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Ron Schallenberg: Everyone has to perform, otherwise someone else will take your spot
After featuring mainly as a defensive midfielder during his career as a professional footballer, Ron Schallenberg has been playing mainly as a centre-back for the Royal Blues. In an interview, the 26-year-old spoke about this role, competing for a spot in the starting line-up during training camp and the team’s progress.
Ron Schallenberg on…
…the level of competition at training camp:
Although it may be obvious that those that have featured in the last three games have a slight advantage over those that didn’t, there’s always room for changes. Anyone that doesn’t bring their best performance over the next two weeks likely won’t be in the starting line-up for our first game of the second half of the season.
Everyone has the chance to prove themselves here in Belek. As a result, it wouldn’t surprise me if someone who is currently seen as a back-up option is then part of the starting line-up in our first game of the year against Eintracht Braunschweig. There’s not a single position where people aren’t competing against each other. Everyone has to perform, otherwise someone else will take their spot.
…his position as a centre-back:
Of course I’m pleased to be the one getting selected to play. It’s also a learning process for myself. I spent my entire life playing as a number six, to the point where it’s second nature to play there. Training camp is helping me a lot and I’m glad that things have worked out so well over the last three games. In the beginning, I had to get used to the change but I’m feeling more and more comfortable there and I hope that I will be able to confirm this development.
There are different tasks that come with playing at centre-back. For example, if the opposing centre-back has time to have the ball at their feet, as a defensive midfielder, you’re able to hold the line or even push up a bit. As a centre-back, you have to keep an eye on the space behind you, because there’s only the goalkeeper there as a last resort, and he can’t cover everything. It’s just two different approaches. The way you shift to cover space is also different as a centre-back. The same principle that applies to everything also applies here: the more often you experience those situations and the more experience you get, will help you get better at putting those things into action.
From the start, we said that we need to become more stable in defence. As soon as we manage to do that and improve on staying compact, then we will be able to be more effective in attack.
…the team’s progress:
I think that we’ve managed to be more compact in defence, despite pressing our opponents high up the pitch. Statistically speaking, we employ one of the highest lines of defence in the league and we also cover a lot of ground as a team.
From the start, we said that we need to become more stable in defence. As soon as we manage to do that and improve on staying compact, then we will be able to be more effective in attack. With the quality that we have up top, we will always be capable of scoring goals and winning games. At the start of this season, we were scoring a lot of goals, but we were also conceding too many. If we manage to avoid conceding, then we will have what it takes to be successful on a consistent basis.
…the league table:
At the minute, we aren’t focused on what’s happening at the top. To be honest, even after picking up 20 points and ending the first half of the season on a positive note, we all agreed that it wasn’t good enough and that it didn’t meet our expectations. Our last few games were good, but that wasn’t the case for most of the first half of the season. That’s why it wouldn’t be right to talk about lofty goals right now. We’re taking it game by game and definitely want to pick up more points in the second half of the season.
