Season over for Benedikt Höwedes

FC Schalke 04 will be without Benedikt Höwedes for the season finale against Hamburger SV. The Royal Blues’ captain had to be withdrawn from Saturday’s meeting with SC Paderborn due to injury following a hefty challenge from Daniel Brückner in the 55th minute. He was taken to hospital and diagnosed with ligament damage in his left ankle. Höwedes will undergo further examinations over the coming week.

Julian Draxler: A truly awful performance

It’s hard to put the defeat in Cologne into words, but Benedikt Höwedes and Julian Draxler still answered some questions from the press after the game. We were in the mixed zone to hear the reactions of the players.

Benedikt Höwedes:

Week by week, it’s getting harder for me find excuses for poor displays like that. It’s not going to sound authentic anymore if we can’t start performing on the pitch. We were missing everything that makes a Schalke team stand out; we had no passion, no commitment, no emotion. We couldn’t keep hold of the ball at the front, nor did we have Köln under any sort of control. There was too much space. We weren’t working without the ball. I’m puzzled as to why the problems we’ve talked about aren’t being addressed on the pitch. Everyone has to ask themselves whether they really implemented everything we planned to. It saddens me that we played the way we did.

Julian Draxler:

It was a truly awful performance. I don’t know what’s wrong with us. You will never win a Bundesliga game playing like that. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the worst games we’ve played in years. I’m glad that I didn’t have to watch that as a spectator. On a personal level, it wasn’t enough either. I’m trying my best after my injury, but I’m hitting my limits at the moment. We know that the fans are angry, and justifiably so. Nevertheless, we have to try and fight our way through this bad season together. 

Setiap pasukan boleh dikalahkan - Benedikt Höwedes

Terbaik dari Benedikt Höwedes. Benedikt Höwedes tak gentar bertemu Real Madrid. 

We know that we took a hammering against them last year and that Real Madrid are one of the best teams in the world. However, every team is beatable. We will do all we can to cause an upset against the defending champions.

We couldn’t apply ourselves - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

Schalke were unable to score a goal against a well-organised opponent. As a result, there was a huge sense of a disappointment following the final whistle in Leverkusen, signalling a 1-0 defeat for the Royal Blues. schalke04.com has collected the thoughts from the players.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar:

We didn’t link up with each other enough. We tried to deal with Leverkusen’s pressing in the first 15 minutes and made use of long balls. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to really apply ourselves throughout the game. It was a tactical battle with few goalscoring opportunities for either side. Ultimately, a set piece decided the game. We simply didn’t play enough football. We couldn’t win the second ball often enough and we weren’t able to produce any dangerous moments as a result.

Benedikt Höwedes:

We knew that we needed to be a little more direct to minimise the impact of Leverkusen’s pressing. The plan was going well, but then Leverkusen scored a wonder goal; no keeper would have stopped it. After falling behind, we didn’t see enough of the ball or create enough chances. We have quality players, so we need to be a bit cleverer in our play. Leverkusen attacked us strongly and instead of countering we used the long ball a bit too often. Despite that, I think we played well and are heading the right direction; we’ll pick up points in the coming weeks for certain.

Max Meyer:

The game was even for the majority of the time. Leverkusen found the bit of quality needed to open the scoring. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find an equaliser. I hoped that I would be able to create something once I came on. I will be giving it my all in training this week in the hope of impressing the coach.