Schalke 04 v Athletic Club Bilbao

unfortunately i can understand german as much as spanish lol so have to rely on the great english commentators


going to be a cracking match though ,schalke are one of the few teams i can watch for 90 mins as a neutral . bilbao are one of those teams too

I have to ponder whether I concentrate more on Schalke or on Hannover tonight. - The latter play some nice football recently, too. Decisions, decisions...

Iraola...Javi....Amorbieta....Koikilli
.....Sausaeta..............Iturraspe
.....................Ander......................
De Marcos...............................Munain
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Llorente.....................

It's imposing but will Bielsa play it

Watch Schalke for the football, watch Hannover for the spirit... Tough choice

I'm considerably worried about this game. Far far more worried than I was when the draw happened. I'm not worried of what Schalke can do, but how bad the form of Bilbao has been since the Man United victory as we haven't won a game since. Bielsa for all his brilliance is equally frustrating with his indecisiveness and eccentric decisions. I know he can prevail as I easily rate him higher than Magath but he must deploy the correct formation and balance of players that has worked.

Line-up: 4-2-3-1

Iraola-San Jose-Amorbieta-Aurtunexte

Javi-Itturaspe

Susaeta/De Marcos-Ander-Muniain

Llorente.

Backline is simple with Iraola and Aurtunexte utilizing their superb attacking skill with the all rounded visionary midfield of Javi and Itu hold Schalke at bay along with distributing.

Suseata or De Marcos as depending on how you would balance the squad while Ander essentially functions as the Trequartista and Muniain playing his SS role to the false 9 role of Llorente.



Ari du Gora Euskadi!!!

Bad news for you, then, that Magath isn't coaching Schalke anymore.

VivaStPauli wrote:Bad news for you, then, that Magath isn't coaching Schalke anymore.

VivaStPauli wrote:Bad news for you, then, that Magath isn't coaching Schalke anymore.

Excuse my ignorance then

Well then I don't know what to expect from their manager as I've only seen Schalke 1-2 times this year.

How is their manager? Any good tidbits?

Well, I think Huub Stevens has had a good hand with his Schalke team in the last weeks. I'm really looking forward to a nice attacking match (although I will prolly watch Hannover with the second eye - I can't miss to see how Zieler is doing today ^^).

BTW, Huub Stevens is Schalke's "Coach of the Century" - he led them to their Uefa Cup win in 1997.

BTW, here you have the current Schalke squad and their matches around the EL ties: https://goallegacy.forumotion.com/t17011-fc-schalke-04

Bielsa watched 42 videos of Schalke ahead of Europa League match with Athletic tonight [via @joel_richards]

Got this from twitter. Astonishing. Hope this helps and hopefully we'll see some ass rampage

That's typical Bielsa

Damn, if Arq and I are both very worried, what chance do Athletic have?

Also Huntelaar has 14 goals in the EL. Let me say that again. 14. Ridiculous.

Bielsa....

cmon Bilbao!

dat Bielsa dedication

Bilbao's midfield wouldnt let Schalke have a sniff of the ball

I think Bilbao are trying to qualify for Europe by winning EL, can see them giving it their all

will the hunter surpass falcao's tally of last season ?

halamadrid2 wrote:Bilbao's midfield wouldnt let Schalke have a sniff of the ball

I think Bilbao are trying to qualify for Europe by winning EL, can see them giving it their all

I think they're trying to win a title...

Lord Hades wrote:will the hunter surpass falcao's tally of last season ?

Three goals to go to match him. Not impossible. ^^

didnt falcao score 18 last season?

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:Bilbao's midfield wouldnt let Schalke have a sniff of the ball

I think Bilbao are trying to qualify for Europe by winning EL, can see them giving it their all

I think they're trying to win a title...

We will have to see in the copa final then

magath

Anyway, go Schalke! Hala Raul!

Well...

That didn't disappoint.

Nope, did not disappoint one bit...

Saetablanca wrote:magath

Anyway, go Schalke! Hala Raul!

*Stevens

Schalke 04 being proper bottlers, you can't expect them to do good.

Dat Bielsa

Dissapointed.......

Schalke atm have a huge problem. They have three injured GKs now (Fährmann, Unnerstall, Hildebrand) and the fourth one, Schober, last played in March 2009 for Schalke before he was subbed in today. I really wonder whom they will put on the bench as GK next match - they only have two completely unproven youngsters from Schalke II left now.

A treat for spectators. Schalke have a very hard task now, but so do Bilbao who have shown that they are prone to overconfidence and relaxing too much in the league. Let's hope for an equally entertaining match.