week 4 - match preview

Slomka looks forward to attacking game

After two draws on the road and the impressive 4-1 home win over Borussia Dortmund the Royal Blues are now targeting a strong performance and a victory in this Friday's home clash with Bayer Leverkusen.

It is not yet clear which formation Schalke head coach Mirko Slomka will go with, however. Especially as there are question marks over a number of players: "It remains to be seen whether Levan Kobiashvili and Marcelo Bordon can play", said Slomka.

While the Georgian underwent an individual training programme on Wednesday after sustaining an injury in the international against Luxembourg, Bordon was forced to pull out of the full session after suffering a blow to the knee that resulted in bruising. "We're hoping he'll be fit by Friday", said Slomka.

The Schalke boss will definitely be without the injured Gustavo Varela and Soren Larsen. Another question mark hangs over Benedikt Höwedes, who was only able to do some running on Wednesday. If the youngster is fit by the weekend, he will turn out for Schalke's second string in the fourth-tier Oberliga. 

Slomka is really looking forward to Friday night's match. In his opinion it's a clash between two attack-minded teams. "In Wolfsburg we had 33 shots on goal, and Leverkusen had 32 attempts against Karlsruhe." In comparison: the highest number of shots on goal for any team over 90 minutes last season was 31.

Bayer Leverkusen's strength is not least down to the technical ability of their individual players. "Bernd Schneider, for example, is capable of deciding a game on his own", warned Slomka. It was therefore important to stifle their build-up play.

Schalke are also determined to learn the lessons of their 1-0 defeat the last time the two teams met at the VELTINS Arena. "Last season we played very well against Leverkusen but we failed to take any of our chances. It needs to be different this time", said Slomka before adding: "And with our fantastic fans behind us this ought to be possible."
 
After this weekend the Bundesliga will take a two-week international break. This will give Slomka an opportunity to take stock of the season so far: "If we can stay unbeaten and go into the break with a win over Leverkusen, we can be satisfied with the way things have gone so far."