UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

[Spooner]

Tuesday 26 April 2011	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
	FC Schalke 04 v Manchester United (19:45 BST)	3.78	3.4	2.26	100.11 %

[ValueHunter]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April Schalke v Man Utd I quite like the look of the home win here. It's true that United won 4 out of 5 away games in CL this season but it's also true that Schalke won 5 out of 5 home games: Schalke v Benfica 2-0 Schalke v H. Tel Aviv 3-1 Schalke v Lyon 3-0 Schalke v Valencia 3-1 Schalke v Inter 2-1 As we can see Germans won their games quite comfortably with 2 or 3 goals margin except for the Inter game. While the win over H. Tel Aviv shouldn't be rated the rest are pretty impressive especially the 1/8 and 1/4 games against Valencia and Inter. Blues' performance in Bundesliga wasn't that good this season and they are currently taking a spot in the middle of the table but this could turn into their advantage now since the pressure is off them. They can put all the effort in CL and if it doesn't work for them nobody will blame them because they went much further than expected. Schalke have their Europa League spot for the next season almost guaranteed as they will be facing Duisburg (2nd Bundesliga team) in the National Cup Final. United on the other side have all the pressure on them. They are considered to be the favourites in this encounter. Next to this they have extremely important games in EPL against Everton (2 days before Schalke game) and Arsenal (4 days after Schalke game) where they won't be allowed any slip-ups as Chelsea closed the gap to 6 pts. Add to this Red Devils poor form - draw on the road vs Newcastle and loss in the FA Cup semi-final against Man City. I think bookies priced Schalke pretty generous. No team at this stage of the tourney should be so underrated at home. Home win @3.40 looks simply amazing. However I will take more conservative approach and will be betting on: Schalke DNB @2.37 Schalke or Draw @1.61 Bookie: Bet365

[Mister P]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

Schalke v Man Utd Schalke DNB @2.37 Schalke or Draw @1.61 Bookie: Bet365

Have you had a look at the lay odds on Betfair? They're usually inbetween the odds of a DNB and DC on Bet365, and sometimes even the same as a DNB. Edit: It works out about 1.70 :)

[YAMAN]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April Schalke Benedikt Höwedes is struggling to be fit after sitting out much of Monday training with a stomach strain, though Rangnick is hopeful Kyriakos Papadopoulos (calf) and Peer Kluge (abdominal muscle strain) will be fit. Mario Gavranovic (ankle) has missed recent games while Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (knee), Christoph Moritz (knee) and Christian Pander (toe, cold) are longer-term absentees. M. United United have confirmed that striker Dimitar Berbatov will not feature on Tuesday having failed to recover from the groin problem that meant the Bulgarian sat out his side's last two Premier League games. Midfielders Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves are also missing, along with Bébé and reserve goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard, prompting a call-up for Sam Johnstone, 18, as third-choice keeper. John O'Shea also made the flight to Germany despite carrying a knock. Taken from uefa.com

[sajtion]

[Mustafa]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April Raul has a good record against Man.United and Rooney os doing pretty well recently. I normally don't bet on goalscorer markets but William Hill has a special offer on Raul & Rooney to Score @ 9.00. Might be worth a shot with small stakes.

[Marek_Hamsik]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April seriously chaps... going for the homewin? no disrespect, but its manu... -1. goalkeepers... van der Sar vs. neuer? (who is on his way out?) -2. defense, midfield...strikers? cant see any of these 3 parts to be beter than manus... -3. they took out inter...so what? manu have fergie, rooney, and a great player on each position... -4. schalke are newbees ... manu is known for playing well, when they need it... -5. raul is a legend in topform, but u cant build a sucess on a single guy... -6. hernandez is of the chain and even manu managed to grab a win against everton...schalke has lost at home to kaiserslautern, which are a crapy club, especially on the road im not a manu fan, but u cant underestimate the force and hell they bring to the pitch... blokes from schalke talk about dreaming and winning it all... so does charlie sheen... its the end of the road for them... both :nana:nana :drums :hope im going for the away win... :ok

