Domenico Tedesco: Strong team with lethal players

Following last weekend’s defeat in Leipzig, the Royal Blues will be looking to bring home the first win of 2018. Schalke’s first home game of the New Year is against promoted side Hannover 96.

Bundesliga

19.01.18, 13:04

Goretzka’s last half-season at Schalke

It was the main focus of the pre-match press conference: Leon Goretzka will not be extending his contract at Schalke and will move to Bayern München at the end of the season – Christian Heidel made the announcement on Friday morning: “Leon informed us earlier this week that he would like to leave the club and join FC Bayern. He has signed a contract with them starting on the 1st July 2018,” said Heidel.

Despite the transfer arrangement, the midfielder will remain an important part of the Schalke squad until the end of the season. „We are sad and disappointed to be losing Leon, both as a player and as a person,“ admitted Domenico Tedesco: „But we have to accept the decision. Leon is an important part of our team, no question,“ he added. The Schalke boss therefore plans to continue using the Germany international as an integral member of the team: „Leon is professional enough to continue giving everything for Schalke,“ he explained. Including Sunday’s match against Hannover, to which Tedesco said the following: „Together with the medical staff, we have worked through his injury well. Leon trained with us all week.“

Tedesco: It will be a tough task

Schalke have other things to think about at this stage, namely Sunday’s opponents: Hannover 96 have proved one of the season’s surprise packages. „We are facing a very strong opponent with 26 points on the board already,“ said the head coach: „Hannover have beaten some strong teams, which we experienced first-hand on matchday 2.“  Schalke struggled to cope with Hannover in that game, the 32-year-old coach remembers: „Hannover defended extremely well against us, and have done so in other games as well.“

The coach is expecting an aggressive opponent with „lethal players that can run for miles. The Hannover players defend well from the front and have the ability to hit teams on the break, so this will be a very difficult task,“ says Tedesco: „We need to be well-positioned in order to prevent the team from gathering any momentum,“ added the boss. As things stand, Daniel Caligiuri will be available to play after being ill in the week: „He wasn’t able to train, but will be back to normal today, aside from that it’s a full squad.“

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