Schalke 04 vs Fortuna Dusseldorf predicted XI: Here we go again?
By Josh Sippie
Midfield
Oh, the questions David Wagner will ask himself and the uninspiring answers he will give. With Suat Serdar and Amine Harit both out of the picture, not to mention the lingering absence of Omar Mascarell, we are losing our three best midfielders. So let’s start with the one man who should absolutely start—Weston McKennie.
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Defensively, McKennie was on point against Augsburg. He filled in the Mascarell role admirably. Passing and possession retention was… average. But defensively he was good. So he will keep his job as the deep, holding midfielder.
Moving up into the formation, we will probably see Daniel Caligiuri keep his place, though I would much rather see Nassim Boujellab or Levent Mercan take the job. Problem is Caligiuri’s allure of “anything is possible” makes him a hard man to sit.
In the center, at the No. 10ish role, Alessandro Schopf will keep his spot. He actually looked quite good against Augsburg and it would be a shame if he didn’t get an encore.
And let’s get ballsy—Boujellab for the final midfield spot. It was going to go to Matondo, but on short rest and with Matondo clearly exhausted against Augsburg, a change wouldn’t be the worst idea.
Let’s get ballsier in the attack.