At 1860 München, Schalke’s second row has not been able to impose itself lately, above all Darko Churlinov. Sporting director Rouven Schröder wants to challenge and promote.
Rouven Schröder knows the situation from his own career, which took him to VfL Bochum, MSV Duisburg and VfB Lübeck, among others, between 1999 and 2010. “I was often in the second row. When you then get your chance, you also have to make such a game that you push the limit in a sustainable way.”
The Schalke sporting director also demands that of his players, too rarely do the supposed substitutes impose themselves at the moment. “The second row is already standing up to the first,” says Schröder, but the experience from the cup match at 1860 Munich, when coach Dimitrios Grammozis carefully rotated and his team was eliminated, was not particularly positive recently. “You could see then that it’s not that easy,” Schröder sums up: “The boys also have to take advantage of the opportunity. “
Preparing for the moment
Because for each individual it can happen faster than expected. “If a player from the starting eleven gets injured, they have to be there. They have to prepare for that. That’s where it’s important to get them heavily involved, to call them on their mistakes and keep them ready for that moment.”
Darko Churlinov did not manage to do that at 1860. The player on loan from VfB Stuttgart started in the cup for the first time since mid-September, but found nothing at all in the game and was substituted again after just 22 minutes. “He did relatively many things wrong in the first 15, 20 minutes in this position,” Schröder found: “That wasn’t just him alone, but in the decision-making of his situation he was flawed. “
It didn’t “click” with Churlinov
Improvement was not in sight: “That also means that after two faulty situations at the top it has to click and the third action is then more clearly contested. That didn’t happen, which then led to the goal against.” To the young Macedonian’s credit, however, it must be added that the offensive player was deployed in the largely unfamiliar position of left-back, “which is not his first,” as Schröder indicates.
The sporting director, however, did not want to condemn the coach’s basic plan behind it. “When you are dominating the game and have Darko clearly more in the opponent’s half and in one-on-one, that can be a very invigorating element,” he found. “But the first 15, 20 minutes of him only took place between the byline and up to 30 metres in his own half. “
