Thomas Reis: We will put out our best team for this game

Schalke are set to play yet another game under the floodlights on Friday evening (11/08) following last weekend’s win against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. The Royal Blues will face Eintracht Braunschweig away in the first round of the DFB-Pokal at 20:45 CEST. There certainly could have been an easier draw for the cup opener than a match against a league rival, but head coach Thomas Reis reassures that “we have the ambition to win and advance into the next round.”

DFB-Pokal

09.08.23, 16:22

With this goal in mind, Reis will only make a few adaptations to the squad who secured the 3-0 home victory at the weekend. “The standard is not quite at 100% yet. It will just be a case of settling in and finding ourselves. We will put out our best team for this game”, said Reis, who will unfortunately have to do without Thomas Ouwejan. The left-back received a blow to his calf in a foul by Andreas Luthe when playing against FCK, for which the goalkeeper was given a straight red card. “Playing Thomas would be extremely risky. We can’t afford to take a player to a game who isn’t 100%. This fixture is too vital for that”, remarked Reis.

Matriciani or Mohr to replace Ouwejan

The coach didn’t disclose who is going to replace the Dutchman on the left-hand side of defence, but has two players in mind for the role. Either “the versatile Henning Matriciani or Tobias Mohr, who is somewhat more of an attacking player: one of these two will fill the position.” The cup game comes too soon for Ralf Fährmann, who returned to team training this week after his calf injury.

We have to put in a sharp performance and want to take the next step in terms of our development.

Thomas Reis

Whilst the Knappen took home all three points last weekend, Braunschweig are still waiting for their first point of the season. After a 1-0 loss against Holstein Kiel was followed by a 2-1 defeat away at 1. FC Magdeburg, the cup now represents an opportunity for success. Reis reveals that the side from Lower Saxony failed to exploit countless opportunities in both league games, and now expects the opposition to maintain a compact shape on Friday. “We know that it isn’t going to be easy to break them down. They don’t give away many chances so we have to put in a sharp performance and want to take the next step in terms of our development.”

Reaching the second round is our main aim

Reis disclosed that the team hadn’t practiced penalties this week during training and explained that he has never done so before throughout his time as head coach. In case it should come to that, “we will decide who is going to take the five penalties at the right moment”, says the Schalke boss, who hopes that his side will be able to get the job done beforehand. “We want to make sure that we achieve a positive result after 90 minutes.”

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