Marius Bülter: The fans are behind us

The 29-year-old still can’t quite get his head around Dominick Drexler’s red card on Sunday afternoon: “Even during the game I couldn’t understand why the referee went to look at the screen,” said Bülter, who believes that the sending-off was a turning point in the game: “Of course it becomes more difficult when you are a man down. It doesn’t help anyone to start talking about the referee’s decisions after the game, though. We need to get over the result as quickly as possible and look ahead,” he continued.

Bülter started on the bench against Köln, but came on in the 57th minute when his side had a 1-0 deficit to overturn. “It was extremely annoying that we conceded immediately after the break,” said the attacker.

Not lacking in fight

The Royal Blues had found it difficult to create anything clear-cut at the top of the pitch during this period of the game, something which Bülter was all too aware of: “We weren’t good enough in the transitions. We need to keep the ball better after winning it back and we need to win the ball higher up the pitch because you are closer to the opposition goal.” Although, according to Bülter, the situation wasn’t made any easier by the fact that Schalke were down to ten men, his team still fought as hard as they could.

Bülter, who made 23 direct goal contributions last season, was determined to open his account for the season when he came onto the pitch: “I give my all every time I step over the white line,” said Bülter. “The fact that I actually scored gives me a lot of joy. But joy doesn’t get you points. Frustration is still the overwhelming emotion.”

There are, however, still positives to take from the defeat against Köln, according to the striker: “We can’t let this defeat take the wind out of our sails or let it take away the sense of anticipation ahead of the home game against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The fans are behind us and you could see that after the final whistle in Köln. This is a strong sign that we have to take with us.