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Fred Rutten in trouble at Schalke 04
Monday 01 December 2008
The positions of coach Fred Rutten
and Director of Football Andreas Mueller at Schalke
04 are under siege after Schalke lost 2-0 at Vfb. Stuttgart
on Sunday.
The defeat was Schalke's fourth
of the season and after 14 matches played they now find
themselves in 9th place, 11 points behind leaders Hoffenheim.
After yesterday's loss fans again
chanted they want "Mueller out", something
they also did after Thursday's defeat against Manchester
City.
Last week the Chairman of the Board
of Directors put
the pressure on Rutten saying his position was safe
if he'd gain 10 points from the last four games before
the winter break.
With Sunday's loss that is now
impossible, and with the last two remaining games being
at home to Hertha Berlin (3rd) and away to Hoffenheim
(1st) another six points just don't seem very likely.
The club's president Josef Schnusenberg
knows his club are in trouble: "The situation is
bad. We are in a negative curve."
Schnusenberg did not want to say
whether the crisis will have consequences for either
Mueller or Rutten.
"All is possible at the moment,
but I am really the wrong person to talk to on this.
You would have to ask the Board of Directors."
Well, we all know what their Chairman
said.
What is most worrying for Fred
Rutten is that his team are not only not getting enough
points, the team are also playing poorly.
The way in which Jefferson Farfan
missed a penalty against Stuttgart and the way in which
the usually reliable goal keeper Neuer failed at Stuttgart's
first goal were striking illustrations of the team's
dismay.
And it's not that Stuttgart are
such terrific opposition.
The team had lost it's five previous
games and kicked out their coach Armin Veh only last
week.
Another remarkable feat about the
game was the fact that Farfan's penalty was stopped
by Schalke's ex-goal keeper Jens Lehmann.
"It's a strange feeling that
it had to be me to stop their penalty when they are
going through such tough times," Lehmann said.
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