week 15 - match report
Blues rocked by 2-0 defeat in Stuttgart
In the opening quarter of an hour the Royal Blues could have, nay should have, laid the foundations to win the game. In the closing stages they contrived to lose it. A 2-0 defeat at VfB Stuttgart saw Schalke slip to ninth place in the table.
Fred Rutten's men had started the game clearly determined to put Thursday's disappointing 2-0 reverse against Manchester City in the UEFA Cup behind them. Showing one change from that game - Fabian Ernst in for Ivan Rakitic - the Royal Blues soon carved out two golden opportunities to score. The problem was, they failed to take them.
With 12 minutes gone the entire Schalke contingent went up in anticipation of a goal when Jermaine Jones's shot rebounded off the post and the ball fell to Jefferson Farfan with the Stuttgart goal gaping. But his close-range effort lacked accuracy, allowing Artur Boka to clear the ball off the line. Four minutes later Farfan was presented with another great chance when Boka felled Kevin Kuranyi in the box. There was certainly scope for discussion about whether the foul constituted the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity that should have resulted in the Stuttgart defender being sent off. But referee Wolfgang Stark did not even book him, though he did point straight to the spot. Farfan, however, saw his penalty saved by VfB keeper Jens Lehmann.
"We had the game under control and played very well tactically. The only thing missing was a goal", said Rutten, ruing his side's failure to take their chances. Farfan went close again on 26, but then Stuttgart came more into it, and could have taken the lead themselves two minutes later with a double chance for Gomez and Hitzlsperger. But in the first half, when Schalke were forced to replace their injured captain Marcelo Bordon, it would have been far more than they deserved.
After the interval, however, the pattern changed. The home side nullified Schalke's attacking threat, aided by the increasing waywardness of the visitors' passing. Manuel Neuer now had to perform heroics in the Schalke goal, denying Gomez when he looked certain to score on 67 and then clearing the danger on several occasions.
Yet he was left powerless on 79 minutes when he rushed out of his goal to meet Jan Simak after the Czech midfielder had broken clear. Simak, who had only just come on, spotted the opportunity and lobbed the ball adeptly over Neuer's head from the corner of the penalty area to open the scoring. Four minutes later Gomez put the game out of reach when he neatly converted a quick through ball from Pardo to make it 2-0.
"The game had us on tenterhooks. In the first half, in particular, we looked uneasy. But things improved in the second half and we took our chances", said Stuttgart boss Markus Babbel. "It really hurts when you lose games like the one today", said Rutten. "We're going through difficult enough times at Schalke as it is and this makes things even tougher. We'll have to deal with it, but this defeat is a real body blow."
Stuttgart: Lehmann - Osorio, Tasci, Boulahrouz, Boka - Pardo - Hilbert, Hitzlsperger (Simak 73') - Khedira (Träsch 85') - Gomez, Marica (Cacau 57')
Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Westermann, Bordon (Höwedes 37'), Pander - Jones, Ernst - Engelaar - Farfan, Kuranyi, Altintop (Asamoah 70')
Goals: 1-0 Simac (79'), 2-0 Gomez (83')
Referee: Stark (Landshut)
Attendance: 55,800
Yellow cards: Boulahrouz (4) - Jones (3), Höwedes (2)
Incidents of note: Lehmann saves Farfan's penalty (16')
