Schalke: Bastian Oczipka supremacy may have been unexpected

Schalke looks like they may already be moving some pieces, with Juan Miranda heading back to Barcelona prematurely. It’s Bastian Oczipka’s fault.

I can’t count the number of times that I’ve begun an article talking about how great Schalke‘s defense is, but here I am about to do it again. This time, though, I’m shifting the attention to the flanks. Not Jonjoe Kenny, mind you, but rather Bastian Oczipka.

With the upcoming transfer window being a rather big one for Die Knappen, they’re going to have to build up the attack and almost exclusively the attack. Part of the reason is because—surprise—the defense is actually in tremendous shape. On the left-side, Bastian Oczipka has been so good that he convinced the club to avoid another Bosman and re-sign him rather than have to replace his consistency.

Which probably didn’t bode well for Juan Miranda.

The on-loan Barcelona man has had no room to break into the Schalke starting set-up because Oczipka has been irreplaceable. Perhaps the idea was Oczipka would taper off with Daniel Caligiuri and Benjamin Stambouli, but that just never happened.

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Instead, he thrived. Opposite Jonjoe Kenny, he was doing arguably the same amount of good with far less praise. Mostly because there was no drama around him. He was just Bastian Oczipka, the Schalke man we knew and loved.

But in the process of being so good and so consistent, he’s closed the way for a younger leftback to elbow in and take the reigns. That being Juan Miranda.

Miranda’s few opportunities this year have come from Oczipka having to deputize as a centerback during the injury crisis, which was then averted with Jean-Clair Todibo. Freed up to play leftback again, the only other hope for Miranda has been playing wingback to Oczipka’s left centerback. But nothing ever stuck. He clearly needed time to get into the role and play towards improvement and Oczipka just didn’t allow that. He was too good, too necessary, to allow for experimentation of any sort.

This is what internal competition is supposed to do, though I don’t think Schalke would have expected it to be so demonstrative. Oczipka hasn’t even left the door cracked. He has it shut and bolted.

In all likelihood, Miranda’s loan will be called to an end this summer anyway. With Oczipka getting his new contract, there’s no need to stress about getting a new leftback in anymore. Unless that leftback’s name is Sead Kolasinac.