Gladbach to deepen Schalke's woes
Schalke 04 make the trip to Borussia Mönchengladbach in the single Saturday evening Bundesliga fixture in a time of deep crisis. The Gelsenkirchen outfit are joint bottom of the table, and worse still, have all the hallmarks of a side destined for relegation. The classic combination of scoring so few goals and leaking so many to the tune of three every match. Whilst the hosts haven't themselves had it all their own way domestically thus far, they are going great guns in the Champions League, and currently top a group containing both Real Madrid and Inter Milan. A slight uptick in form in the bread and butter games will make a good start to 2020/2021 great, and they could hardly ask for better opponents to assist them right now. Read our preview here:
Share and share alike
One of the major factors that has been characteristic of Gladbach's campaign to date has been the team's propensity to share the goals around. The 4-2-3-1 shape Die Fohlen employ under the watchful gaze of head coach Marco Rose directly complements the fluidity of the front four in particular. Breel Embolo can operate as a striker or on the right behind the forward line, and in either role, he uses his agility to pull the defence about, creating space for his teammates. Lars Stindl is a natural finisher who divides his time between a deeper midfield position and as part of the triumvirate. All of this leads to a side that, in possession, make it unpredictable for the opposition as to who will be looking to penetrate into the area first, or even who to shut down from creating the opening in the first place. The collective aerial prowess is likely to make life difficult for Schalke if silly free-kicks are given away under the pressure they're sure to come under.
Crumbling Bastian
Just about nothing has gone right for Die Königsblauen recently. Thrashings have been commonplace, and the replacement of former head coach David Wagner with Manuel Baum has not yet yielded any massive improvement. Fans might have to be patient whilst the new man gets his feet firmly under table - if indeed he's truly afforded that chance. He has a monumental task to set about a demoralised squad and ameliorate the situation. It tends to be easier to start with the defence, and there's plenty of experience and quality in the back three, although it's actually been 19 year-old Malick Thiaw who's been the pick of the bunch. Elsewhere, a better tune needs to be wrangled out of both Bastian Oczipka on the left flank to supply the bullets for Portuguese forward Gonçalo Paciência.
Plenty of fear in 04
The lack of fans in stadia could actually be a blessing in disguise for Schalke. Baum needs time to work with what he has at his disposal, and will be cognisant that he'll not have the funds to make sweeping changes when the transfer window reopens. Whilst they're not cut adrift from safety, there exists the opportunity to turn things around. It might take a few more defeats for things to even remotely click into place. As a result, Betfair are offering odds of 2.00 for Gladbach to win at a handicap of -1.
