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Marius Müller: Take this mentality into the Elversberg game
Two minutes of Schalke 04’s match against 1. FC Nürnberg on Saturday (13/4) could have completely changed the course of the game. Kenan Karaman missed a chance in the 56th minute to make it 2-0 to S04, and then shortly afterwards, Can Uzun sent a curling effort towards the top left corner up the other end – but Marius Müller popped up with a top-drawer save to prevent a Nürnberg equaliser.
That wasn’t the first heroic action of the night for the S04 keeper, who was called into action more frequently in the second half than the first. Müller got behind a driven effort from Lukas Schleimer in the 48th minute, and the 30-year-old went on to make two further stops in second-half injury time. First, he parried Jens Castrop’s attempt from long range (90’+2), before denying Felix Lohkemper, who looked to head home from five yards out (90’+5). “Dive for it, make yourself big, be lucky that you get something behind the ball, and keep a clean sheet. That was my train of thought,” the keeper described his final action of the game which ensured the shutout at home, in front of a noisy atmosphere. “At this stadium, you have to shout a bit louder than in other grounds,” explained Müller as he lauded the once-again sensational support of the Schalke fans, who drove their team on to a 2-0 victory.
Kenan Karaman (42’) and Paul Seguin (86’) scored Schalke’s goals against FCN, for whom Jannes Horn hit the crossbar from a free kick in the 84th minute. Müller couldn’t have done anything about this effort, and after the scene, he sent a little gesture of thanks up above.
On the whole, Schalke were the dominant side and didn’t deserve not to come away with the three points. They created the better chances, with FCN keeper Carl Klaus producing several stops in the first half. The team brought a good energy to what was an intense game, “just as we have done on several occasions in home matches this season,” added Müller, who was also critical of his side’s performance. “In the first half, we had problems with the long ball, and often found ourselves defending one-on-ones deep in our half.”
S04 can enjoy the victory as the weekend draws to a close today, before preparations for the next important Bundesliga 2 fixture begin on Monday. Schalke travel to face SV Elversberg on Friday (19/4) at 18:30 CEST on matchday 30. “I’ve played in Elversberg before, when I was playing for Kaiserslautern’s reserves. I know how difficult it’s going to be there,” commented Müller. “We’ll need to show the same mentality as we did today and in Hannover. If we get the basics right, the rest will come.”
