FC Schalke vs Eintracht Frankfurt: 3 key players to keep the pace
By Josh Sippie
2. Omar Mascarell
More and more you’re going to see Omar Mascarell appearing on this list. You can’t understate the importance of a midfield backbone, and Mascarell has truly mastered the role of cleaning up opposing counter attacks and turning the flow of play back into our favor.
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It is most certainly an underrated role, as he isn’t going to have a lot of hard stats to back him up. He plays too deep to score goals and he doesn’t play risky long balls that can get him assists. But look at nearly any counter attack and you’ll see that it almost always starts with Omar Mascarell, his ball security, and his craftiness in turning things around.
In this one in particular, Frankfurt often play with an overloaded midfield of either four or five. With Schalke primarily loading the attacking side of things, their midfield is hinging on Mascarell’s ability to establish a presence in the face of unfavorable numbers.
Mascarell takes on even higher importance when you consider that McKennie is going to be stuck in the defense and unable to really back him up. Suat Serdar will be there, but Serdar is as reliable as the wind. So yeah, Mascarell all the way.
No. 1 coming up next.