City- match preview

Rutten ahead of home game vs Manchester: We want to win the group

The Royal Blues face a difficult challenge in the UEFA Cup on Thursday (27th Nov., 7pm, live on ZDF). "Anyone who knows anything about football knows about Manchester City's strengths," says Fred Rutten, respectful of the English team.

The aim against Manchester City is nevertheless quite clearly to win.  "We want to dominate the game in the VELTINS Arena and dictate the play," says the head coach. "Against a side like City you can play attacking football, but you must also not neglect the defensive duties," Rutten stresses. "In games like this we've got to be 200% concentrated in defence, as there's a lot of quality in their attack."

The coach therefore describes the Royal Blues' tactical approach to the match as 'controlled attack', an approach with which he hopes to keep the three points in Gelsenkirchen. From the club's two games so far against Paris St. Germain (3-1) and Racing Santander (1-1) Schalke have picked up four points and with a win against City could practically seal a place in the last 32.

No team in the past has ever gone out of the competition with seven points to their name. However Rutten stresses: "We want to win the group. That would have the advantage that we would avoid a team from the Champions League for one more round. However, the UEFA Cup is so strong this year that at the end of the day there are no little teams."

Rutten has studied the team of Welsh coach Mark Hughes extensively over the last few weeks. "They play in a way that is not typically English," he noted. "They like to play football, but are also excellent at the counter-attacking game." He had been able to see this most recently in the Blues' 3-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday.

City spent over €100m in pre-season strengthening their squad, in which Schalke's coach has identified a number of key players. "Every one of their attacking players is dangerous. Stephen Ireland, in particular, is currently in great form and is always capable of scoring a goal."

The fact that the two-times English champions have only managed to win once away from home in the Premier League this season is something that the 45 year-old does not want to read too much into. "The league is the league," says Rutten. "Games in European cup competition are a totally different kettle of fish. You can't compare them with everyday league football."

The game, he adds, is therefore hugely important for Schalke, as "every match against foreign opposition helps the team in its development. Against Manchester City we now have the chance to show that we're a big team."

Going into the game three City players may well be able to give coach Mark Hughes some advice, as they are all very familiar with the Bundesliga. Vincent Kompany played for Hamburg SV from 2006 to 2008, Berti Glauber moved to Manchester in the summer from FC Nuremberg and from 2001 to 2005 the injured Martin Petrov was on the books at VfL Wolfsburg.