Pre-Season Preview: Schalke 04

Schalke 04 Pre Season Preview: Schalke 04

Schalke Impressed Last Season With A Second-Place Finish In The Bundesliga.

Felix Magath made a stunning start to his Schalke career after baffling critics and defied expectations after leading Die Konigsblauen to a second-placed Bundesliga finish last season. The season prior to last, Magath was with VfL Wolfsburg and managed to win the Bundesliga that year. Certainly, Magath is capable of the absolute best and he will be looking to extend his success with Schalke this season. Since his side are in the Champions League again this season, we may see Schalke lose sight of priorities and fizzle out into a mid-table position. Under Magath, though, the impossible is certainly always within sight.

Key Players

Germanys World Cup goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, will marshall his penalty area and be the last bastion of defense for Schalke 04 this season. Neuer has been at the club since 1991, where he played for the youth team aged just 5 years old. The goalkeeper has grown up a Schalke boy and has served his club admirably. Should he continue to impress, he will continue to force himself into Joachim Loews thinking.

Ivan Rakitic is the man in the team who will orchestrate Schalke attacks. His flair and quick passing is critical in the creation of goal-scoring opportunities for Die Knappen. He will tuck in just behind Schalkes strikers, and provide the creativity that every side craves when going forward. He will look to slip into space between the oppositions midfield and defense, and act as a trequartista for his side, in the mold of a player like Clarence Seedorf.

Newcomers

The arrival of Raul Gonzalez seems absolutely imminent after Magath himself has come out and talked about how Raul would feel right at home playing for Schalke. Ruud van Nistelrooy, an ex-teamate of Rauls, has a! lso expr essed his delight at seeing him ply his trade in the Bundesliga. The arrival of Raul, for Schalke, would be a total godsend. After the departure of top-scorer Kevin Kuranyi, Schalke do lack a little bit of quality up front. Raul, definitely, would provide a killer touch and a clinical finish in and around the opposition 18-yard box that Schalke could thrive off of.

Younger Levan Kenia will also be looking to step up in a big way this season. The young Georgian midfielder has made just 11 appearances for the club, but at only 19 years old he does look a fantastic prospect. Kenia, this season, will be looking to stake a claim for Rakitics creative midfield role, and we should see a lot of positive things from the young midfielder this season.

Expectations

With Felix Magath in charge, you can almost get the feeling that expectations dont even enter his mind. Exceeding them, though, certainly does. While the squad has taken heavy losses in the transfer market after the departures of Kevin Kuranyi, Marcelo Bordon and Heiko Westermann, they have looked to bring in very competent replacements for those players in Raul, Christoph Metzelder and Kyriakos Papadopoulos. For Magath, with the added pressure of the Champions League, this season may be one of constant struggle. Though, weve seen Magath pull off the nearly impossible before. Schalke are very hard to call, but I do see them once again pushing for a Champions League spot this season.



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