Miron Muslic: It’s crucial that we keep a cool head and stay focused

Schalke 04 are heading into matchday 4 of the 2. Bundesliga season, having so far picked up 2-1 wins in both home fixtures against Hertha BSC and VfL Bochum. In their away fixture at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, however, the team was narrowly defeated 1-0 by the hosts. This weekend, Miron Muslic and his team are determined to pick up their first points on the road. “It’s all about performing with same courage when we’re playing away as we’ve shown in the VELTINS-Arena,” explained the head coach.

The 42-year-old is under no impression that the game in Dresden will be an easy one. After spending the previous three seasons in the 3. Liga, head coach Thomas Stamm’s side secured promotion back to the second division with a second-place finish last campaign. Dynamo are hosting the Royal Blues off the back of celebrating a last-minute winner against fellow promoted side Arminia Bielefeld (2-1), their first win of the season after suffering defeats to SpVgg Greuther Fürth (3-2) and 1. FC Magdeburg (2-1) in their first two games. “So far this season, Dresden have had the most possession, the most shots, the highest defensive line as well as making more runs than any other side. We’ve got a big challenge ahead of us,” said the S04 head coach. “We’ve been preparing for how they’ll want to play, but we also understand our own strengths, that the opposition are going to have to try to deal with.” In Bielefeld, Dynamo covered a total distance of almost 129 kilometres.

Just like the game away at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Schalke are expecting yet another fiery atmosphere in Dresden. “As well as the key tactical points, we’ve also been focussing on the atmosphere that awaits us in the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion,” revealed Muslic. “It’s crucial that we keep a cool head and stay focused amongst all the emotion.”

Several options in attack

An intensive week of training has been characterised by managing workloads as necessary, in order to prepare the squad as best as possible. The list of players who trained individually this week includes captain Kenan Karaman, Bryan Lasme, Emil Højlund, Hasan Kuruçay and Christopher Antwi-Adjei. “All of them have played a lot of minutes recently and will definitely be in the squad against Dynamo,” explained the head coach. Centre-forward Moussa Sylla will not travel to Dresden with the group. After reporting in as ill late on Tuesday evening, the 25-year-old has begun talks with the club regarding his future. Continuing to play for FC Schalke 04 has not been ruled out. In today’s press conference, Miron Muslic said that he is “planning to be without Moussa in Dresden.”

Muslic did not allow any transfer rumours to affect the team’s preparations this week, rather the opposite: “For us, the situation is clear and we have been working with the players who will be available.” The head coach left open the question of who will replace Sylla in the front line, with either Emil Højlund or Bryan Lasme able to fill the gap in the starting XI, the latter of whom has scored winning goals off the bench in each of the Royal Blues’ last two fixtures. “Both have strong profiles and are options in Dresden.”