After a disastrous 7-0 defeat against Manchester City, Schalke 04 undertook a change in the head-coach position. Dutch manager Huub Stevens replaced young coach Domenico Tedesco to prevent Schalke from sliding further into the Bundesliga relegation battle.
The following tactical analysis will deal with several statistics which reveal Schalke’s lack of possession and the tactical reasons for that.
Change of formations
When taking a closer look at the used formations of Schalke, it becomes clear that there have been a lot of changes under former coach Tedesco.
Recently, Schalke used back-three formations. Whereas Tedesco deployed different formations such as a 3-4-3, or a 3-5-2 with either two advanced midfielders or a double pivot in possession, Huub Stevens banks on his preferred 3-5-2 formation without any exception.
Before changing to a back three, Tedesco liked to utilise a 4-2-3-1 system. From a statistical point of view, this formation was the most successful one of this Schalke season. Last seasons runners up managed to win three matches, lose only two games and draw a further two using the 4-2-3-1.
Change of key personnel
But there has also been a remarkable change of key personnel in midfield since Stevens took over. Central midfielder Nabil Bentaleb, who played a key role under Tedesco, has only played 23 minutes under new manager Stevens. The Algerian international was injured at first and then left out of the squad due to disciplinary reasons. Instead, Benjamin Stambouli (74.7%), Nassim Boujellab (73.7%) or Suat Serdar (70.7%) have been lined up in central midfield. All of them possess a lower pass completion rate than Bentaleb (79.3%).
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