Schalke 04 surprised everyone in the last season when Domenico Tedesco lead Königsblau to the second place in his first Bundesliga season as a head coach.
Doubt was high when Schalke announced their new coach in Tedesco, the second youngest coach in Germany’s highest league with only eleven matches experience in the second division for Erzgebirge Aue.
However, the young coach convinced the Schalke fans with a lot of tactical knowledge.
Just a few days before the start of his second season, we take a closer at his tactics and whether Schalke is able to continue their path or if the successful season was just a one-hit wonder.
Schalke’s style of play
Königsblau has been successful in 2017/2018 but also earned some criticism concerning their style of play. Schalke had a possession rate of only 47.9%, less than the relegated Hamburger SV (48.9%). Therefore they were criticised for playing a destructive football.
After half a year in the second division, Domenico becomes head coach of a Bundesliga team. Then, he is just doing it like Mourinho and positions 18 players around the penalty box. This is the death of football.” (Ewald Lienen)
Even though their style of play sometimes seems destructive, Schalke uses their possession phase very effectively and are far away from “kick and rush”. Stats prove that Tedesco’s side only played 57 long balls per game, which is the second lowest number in the league.
Building up, Schalke will most likely use a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 shape. In their pre-season match against Aue, S04 used a single pivot to overplay the first pressing line. The centre-midfielders played a bit higher up the pitch and used counter-movements to disorganise the opposition organization. One central midfielder would situationally drop when the other one moves up.
