Things are running smoothly of late for Benedikt Höwedes and FC Schalke 04. Having recovered from his ankle injury and after several short appearances, the World Cup winner celebrated his comeback to the starting XI as his side beat Asteras Tripolis 4-0. Schalke have now won two from two in the Europa League group stage, making it six consecutive competitive wins in total for the Royal Blues.
The Knappen captain was clearly exhausted after playing the full 90 minutes, but extremely happy. The defender spoke to us at DFB.de about the convincing victory against Tripolis, the current form of Schalke and the possible record on Sunday (15:30 CEST)
Question: Benedikt Höwedes, 4-0 in the Europa League against Asteras Tripolis: How was the game from where you were?
Benedikt Höwedes: We were a bit slow getting started. We misplaced too many passes which unnecessarily put us under pressure. But we didn’t let it unnerve us. That has been the quality that we’ve had this year: that we carry on playing with full concentration. Then we started to create excellent chances and ended up with a much deserved 3-0 lead at half time. In the second half we toned it down a bit. Obviously we’re altogether happy. Six points from two games in the Europa League; we’ll take that any day. And six consecutive wins isn’t bad either. Now we’d like to continue this run on the weekend and make it seven.
Question:How do you feel after your first start after the injury, and having played 90 minutes?
Höwedes: I can definitely feel it in my legs. When you’ve been out for four months, you’re always going to cope differently after playing a full game. I’ll have to see how my body reacts to it over the next few days. But I want to come back fully. In order to do so I will need to play games, and that’s what this game was for. It really helped to be able to come on for the last ten minutes of the previous few games, to ease my way into it. I’m confident I can carry on like this.
Question: Your ankle was bandaged up today, what happened there?
Höwedes: There’s always situations in the game that can hurt you a little bit. You have to grit your teeth a bit after a long injury. I hope and think that it’s nothing bad. But as a precaution it’s best to get a bit of ice on it. But I’m not too worried about it. We’ll see how it develops over the next few days. How my body responds to it.
Question: What are your feelings going into the game against Köln?
Höwedes: Altogether, I’m going into the game extremely positively. We’ve won six games in a row and are obviously filled with confidence. Franco Di Santo found the net again after a bit of a drought, and I’m happy about that. He’s always worked hard for the team and has been duly rewarded for that now. We feel strong enough to take all three points from a currently very, very strong 1. FC Köln side. I think if we play our game, show passion and determination, then we’ll see a true spectacle of a game. I hope it will have a happy ending for us.
Question: You talked about the possible seventh consecutive win on Sunday. That’s never happened before at Schalke. What is making everything click right now?
Höwedes: I think, from day one, the manager has lifted the spirits and really spurred the team on. We’re very structured in how we play, we defend well as a team and there is a lot more emotion and passion in our game. You can see how much the fans are enjoying and getting behind our new style of play. We have to be careful now not to make the mistake of becoming complacent and just being satisfied with our current form, but to keep striving for more success. Everyone in the team needs to keep working hard and not hold back. We need to stay strong at the back play quick football, move the ball forward well and then be clinical in front of goal. We need to be ambitious.
Question: It could be an advantage that Schalke are heading into the international break.
Höwedes: I haven’t thought about that at all yet. It’s not that important at the moment, because we’re concentrating on ourselves. We want to take one game at a time and keep collecting the points so we can remain near the top of the table.
Question: Ralf Fährmann has now gone 498 minutes without conceding a goal. A personal record for him. Has he bought a round yet?
Höwedes: That’s nice for him, he’s in unbelievable form. He kept a clean sheet in Stuttgart, which took some doing. He’s so reliable. I hope he can continue his form and keep a few more clean sheets.
Question: There’s a lot of talk about the young players, like Leroy Sané for example. Are you one of the players who along with the manager are keeping the youngsters grounded?
Höwedes: We can’t put too much pressure on the young players who might not be able to cope with it. Of course we have to be careful in that respect. Leroy is incredibly important. He can definitely become a huge player. But we can’t make the mistake of asking far too much of him. Because he’s still young, and he is entitled to make mistakes, and he will make them. He’s not doing everything right at the moment. Yes, he shows individual brilliance throughout the games, but he has to mature. We’ll give him time. He’ll get there, if he keeps his modesty and works on himself. He’s doing that. And I think we’re going to really enjoy having him in this team.
