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Kees van Wonderen: It’s a big challenge – but we’re up for it
FC Schalke 04 are away at Hamburger SV at the primetime slot of 20:30 CET on Saturday night (23/11). “I’m expecting a really interesting game,” said Kees van Wonderen, whose side have picked up four points from their last two matches without conceding a single goal, a run he is hoping will continue this weekend.
However, Schalke’s head coach knows it will be far from easy against the team in fifth place. “HSV are a big club with a good team.” The Dutchman feels that Steffen Baumgart’s side possess a lot of creativity, flair and a hunger to score goals.
The 55-year-old has prepared his team accordingly. “We’re expecting a completely different game to our last one against Regensburg. We’ve got a plan for how we want to approach the match in Hamburg. It’s a big challenge – but we’re up for it,” he explained. Although HSV are only three points off the top of the table, their recent form hasn’t been particularly inspiring, suffering three defeats across their last four competitive games (plus one draw). Van Wonderen pointed out that HSV’s recent troubles just underline how tough a league the 2. Bundesliga is.
I’m expecting a really interesting game.
Van Wonderen and his team continued to work on the patterns of play over the two-week international break. Aside from a number of intense training sessions, S04 also played a friendly against Alemannia Aachen during this period. Although the Royal Blues won 2-1, the result wasn’t the most important thing. Van Wonderen mainly used the match against the third-division side to give minutes to those players that hadn’t featured much recently, while also giving a chance to several youngsters from the club’s academy. “They did well,” praised van Wonderen, who is in regular contact with U23s coach Jakob Fimpel and U19s boss Norbert Elgert. “We talk a lot about their development and discuss when would be the right time for the players to take that next step.”
Kalas fit again, Mohr out
Unlike in the last league game against Jahn Regensburg, van Wonderen will have experienced centre-back Tomas Kalas at his disposal. The defender suffered a blow to his knee in training before that match and therefore missed out. “He’s fit again,” reported the coach, who also has had a few more players return to training this week. Aris Bayindir, Emil Højlund and Bryan Lasme are all back on the pitch, though the game at the Volksparkstadion will come too soon for the trio.
Tobias Mohr will also not be able to feature in Hamburg this weekend. The 29-year-old picked up a thigh injury in training. On top of that, Christopher Antwi-Adjei has suffered a minor setback and is not able to fully train. “Injuries are unfortunately just part and parcel of football,” commented van Wonderen. The head coach was happy that Taylan Bulut, Max Grüger and Ibrahima Cissé all returned from international duty unscathed. “They picked up some valuable experience while away and did well. I’m pleased that Max was able to make his debut for Germany U20s and that Ibra won his first senior cap for Mali. Taylan also won three games with Germany U19s and reached the next round of the qualifiers.”
