalke institution thanks to his heroic performance against Borussia Dortmund in front of the home faithful. I’d suggest he starts alongside Marcin Kaminski although at the time of writing this, Timo Baumgartl could be heading to Schalke. Thomas Ouwejan is Schalke’s only real option at left-back and Cedric Brunner is an overwhelming choice on the other side.
It’s going to be a completely new mix in midfield for Schalke with the arrivals of Tempelmann, Schallenberg and Seguin all potential options to start the new campaign. Dominick Drexler will undoubtedly be pushing for a spot in the starting lineup. But, if Schalke is looking to blood new players from the famous Knappenschmiede. A player who garnered plenty of attention thanks to his brilliant U17 euro campaign with Germany is Assan Ouédraogo. The hype is high on Ouédraogo and he could play a significant role this season. There is also the largely forgotten Niklas Tauer is also an option with a year left on his loan deal from Mainz.
Spearheading the attack is the one and only Simon Terodde. The 2. Bundesliga’s all-time leading goalscorer is looking to add to his 172 goals within this division. Along with Terodde, Schalke has a group including the aforementioned Lasme, Sebastian Polter, Kenan Karaman along with young players Keke Topp and Soichiro Kozuki.
Fan Perspective
A second 2. Bundesliga season in three seasons wasn’t what the doctor ordered. But, their is hope for another quick ascension. I asked passionate Schalke fan René to provide the tea heading into the upcoming campaign.
MK: What are your hopes for the upcoming season?
René: The expectations are pretty clear: the season objective is to get promoted back to the Bundesliga. Which is a more than fair objective considering the 2nd half of the season Schalke just had in the Bundesliga, the fact that while Schalke did lose a few important players, a lot of key players also remained at the club and obviously Schalke in general is a massive club that belongs in the top flight of German football. So anything other than getting straight back up would be a huge disappointment.
MK: Which summer signing are you most looking forward to seeing play?
René: I think Schalkes key signing in summer was Ron Schallenberg. He has been one of the best holding midfielders in the 2nd Bundesliga for a few years now and has been linked with several Bundesliga clubs this summer. He is someone who fits right in with Schalkes transfer philosophy and could become one of the faces of the club in the near future.
MK: Who is one player from Schalke fans of the league should keep an eye on?
René: Well the obvious pick here would be Simon Terodde, the king of the 2nd Bundesliga who returns to 'his' league. He could once again play a crucial role in Schalkes ambitions to get back to the Bundesliga. Another very interesting player to keep an eye on is 17 year old Assan Ouedraogo who just joined the senior squad in preseason following a great U17 Euros campaign. The box to box midfielder showed a lot of promise during preseason and could be entrusted with the task to replace Rodrigo Zalazar, who left Schalke for Braga.
MK: Fans should go to the Arena Auf Schalke this season because?
René: Because it's simply the best atmosphere you can experience in German football. When it comes to support and atmosphere Schalke fans in general have been head and shoulders above the rest since stadiums were opened again following the pandemic.
Even though we have had an overall disappointing 2022/23 campaign there have been countless unforgettable moments last season created by Schalke fans, for instance unveiling the restored floodlights in the Parkstadion after a public team training with thousands of fans present, traveling with 15.000 fans to Sinsheim for a late Sunday kickoff, the choreographies at home and the reception of the team after getting relegated in Leipzig, where Schalke fans proudly thanked the team for almost achieving an extraordinary escape from the hopeless situation that the club found itself in after the first half of the season.
This reception was so emotional that it made players like Terodde and Kamiński who at the time were on the verge of leaving the club in summer have a change of heart and extend their expiring contracts. Next season thousands of Schalke fans will once again follow the team wherever they to do everything in their power to help the team get back to the Bundesliga so more unforgettable moments are to be expected.
MK: Where do you think Schalke will finish this season?
René: Personally I have a pretty good feeling about this upcoming season. Schalke seem a lot more up to the challenge going into the season than 2 years ago in our last BL2 campaign. I do see us as one of the strongest teams in the division alongside Hamburg and Hertha and definitely expect to see us challenging for promotion again. I'm not a big fan of making predictions in football but if I had to give a definitive answer I would say that we will finish in 1st place, just like in 2021/22.
Predictions
Schalke enters the new 2. Bundesliga season as promotion favourites, as they were two years ago, and the parallels continue as they start the season against Hamburg. But will Schalke learn from the mistakes of the past. Last time they were here, Schalke were quite vulnerable early in the season which included a 4:1 away defeat to Jahn Regensburg.
There has to be an awareness within the team that every game whether it’s St. Pauli, Elversburg or the aforementioned Hamburg will be treated like a cup final. Everyone wants to say they beat Schalke this season, and this kind of pressure can be difficult to adapt to early in the season.
I believe Schalke are in the promotion mix as they possess a strong squad depth in all areas at this level. But can this relatively new squad gel quickly enough in order to avoid another stressful season. We will find out shortly.