Rutten: "Apparently we're not allowed to succeed"

Wednesday 03 December 2008

Schalke coach Fred Rutten is in hot water at Schalke after tonight's defeat at the hands of FC Twente.

His team are in 9th place in the Bundesliga and after the 2-1 loss in Enschede the end of their European adventure seems near.

But Rutten did not despair and could only agree with the analyses of Twente goal keeper Sander Boschker when he said that Twente had been very fortunate: "But that's how it goes, win a little, lose a little. Yet Schalke seem to lose more than a little at the moment."

Rutten: "We are in a situation where it seems we are not allowed to succeed at anything. First we conceded a goal that was clearly offside and then we miss to massive chances. After we got behind the boys gave everything and we were the better team but we lacked a bit of luck."

Rutten did not say anything about his position being in danger.

"I shall focus on the next game and of course we must win that. Schalke must always win. If I were to react emotionally now that would blur my view of things. And I do not want that. I know for sure we will turn things around."

His Twente counterpart Steve McClaren had every reason to be cheerful as his team has been doing well in the league in recent weeks and has now qualified for the third round from a tough group.

"Perhaps we were a bit fortunate, but that takes nothing away from us deserving to win this game. We did what we had to do; work hard and play well. We can now celebrate this for a few hours and then we will focus on the next game against Sparta on Saturday."