The U17 of FC Schalke 04 continues to lead the U17 Bundesliga West. On the 11th matchday, city neighbors Rot-Weiß Essen were defeated 2-0. Both coaches were satisfied at the end.

FC Schalke 04’s U17 team remains unbeaten in the U17 Bundesliga West. Against a bravely fighting Rot-Weiss Essen, there was a deserved 2-0 victory to celebrate in the end. Yassin Hidraoui Akachar (1st) and Alan Takoudjou Somolinos (42nd) were successful for the Schalkers.

The goal, which came almost from the kickoff, played particularly well for the Schalke team. Schalke coach Thomas Bertels also analyzed it after the final whistle: “I saw a very good, intense youth soccer game. A good one, because Essen also wanted to play and it was therefore very intense. There were a lot of duels, but everything was fair. The early goal helped us a lot, of course.”

In the end, however, the Schalke victory was deserved not only because of the early goal, but also because the Knappen showed a mature performance over 90 minutes. They hardly let anything happen at the back, were always active up front and pressed for the goal, but couldn’t put the lid on it early with the 3:0.

“In the end, it is then not undeserved because Essen had no clear scoring chance. But the game was on a knife edge. I would have preferred the 3:0, because a ball always falls in, they have the quality for it. But we also defended well at the back as a team. It was a very decent, mature performance from us,” Bertels was pleased with the win, but also annoyed at the lack of clarity in the final third after the restart.

With 29 points from eleven games, the Schalkers thus remain at the top of the table and for the time being are five points clear of Bayer Leverkusen, who, however, have played one game less. The next matchday will see a direct duel between the two top teams (Wednesday, October 25, 7 p.m.). The Essen team remains in sixth place.

Coach Michael Delura saw a deserved defeat, but was still more than satisfied with the performance of his boys: “An absolutely deserved victory for Schalke. We gave our best and I am very satisfied with our performance. Both in terms of running and fighting. We showed what we are capable of. We lost 0:2 against a top team in the end. “

With a 0:2 it’s going to be hard against Schalke, you can see that the guys are individually already very advanced

Michael Delura

In the following, the ex-Schalker had words of praise for the performance of the Königsblauen: “With a 0:2 it will be difficult against Schalke, you can see that the guys are individually already very far. They hardly allowed a goal-scoring chance, which was very well deserved for Schalke. We’ll build on the performance and take the positives out of it, and we’ve already got the next game this weekend.”

Then the Esseners play at the bottom of the table VfB Waltrop (Saturday, October 21, 11 a.m.). A win should certainly be planned at the goalless promoted team, also to further expand the good record of the season so far.

“We are playing a very good season so far. The boys are doing very well. We’ve picked up 15 points from eleven games with 23 goals scored and 21 conceded. I’ve said before: offensively we’re very good, defensively we need to be more disciplined. That’s a development process that won’t happen overnight. We have to work for that. “