Hard work finally rewarded with goals

“I’m particularly happy for Mark und Breel,” revealed head coach Domenico Tedesco after the home win over Hannover. Embolo in particular had put a lot of hard work in the past few weeks, mainly as he had been missing several chances. “He worked superbly again today and made the right runs at the right times. He used his body well and got the important second goal,” praised the 33-year-old.

Christian Heidel was also happy with Embolo. “It’s often completely overlooked how hard he works up front. He consistently worked hard off the ball and then got his goal – exactly what we want from him,” said Schalke’s sporting director, who also feels the Swiss striker play an important role in the side.

Penalty, then no penalty, then another penalty

Mark Uth also plays an important role in Domenico Tedesco’s system, having played as an attacking midfielder and a striker in the past few games. The 27-year-old was involved in almost every chance against Hannover. He not only got his first goal for the Royal Blues against Hannover, but also won the penalty for the first goal, having also won the penalty in the first half that was later cancelled out by the video assistant. “I couldn’t understand why the referee overturned his decision to award us the first penalty,” said Uth regarding the drama in the 32nd minute, as he was brought down in the penalty box.

In the second half, the striker was able to get the penalty though. “I got to the ball ahead of the goalkeeper, he made some contact and that was enough to foul me as I was going quite quickly,” Uth described the situation which led to Philipp Tschauner conceding the penalty.

Benjamin Stambouli, who captained S04 yesterday, praised his teammates for a strong performance. “Mark is a great player and I know for certain that he will score more goals for us. The most important thing today was the way we got the win,” explained Stambouli. “We always believed we could get the three points, went straight back on the offensive after conceding and got our reward in the form of another goal.” The 28-year-old also stressed how important it is to find a good balance in the game. “We have to be sure that when we are attacking we are also able to stop counter attacks. We did this really well against Hannover,” commented the captain.

Improvements on the pitch still need to be made

Domenico Tedesco was also satisfied with his team’s performance. “We came into today’s game on the back of three difficult away games and still managed to run and put a lot into the game today,” said the head coach. “The team is investing a lot into the games at the moment, but we are still aware that there is room for improvement in certain areas.”

Christian Heidel also had a similar view: “We are headed in the right direction, even though we know that we still need to improve some things,” said the 55-year-old, who oversaw an improved attacking performance in the second half. Several pundits had criticised the team’s attacking prowess after the 0-0 draw in Leipzig, including former professional Dietmar Hamann. Heidel, who didn’t agree with the criticism, now feels that this topic has been dealt with: “Dietmar invited me for a beer – which I will gladly accepted,” chuckled the sporting director.