Schalke fans collectively wet themselves after Michael Gregoritsch’s debut against Monchengladbach, but now he needs to do these three things to survive.
Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, but I can say that I, for sure, wet myself because of Michael Gregoritsch‘s damn near perfect FC Schalke debut against Borussia Monchengladbach. I was gushing over how he had just said that he felt like he’d been at the club for years, and it showed. He looked like he’d been at the club for years.
And given the void we’ve had at striker, he arrived not a moment too soon. Pairing him with Benito Raman looked to be a stroke of pure brilliance that would power this team to the goal scoring prowess required to compete for a Bundesliga title.
The only stress was how we were going to turn his loan into a permanent move when Augsburg were proving so reluctant to let him go.
Things have changed since that debut. The Austrian has played in four matches, all seemingly worse than the last, and now we’re left wondering if the curse of the Schalke striker got to him as well.
But there is still time, and there is still plenty of talent for that man to prove that he belongs. It could be made a lot easier, however, if he can do these three things. We start with a rather obvious No. 3.
3. Turn up the intensity
I get that not everyone can be Benito Raman. Raman blitzes around the opponent goal box just to introduce the smallest bit of discomfort to opposing defenders. But there’s a ton of middle ground between Raman and what we’ve seen from Gregoritsch in his past four matches.
Let’s just say that when you’re losing, or even deadlocked, standing around is not a good look. Against Bayern, it was frustrating, because it felt like he had quit. Against Hertha, it was frustrating because we had to see it for 90 minutes.
Gregoritsch is not an effort driven guy, but you have to show some intensity when your team is desperate for a lift. You can’t just float. And I hope that this is something David Wagner has been getting in his ear about. There’s a reason he’s been getting subbed before the hour mark.
Staying on topic, let’s move on to No. 2.