Miron Muslic: We need to find that next gear

The first weekend of October will see the Royal Blues compete in one more gameweek before another international break interrupts the 2. Bundesliga season. Once again, Schalke’s head coach Miron Muslic has no doubts about what will be demanded of his side this weekend: “We’re on the right track and we’re proving that week in, week out. But at the same time, we’re also showing that we can still take things up another level. We need to find that next gear if we want to come out on top in Bielefeld.”

Schalke’s recent results back up the words of the 43-year-old: last Friday, S04 secured a 1-0 victory at home to SpVgg Greuther Fürth, off the back of a 2-0 win away at 1. FC Magdeburg the weekend prior. With 15 points after seven games, Schalke currently sit in fourth place in the league. Next up for S04 is the challenge that awaits Muslic’s side in Bielefeld. “We need to give everything we’ve got yet again to implement our game plan,” said Muslic, who sees a lot of similarities between his own side and their opponents for matchday 8: “Intensity is going to be met with intensity. Arminia are unbelievably vigorous in their play and Mitch Kniat has them incredibly well-drilled. You can clearly see the work he’s done there.”

Schalke’s newly-promoted opponents have recently had to deal with a feeling that they’ve long avoided: over the last two matchdays, Arminia have suffered defeat in consecutive competitive games for the first time in seven months. They started well on their return to the second tier, making their presence in the division known with a 5-1 victory over Fortuna Düsseldorf. Bielefeld have picked up a further seven points in their six games since, currently leaving them eighth in the league table. As well as being crowned 3. Liga champions last season, Arminia made a name for themselves with an impressive run to the most recent DFB-Pokal final. Bielefeld ultimately fell 4-2 to cup winners VfB Stuttgart, having beaten Bundesliga sides Werder Bremen and Bayer 04 Leverkusen en route to Berlin. In the current campaign, head coach Mitch Kniat’s team once again triumphed over Werder Bremen in the cup, this time in the first round, further showcasing their ability to get the better of top-flight sides.

The fact that both teams have recently faced off against Fürth also adds an exciting edge to the preparations for the game. “Fürth definitely surprised Bielefeld in the match and did a lot of things well, which we want to implement ourselves,” revealed Muslic. “But the focus is absolutely on our own patterns of play and structures, and we have a lot of possibilities in this respect.”

The head coach has observed the right kind of energy from the Royal Blues on the training pitch this week. During training on Tuesday, Muslic organised a fiercely competitive 9v9 match on just half a pitch, and demanded full intensity from every player in this exercise, giving an insight into how his Schalke team would fare if they came up against themselves. “It was incredibly intense; the guys are giving it their all and demanding everything from themselves. And if we bring this kind of energy, this kind of intensity onto the pitch, everyone will perform better.”

Royal Blue duo will miss trip to the Alm

While Arminia will not have key players Marvin Mehlem (suspension) and Stefano Russo (knee) at their disposal on Sunday, S04 will also be forced to make changes to last weekend’s starting line-up. Centre-half Timo Becker will be out for the foreseeable future after rupturing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee, and Christian Gomis will also be absent from the travelling squad after picking up a thigh injury in training this week. “We have a few options that we can implement in each position,” said Muslic. “The most important thing for us, though, is to go with the players whose qualities best fit how we want to start and finish in the game.”