“Schalke are very confident and bring a lot of power to the game.”

SpVgg Fürth wants to follow up its 3-1 win against Arminia Bielefeld with three points at Schalke. That’s what coach Thomas Kleine said before the game.

SpVgg Fürth wants to build on its 3-1 win against Arminia Bielefeld on Friday evening, September 26, at 6:30 p.m. They are traveling to FC Schalke 04. Goalkeepers Timo Schlieck and Nils Körber are out due to injury, and midfielder Sacha Bansé is also unavailable. Maxi Dietz is back in training, but it would be too early for him to play at Schalke. “We’re coming off a week with a win behind us, which did us good. We saw in Bielefeld that when we put in a lot of effort and work together as a team, we are a very good team. The focus this week has been on working on things like defense and playing with the ball, and following up on that. We haven’t managed to do that yet,” said coach Thomas Kleine. There are several options alongside defensive leader Philipp Ziereis alone. Or will he put his trust in the Bielefeld eleven again?

“That’s possible, of course. But we shouldn’t just go by wins or losses, we should also evaluate the respective training week and then see who the best eleven are.”

Points Table

Kleine sees more than just these eleven players positioning themselves. It’s a luxury problem that the coach certainly has no objection to. But he will have to make decisions.

With four wins from six games, Schalke have gotten off to an even better start than Fürth, who have celebrated three wins so far. “Schalke are very confident, bring a lot of power to the game and have strong individual players. We have to be wide awake – for 90 minutes plus x,” said Kleine, who placed particular emphasis on defending the rest of the game.

Fürth don’t want to hide at Schalke, but they are aware of the challenges at the Veltins Arena: “In this league, it’s part of the game to suffer at times, to chase the ball – and then to make good moves when you have possession.”

A win would put Fürth level on points with Schalke. Otherwise, the Royal Blues would be six points ahead – and, at this point, serious contenders for promotion.