week 5 - match preview

Magath to delay decision on starting line-up in Cologne

For the Royal Blues the two-week Bundesliga break comes to an end at 1730 this Sunday. Schalke are away to FC Cologne, who are currently bottom of the table. This is precisely why Felix Magath says the home side are dangerous opponents.

"In their current situation even a draw won't be good enough for them. The pressure is clearly on Cologne", the Schalke boss said. Though the onus is on the opposition to pick up their first win of the season in front of their home crowd, Magath knows his side owe a debt, too. "After our last home performance against Freiburg we have to improve as well," he explained.

Magath is keen to take the positives from the disappointing 1-0 defeat against the newly promoted side. "For me it was obvious we would experience setbacks along the way", he said. "I hope now that the message has got through to the players, too, so we don't have a repeat any time soon. We don't want to surrender the points every time we come up against the bottom side, after all", he said, recalling that Freiburg propped up the table last time out, just as Cologne do now.

The Royal Blues will look to pose an attacking threat at the RheinEnergie Stadium, especially on the break. "Cologne will come out and attack, which will play into our hands", said Magath. "We definitely want to come away with something."

Schalke's international players have returned to Gelsenkirchen free of injury, a fact Magath registered with satisfaction. "I still don't know who's going to start, though, because when so many players are away it doesn't make much sense to think about the line-up. I'll await the last few training sessions before making my decision", he concluded.