Kenan Karaman: We weren’t incisive enough

Despite an improved second-half display, the Royal Blues were held to a goalless draw by 10-man Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday (18/11). schalke04.de gathered the reaction from both head coaches after the game, as well as the thoughts of Kenan Karaman and Tobias Mohr.

Kees van Wonderen:

We weren’t able to reach our level in the first half and Braunschweig fought tooth and nail, so there wasn’t much room to work with. We got into the match better after the break, so credit to the team for really stepping up their game; we were more composed on the ball, moved it around quicker and created a number of opportunities. However, the red card made it trickier, because the opponents put everyone they had behind the ball and defended with all their might. If the game had finished 11 against 11, I’m convinced that we would have scored the goal. Perhaps we just didn’t have luck on our side today.

Daniel Scherning:

It was a hard-fought first half, but it was also mostly a midfield battle with very few notable chances. We managed to put good pressure on Schalke’s build-up play, but we were unable to take that into the second half and the red card was the penalty for our drop in performance. After that, it was all about defending our goal and keeping the clean sheet. I can only pay a huge compliment to my team for how they did that – everyone put in the yards and gave their all, and the fans brilliantly carried us through those final 15 minutes too.

Kenan Karaman:

The first half wasn’t good. We played too slowly and didn’t switch the play quick enough. We were able to take control of the game after the break and played at a greater tempo, even before their red card. However, we weren’t incisive enough. Nevertheless, every point helps us and we’re now unbeaten in four games, which gives us confidence. We’ve got two home games coming up and we want to win both of them. With our fans there behind us, we’re expecting two intense games, but we want to improve our home record.

Tobias Mohr:

I would have preferred a goal instead of the red card. We didn’t play well in the first half; it wasn’t the style of play that we’d been working on in recent weeks. We were a lot better after the break and created chances before the red card, even if they weren’t clear-cut ones. We need to be more aggressive from the first minute next week and be more composed in possession.