Schalke vs RB Leipzig player ratings: It happened again
By Josh Sippie
Schalke hosted RB Leipzig desperate to get back into the race for the Champions League. Here are the player ratings from the match.
Schalke came off a lackluster 1-1 draw with Paderborn to deliver another lackluster 0-0 draw against Mainz. None of this looked to transition well into a home match against RB Leipzig, despite the fact that we traveled to their home and thrashed them 3-1.
The sad truth is that the 5-0 Bayern Munich stomping doesn’t seem to have been processed yet. This club is struggling, they look to be holed up in a shell and they need to break out.
On paper, facing an attack oriented team like Leipzig would seem to have required Schalke to break right out of that shell and attack to keep up with them, which was the big question of the day—could Die Knappen keep pace?
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Leipzig got started early (as in 55 seconds early) with a long shot from Marcel Sabitzer that Alexander Nubel absolutely whiffed on. it was a simple enough shot to stop, granted he wasn’t closed down bu anyone in the midfield, but Nubel tried to one-hand the shot after over-jumping it and it was just a horrid effort from the keeper.
It was pretty obvious that Schalke were the lesser of the two sides in the first half. They failed to create a single chance, Amine Harit was anonymous, Benito Raman was isolated and Rabbi Matondo might as well not have been out there.
That first chance didn’t come until the 52nd minute. It amounted to nothing, and ten minutes later, a poor defensive effort gave Timo Werner far too easy of an opportunity and he thrashed it home.
The third came not long after from a poorly defended set-piece. If this team is going to compete at the top level, they have to stop getting eviscerated by other top level clubs. That’s kind of how it works. Even worse when it feels like most of the team has given up. And it didn’t take all that much. Leipzig ran 5km more than Schalke despite the Champions League fixture midweek? That’s ridiculous.
Here are the player ratings:
Note: There is no man of the match.
2.0. Completely whiffed on the opening goal from Sabitzer. Completely misjudged the flight of the ball and made an ordinary shot look like something it wasn’t by over extending himself and trying to use just one hand to make the save and gosh… it was just awful. Spilled a simple catch not soon after and had to get bailed out by his defense. Didn’t take long for him to whiff on another cross. It was all terrible.. GK. FC Schalke 04. ALEXANDER NUBEL