Midfield
Speaking of amazing, I find it equally amazing that I could be so excited about a midfield that I’m not morose over Weston McKennie’s continued absence. But here in the midfield we have—for starters—our brand new and worthy captain, Omar Mascarell, who has been the literal spine of this club all season.
More from Release The Knappen
- Schalke 04: Arkadiusz Milik would take everything, but he’s worth it
- Schalke 04: Ozan Kabak makes Jean-Claire Todibo pass quietly
- Schalke 04: Omar Mascarell the only boost between now and then
- Schalke 04: David Wagner just has to make it to the end of the season
- Schalke 04: At least we still have Weston McKennie
We’ll also have the always enigmatic, but also always exciting Suat Serdar. He’s been starting to find his groove lately and remains our second highest goal scorer on the year.
Lastly, we have Michael Gregoritsch. We brought him in the moment the window opened for a reason—Wagner intends to play him. And given the options we have, the most lucrative way to play him would be in an advanced midfield three, with Mascarell sitting deep and Serdar and Gregoritsch, both of whom boast defensive credibility of their own, sitting further up the pitch.
This deviates from the 4-2-3-1 that Wagner had been using, but personnel is better used in the 4-3-3, even it is might just be semantics. This counts out the No. 10 role, but moving into the attack, I’ll tell you why.