Matthäus on Schalke's crisis: 'Not much has changed'
Schalke 04 have had an underwhelming season so far. However, according to Lothar Matthäus, the Bundesliga vice-champions weren't convincing last season either.
The Bundesliga's vice-champions, Schalke 04, have had a difficult start to the season and are just sitting 13th in the table after having lost eight of their 14 league games.
Even though Schalke ended in second place last season, their struggles don't come as a surprise to ex-Germany international Lothar Matthäus who wasn't convinced by 'The Royal Blues' last season either.
"Basically, not much has changed compared to last season. The big difference is that they don't get any points. Their playing style wasn't convincing or attractive last season either," Matthäus wrote in his column for Sky and went on:
"A year ago, 'The Royal Blues' benefited greatly from the fact that many other teams were faltering. That Schalke became vice-champions can thus not just be explained with their own strength. Even if you can't belittle this performance, the past season should have been analyzed more critically."
"They took most of their wins thanks to good set-pieces and a solid defense. With every win, they continued their positive run. And it can go in exactly the other direction like that as well. After losing the first five games, Schalke haven't been able to stop the negative trend," Matthäus stated.
While Schalke have had problems in the Bundesliga, Domenico Tedesco's troops are already certain to qualify for the round of 16 of the Champions League before Tuesday evening's game against Lokomotiv.