The FC Schalke 04 U19s celebrated a 5-0 win over Rot-Weiss Essen in the U19 Bundesliga West, but according to coach Norbert Elgert, they still need to work on their defence.
Actually, everything is going according to plan for FC Schalke 04’s U19s. On the first matchday of the new season in the U19 Bundesliga West, they suffered a bitter 3-1 defeat against arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund, but coach Norbert Elgert was not dissatisfied with his team’s performance in Dortmund.
Things got even better a week later at home against Rot-Weiss Essen. After the defeat at the derby, the coach already spoke of wanting to work on the exploitation of chances and details in the defence. The former has visibly succeeded, but the defence is probably still causing some worry lines. “We allowed too many chances again. There was an improvement, but there is still a lot of room for improvement defensively. “
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How exactly Elgert wants to work on this with his team, however, he did not let on. “We are working very holistically and then one or the other focus will be set in that context. That will certainly be part of it.”
At first glance, the Schalkers are the clear favourites next weekend. On Sunday (28 August, 11 a.m.) they will play Bonner SC, who have just been promoted from the Mittelrheinliga. But the Gelsenkircheners will certainly not underestimate the hosts; BSC won their first two games against Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (2:1) and Borussia Mönchengladbach (2:1). “There is certainly a very big challenge waiting for us in Bonn. I know that RWO is very strong this year and I think they deserved to lose. We will be asked to do everything there,” warned the 65-year-old.
It is still unclear who will be in goal for Schalke on matchday 3. Luca Podlech was between the posts against BVB, but Faaris Yusufu kept a clean sheet at the back in the 5-0 win over RWE. “It was agreed exactly like that before the two games. We have three really good goalkeepers. There are different approaches. If you let one of them play all the time, he’s more secure. But we only have 15 league games, which is not nearly enough for training. Then it will certainly be the case that we give the boys the opportunities to develop through competition. “