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Things are running smoothly of late for Benedikt Höwedes and FC Schalke 04. Having recovered from his ankle injury and after several short appearances, the World Cup winner celebrated his comeback to the starting XI as his side beat Asteras Tripolis 4-0. Schalke have now won two from two in the Europa League group stage, making it six consecutive competitive wins in total for the Royal Blues.
The Knappen captain was clearly exhausted after playing the full 90 minutes, but extremely happy. The defender spoke to us at DFB.de about the convincing victory against Tripolis, the current form of Schalke and the possible record on Sunday (15:30 CEST)
Question: Benedikt Höwedes, 4-0 in the Europa League against Asteras Tripolis: How was the game from where you were?
Benedikt Höwedes: We were a bit slow getting started. We misplaced too many passes which unnecessarily put us under pressure. But we didn’t let it unnerve us. That has been the quality that we’ve had this year: that we carry on playing with full concentration. Then we started to create excellent chances and ended up with a much deserved 3-0 lead at half time. In the second half we toned it down a bit. Obviously we’re altogether happy. Six points from two games in the Europa League; we’ll take that any day. And six consecutive wins isn’t bad either. Now we’d like to continue this run on the weekend and make it seven.
Question:How do you feel after your first start after the injury, and having played 90 minutes?
Höwedes: I can definitely feel it in my legs. When you’ve been out for four months, you’re always going to cope differently after playing a full game. I’ll have to see how my body reacts to it over the next few days. But I want to come back fully. In order to do so I will need to play games, and that’s what this game was for. It really helped to be able to come on for the last ten minutes of the previous few games, to ease my way into it. I’m confident I can carry on like this.
Question: Your ankle was bandaged up today, what happened there?
Höwedes: There’s always situations in the game that can hurt you a little bit. You have to grit your teeth a bit after a long injury. I hope and think that it’s nothing bad. But as a precaution it’s best to get a bit of ice on it. But I’m not too worried about it. We’ll see how it develops over the next few days. How my body responds to it.
Question: What are your feelings going into the game against Köln?
Höwedes: Altogether, I’m going into the game extremely positively. We’ve won six games in a row and are obviously filled with confidence. Franco Di Santo found the net again after a bit of a drought, and I’m happy about that. He’s always worked hard for the team and has been duly rewarded for that now. We feel strong enough to take all three points from a currently very, very strong 1. FC Köln side. I think if we play our game, show passion and determination, then we’ll see a true spectacle of a game. I hope it will have a happy ending for us.
Question: You talked about the possible seventh consecutive win on Sunday. That’s never happened before at Schalke. What is making everything click right now?
Höwedes: I think, from day one, the manager has lifted the spirits and really spurred the team on. We’re very structured in how we play, we defend well as a team and there is a lot more emotion and passion in our game. You can see how much the fans are enjoying and getting behind our new style of play. We have to be careful now not to make the mistake of becoming complacent and just being satisfied with our current form, but to keep striving for more success. Everyone in the team needs to keep working hard and not hold back. We need to stay strong at the back play quick football, move the ball forward well and then be clinical in front of goal. We need to be ambitious.
Question: It could be an advantage that Schalke are heading into the international break.
Höwedes: I haven’t thought about that at all yet. It’s not that important at the moment, because we’re concentrating on ourselves. We want to take one game at a time and keep collecting the points so we can remain near the top of the table.
Question: Ralf Fährmann has now gone 498 minutes without conceding a goal. A personal record for him. Has he bought a round yet?
Höwedes: That’s nice for him, he’s in unbelievable form. He kept a clean sheet in Stuttgart, which took some doing. He’s so reliable. I hope he can continue his form and keep a few more clean sheets.
Question: There’s a lot of talk about the young players, like Leroy Sané for example. Are you one of the players who along with the manager are keeping the youngsters grounded?
Höwedes: We can’t put too much pressure on the young players who might not be able to cope with it. Of course we have to be careful in that respect. Leroy is incredibly important. He can definitely become a huge player. But we can’t make the mistake of asking far too much of him. Because he’s still young, and he is entitled to make mistakes, and he will make them. He’s not doing everything right at the moment. Yes, he shows individual brilliance throughout the games, but he has to mature. We’ll give him time. He’ll get there, if he keeps his modesty and works on himself. He’s doing that. And I think we’re going to really enjoy having him in this team.
