Schalke slip to a 2-1 defeat in Bremen

Mohr and Terodde return

There were two changes to the side that lost to Freiburg last weekend. Thomas Ouwejan, who suffered a knee injury in that game, was replaced in the team by Tobias Mohr at left-back. The other alteration saw Simon Terodde replace Sebastian Polter. Justin Heekeren made a first-team squad for the first time. The 21-year-old goalkeeper was named among the substitutes due to Ralf Fährmann’s injury.

A goal ruled out and a header off the post

Schalke started well at a sold-out Weserstadion. It took Thomas Reis’ side just three minutes to have their first shot. Kenan Karaman played it low in the box and found Marius Bülter, whose effort was straight at Werder goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka.

S04’s number 11 was involved again shortly afterwards. After Florent Mollet’s shot deflected off Simon Terodde, it came to Bülter and he fizzed a ball back into the six-yard box, which was cleared for a corner (9’). The away end was celebrating after 16 minutes, albeit not for too long. Alex Král’s effort from outside of the box hit a Werder player on the way in to deflect past Pavlenka, but Kenan Karaman was offside in the build-up and VAR chalked off the goal together with referee Dr. Felix Brych.

Werder struggled to threaten Schalke’s goal in the first 20 or so minutes. It took until the 22nd minute for their first notable opportunities. Firstly, Maya Yoshida blocked Niclas Füllkrug’s shot for a corner, from which Niklas Stark then headed into the arms of Alexander Schwolow.

Bremen improved as the half went on and started to put Schalke under some real pressure. That resulted in them taking the lead with 30 minutes played. A good pass from Ilia Gruev found Mitchell Weiser and he sprinted into the box past Tobias Mohr. Once he got close to the byline, he back-heeled it for Niclas Füllkrug and he made no mistake from a few yards out.

Alex Král came close to an equaliser in the 37th minute, drilling a left-footed shot inches past the post. A minute later, Simon Terodde hit the post with a looping header from a Mollet cross (38’). Marvin Ducksch had the final opportunity of the first half. He dragged his shot narrowly wide from Füllkrug’s cross at the near post (44’).

Drexler’s goal comes too late

The second half began without any real notable attacking moments for either side. In the 55th minute, Alex Král saw his shot blocked by the hand of Milos Veljkovic on the edge of the box. Tobias Mohr stepped up, however he could only hit the free-kick straight at the wall and his follow-up went well, well wide.

Schalke started to build up some momentum and carved out further opportunities. Simon Terodde’s volley tested out Jiri Pavlenka, though it wouldn’t have counted had it gone in anyway due to the striker being in an offside position (61’). The Czech goalkeeper parried a powerful shot from Král five minutes later.

In the 72nd minute, Kenan Karaman and Simon Terodde both tried to get shots away after a good cutback by substitute Jordan Larsson. Both strikers were denied a clear effort on goal by Werder defenders in what turned into a bit of a goalmouth scramble.

Just as Schalke were getting closer and closer to finding an equaliser, Werder doubled their lead. Mitchell Weiser played Marvin Ducksch in behind and he chipped it past the onrushing Schwolow to make it 2-0 (76’). Maya Yoshida tried to clear it on the line but was too late to prevent it going in. Two minutes later, the goalscorer had a volley beaten away by Schalke’s number 13.

Substitute Dominick Drexler gave the vocal travelling supporters some hope a minute before the end of the game. Sebastian Polter headed the ball down to him and he squeezed a shot underneath Pavlenka with his right foot. Despite Schalke throwing the kitchen sink at SVW, it wasn’t to be and they slipped to defeat up north.

Two home games next week

Schalke have two games to go before the break for the World Cup and they will both be at home. The first one will see 1. FSV Mainz 05 visit the VELTINS-Arena on Wednesday (9/11, 20:30 CET), before champions FC Bayern travel to Gelsenkirchen on Saturday (12/11, 18:30 CET).