Schalke 04 vs FC Augsburg player ratings: Bring our your dead
By Josh Sippie
Schalke 04 returned home to play host to FC Augsburg with both sides incredibly desperate. Here are the player ratings from the match.
Schalke 04 and FC Augsburg carried the two longest winless streaks in the Bundesliga into this match, desperate to turn things around. For Schalke, they may have been even more desperate, having just been slapped around by Dortmund to fall to eighth place after keeping pace with the Champions League places for so long.
For David Wagner, he made changes, though many of them looked prompted by injuries. With Amine Harit, Ozan Kabak, and Omar Mascarell all out, Wagner had to adjust accordingly, opting for a 4-4-2, as I predicted, though it did look more like a back three at times, with Weston McKennie playing the Mascarell role and dropping back into the backline when necessary. And naturally, Wagner left out the key man Ahmed Kutucu yet again.
Instead, he turned to Michael Gregoritsch and Rabbi Matondo to provide the attacking punch as the two-man striking corps.
Schalke 04 player ratings vs FC Augsburg
It didn’t get started well, with Augsburg smashing home a beautiful free-kick from Eduard Löwen. After establishing themselves and taking control, the turn of the score rattled Schalke and they looked nervous following. They regained some gumption before half, but a reaction was desperately needed.
The problem was that Augsburg hunkered down to defend from there on out, and with their attack struggling enough already, breaking down a compact ten men is never going to be easy. In fact, it only got worse.
Here are the player ratings:
FC Schalke 04. MARKUS SCHUBERT. 5.8. There was nothing he could have done against that free kick. Full extension, absolute effort, got a fingertip to it, but it was just perfect. Made plenty of good saves before he was left stranded yet again for the second and third goals. He was left grasping at the mess his defense left behind. Do not scapegoat him for this loss.. GK