week 29 - match preview
Coaching duo hope for fans’ support against Cottbus
In the Veltins Arena on Tuesday (15th April) at 8pm the Royals Blues face FC Energie Cottbus, a team that so far has a very poor record in Gelsenkirchen. Cottbus have to date failed to take a single point from their visits here and are also still awaiting their first goal!
There have been four previous encounters between the two teams in the Bundesliga and FC Schalke 04 has won every won, scoring ten and conceding none. The new coaching duo of Mike Büskens and Youri Mulder are hoping that this record will continue. Ahead of their first training session with the team, however, they didn’t yet want to reveal how they planned to beat the resurgent visitors.
The last 24 hours had been a very heady time, “now it’s important to initially take a degree of pressure off the team,” explained the new head coach, who was certain of one thing: “All that counts in our situation is results. It is very important for the whole club that we still manage to achieve our on-the-pitch objective: qualification for the Champions League.”
Mike Büskens is also relying for this on the interaction with the supporters. “”It will be an emotional moment for all of us on Tuesday, and we need the support of the fans.”
The visitors, however, who won the game in Cottbus in November 1-0, will be doing everything to keep their upturn in league form going. While they started the second half of the season with just 15 points and in the relegation zone, the tide has since turned. Coach Bojan Prasnikar’s side are now pretty much the in-form team, taking twelve points from their last five games.
In terms of who’s available for selection, not much has changed for the Royal Blues since the game in Bremen. Levan Kobiashvili, who was missing for that game due to thigh muscle problems, will along with Zlatan Bajramovic (injured toe) Markus Heppke (not match fit following a shoulder injury), Gustavo Varela (thyroid problem) and Zé Roberto (torn muscle) also not be able to play against FC Energie. The game will probably also come too soon for Ivan Rakitic, who has been troubled over the last few weeks by an ankle ligament injury.
