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Miron Muslic: We don’t put the work in once a month, we do it every single day
FC Schalke 04’s head coach is expecting a noisy away end on Friday evening (5/12, 18:30 CET), when Schalke visit Fortuna Düsseldorf to kick off matchday 15. More than 10,000 travelling supporters will back the Royal Blues at the Merkur Spiel-Arena. “Their support means everything to us. The fans are our 12th man,” said Miron Muslic.
“The fans appreciate the path we’ve taken in recent months,” he added. “That’s why we were pleased and grateful to give something back during last weekend’s fan-club visits across Germany. Every one of us came back with a smile on our face and with a lot of energy.”
Unsurprisingly, the mood around the club has been good in recent days, following the 2-1 win in the top-of-the-table meeting with SC Paderborn 07. That Schalke now sit at the summit of the 2. Bundesliga is, for Muslic, just something to enjoy for now and not something to read too much into. Far more important to him is that his team maintains their standards. “We are Schalke – and we don’t put the work in once a month, we do it every single day,” the 43-year-old stressed. “With that mindset we’ll approach the match in Düsseldorf. Regardless of the opposition, we expect ourselves to execute our plan from the first to the last second.”
Regardless of the opposition, we expect ourselves to execute our plan from the first to the last second.
Muslic said Schalke’s biggest strength this season has been their collective unity. “We’ve grown together as a team – through setbacks and challenges as well,” he explained. The recent win over Paderborn was, in his eyes, the perfect example. “We should have had a penalty and then went behind. But instead of collapsing, we grew into the game, in a very dominant way. You can only do that if you believe in yourselves and in every player in the team. We show this kind of team spirit every single day and it makes me incredibly proud.”
Schallenberg could miss Friday’s game
Despite the number of absences in recent weeks and months, Muslic has never complained and has instead chosen to focus on the options he’s had available to him. The same applies before the trip to Düsseldorf: “We’ll put out another strong starting XI and will have strong game-changers on the bench again too.” Bryan Lasme was the standout example last weekend, returning from injury to score the winner as a substitute.
There is further progress among other recently injured players. Christian Gomis and Amin Younes are already back in team training, while Timo Becker and Zaid Tchibara are also moving in the right direction. For all players currently sidelined, the coaching and medical staff continue to take a targeted, careful approach to reintegration.
A decision is still to be made regarding Ron Schallenberg. The midfielder felt something in his thigh during Wednesday’s session and left training as a precaution. No diagnosis has been given yet. Mertcan Ayhan also had to stop early after a collision, although Muslic is optimistic that the homegrown defender will be available.
Coach wary of Fortuna
Muslic described the task in Düsseldorf as exciting, demanding and dangerous in equal measure. Fortuna, who began the campaign as one of the promotion contenders, currently sit only in 14th place.
They have won just four of their 14 matches so far, with two draws and eight defeats. “We won’t be fooled by the current table,” Muslic warned. “This Düsseldorf side has far more quality than recent results suggest. We’re prepared for that.”
