Schalke 04 manager David Wagner may need to adjust his plans…
After their humiliation at the Allianz arena, Schalke 04 owe it to the fans to make it up to them. David Wagner and company will have been working hard in training to prepare for the upcoming away match against Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga.
Hertha sit in 13th place of the German top flight, 11 points behind Die Knappen in 6th. Should Schalke win this match and other results around them go their way, they could move up a place or two so Wagner will take this match very seriously. That said, Hertha did win their last Bundesliga meeting with Wolfsburg, so Schalke have their work cut out.
The club’s official Twitter account took to the platform to announce some good and bad news. Ahmed Kutucu has suffered a muscle train and is looking doubtful for the Hertha Berlin match. On the other hand, Benito Raman has returned to training so his comeback could be looming.
Kutucu hasn’t quite broken into the first team this season so his injury won’t come as a major blow to Wagner. Although, as the 19-year-old seeks to improve with each passing week, this injury won’t serve him well. We can only hope he returns stronger than ever.
Kutucu was a used substitute when Schalke played Bayern Munich last week. In all honesty, it wasn’t a great match to come on as a substitute because the game was already done and dusted and chances as a forward were a rarity. That said, he didn’t have much time to impress but he has had some good cameo performances this season.
It’s likely that Benito Raman will start as the striker in David Wagner’s plans since he was sorely missed against the Bavarians. Now that he has been given the all-clear, Die Knappen can feel confident heading to Berlin.
Raman has been Schalke’s main option going forward and before his time away from the first team, he seemed to hit some fine form. In his last 10 games for Schalke across all competitions, the Belgian forward has scored six goals and provided three assists. That said, Schalke will feel confident they can get back amongst the goals after failing to score at the Allianz.
What is your score prediction for the Hertha vs Schalke match?