Matija Nastasic: Turn it around with the support of the fans

Next on the agenda for Schalke: a trip to 1. FC Köln on Saturday (29/2). “Köln are in great form, as they showed last week,” said Nastasic, referring to their recent 5-0 win away at Hertha BSC at the weekend. However, the 26-year-old doesn’t want to discuss Markus Gisdol’s side too much, “It’s important for us to concentrate on our own game so that we are as prepared as we possibly can be for the game.”

In-depth analysis

After the recent spell of poor results, the team have done a lot of analysis on where they’ve gone wrong. “We haven’t performed anywhere near the level we’re capable of,” Nastasic admitted and added, “We’re staying calm, working hard and confident that we will be able to get out of this situation.”

Sometimes in football it just so happens that you can train well and prepare for a game perfectly, but it just doesn’t go as you wanted it to. “Every team goes through phases in a season when it doesn’t go so well,” Nastasic emphasised, having played at the top level of football for almost a decade now. “Then it’s just about how you react to it as a team. I’m confident that we have enough quality to finish the season where we are at the moment,” said the centre back, referring to their current position in the table. “We’re still in sixth place, which would mean we qualify for the Europa League. Our goal of qualifying for Europe is still well within reach.”

Nastasic is also relying on the support of the fans to help get their team out of their recent rough patch. “There aren’t many clubs in the world whose fans would react like ours did after the Leipzig game,” said the Serbian. Especially after a 5-0 defeat at home, it was spectacular. Nastasic continued, “The fans want to help us get out of this situation; now we need to show the right reaction out on the pitch.”