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Schalke 04 not happy with Orlando Engelaar
Sunday 12 October 2008
Holland manager Bert van Marwijk
is a popular man in Gelsenkrichen at the moment.
The former coach of Schalke's archrivals
Dortmund did indeed name Orlando Engelaar in his squad
for the World Cup qualifiers against Iceland and Norway.
The faith shown might do Engelaar
good as it might do the Schalke management.
It seems these days that Van Marwijk
is one of the few who have any faith at all in the towering
Dutch midfielder.
There is little debate about Engelaar's
performances since he recovered from his knee injury:
"He is not in good shape," Schalke's Director
of Football Andy Müller told German football magazine
Kicker.
His six matches he played since
his recovery have been rated average at best by the
German sports writers and there is a good chance that
Engelaar will lose his place in the lineup now that
Fabian Ernst is back after a suspension and the other
two midfielders Jermaine Jones and Heiko Westermann
are performing well.
It means Schalke manager Fed Rutten
has a luxury problem, but also a bit of a loyalty problem.
It was Rutten who took Engelaar
along from his former club FC Twente.
The Dutch coach calls him "the
best passer in the Bundesliga" and that should
be a reason to not drop Engelaar too soon.
"Orlando can increase the
pace of the game," Müller too acknowledges.
But the thing he can only do that
with halve the tools at his disposal.
With his left foot Engelaar can
do anything.
His control, passing and shooting
with that foot are of the highest level.
But on the other side his right
foot is bare capital for Schalke.
The simplest of passes with his
right foot go wrong, leading to slowing down the game
and losing the ball.
The way he deals with his shortcomings
speaks in his favor.
He admitted weeks ago that he spent
too little time on the development of his right foot
during his early career.
And it takes time he says to get
used to the higher pace in the Bundesliga.
Besides the Dutch giant doesn't
like alibis.
"I am 100% fit. My performances
have nothing to do with my previous injury," he
said.
He is also very matter-of-factish
about the fact that he played great during pre-season:
"Then of course the opponents were less strong
than in the Bundesliga."
Müller's opinion could be
explained both ways, as he says: "For a player
who has played a great Euro 2008 tournament the Bundesliga
can not be too tough."
Let's see who's understatement
contains most truth.
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