[YAMAN]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April Schalke v M.United Schalke Benedikt Höwedes is struggling to be fit after sitting out much of Monday training with a stomach strain, though Rangnick is hopeful Kyriakos Papadopoulos (calf) and Peer Kluge (abdominal muscle strain) will be fit. Mario Gavranovic (ankle) has missed recent games while Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (knee), Christoph Moritz (knee) and Christian Pander (toe, cold) are longer-term absentees. M. United United have confirmed that striker Dimitar Berbatov will not feature on Tuesday having failed to recover from the groin problem that meant the Bulgarian sat out his side's last two Premier League games. Midfielders Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves are also missing, along with Bébé and reserve goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard, prompting a call-up for Sam Johnstone, 18, as third-choice keeper. John O'Shea also made the flight to Germany despite carrying a knock. Taken from uefa.com... I believe that home side has all the motivation, ambitious to get a win here... Despite Schalke is also an respective team, playing and winning against M.United has its own motivation as well as the obvious motivation of being in the semi final... From a logical point of view, today at the first leg of this semi final, home side shouldnt leave the field without scoring if they are aiming the final since keeping a clean sheet in England wont be easy and most provably wont be possible. So, Schalke should make their plans not only on keeping a clean sheet but also and more on scoring... I believe this is very importnat considering the 2nd game in England... I believe they have all the pluses near them to score tonight... In front of their fans at Germany they should be able to breeak the M.United defense... I also expect away team to score... I dont see them leaving the field without scoring or in another way I dont see Schalke keeping a clean sheet... Each team have tehir own names such as Raul, Edu, Rooney and Nani whom signed their contract with their clubs for these kind of days ! I liked the offered price for my bet and I wish you all a good luck :) Both Teams To Score @1.95 William Hill 5/10

[Mustafa]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

seriously chaps... going for the homewin? no disrespect, but its manu... -1. goalkeepers... van der Sar vs. neuer? (who is on his way out?) -2. defense, midfield...strikers? cant see any of these 3 parts to be beter than manus... -3. they took out inter...so what? manu have fergie, rooney, and a great player on each position... -4. schalke are newbees ... manu is known for playing well, when they need it... -5. raul is a legend in topform, but u cant build a sucess on a single guy... -6. hernandez is of the chain and even manu managed to grab a win against everton...schalke has lost at home to kaiserslautern, which are a crapy club, especially on the road im not a manu fan, but u cant underestimate the force and hell they bring to the pitch... blokes from schalke talk about dreaming and winning it all... so does charlie sheen... its the end of the road for them... both :nana:nana :drums :hope im going for the away win... :ok

I think a team that reached the semis of the Champions League eliminating Valencia and reigning Champions Inter deserves respect. Schalke also won all their home games in Champions League this season and IMO their performance in Bundesliga is a little bit irrelevant. I don’t know whether you remember when 7 years ago there was a team Monaco that reached the Champions League final eliminating Real Madrid and Chelsea and F.Morientes (on loan from Real Madrid) became the top goalscorer. So, I am with YAMAN on both to score and will take special offer from William Hill with small stakes. Both to Score @ 2.00 William Hill Raul and Rooney both to score @ 9.00 William Hill

[sonofwat]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April You can also add the Liverpool team of 2005. Were ordinary in the League but managed to win the whole thing getting past much more fancied opposition. To write off Schalke here, especially at home is IMO pure folly. Sure Utd are a very good side, but they have shown many weaknesses in the league away from home when teams have put them under pressure. For me they have been lucky so far in that neither Marseille nor Chelsea really did this. Marseille just not equipped nor had the belief, while Chelsea were in bad form.

[Mahno]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April Some info for those who is thinking to bet on both to score: United, unbeaten in their last 11 CL matches, have not conceded a single goal in any of their five CL away games this season. They have kept 13 clean sheets in their last 18 CL away matches. You just Can't argue with stats. End of the day it's a MU we are talking about.Shalke will miss some players at the back again and taking to account Hernandez and Roo's good form i think devils will score here. Don't see many goal tbh. Going for: MU -0.25AH @1.975 MU to keep clean sheet @2.62 CS 0-1 @6.50 CS 0-0 @8.00 bet365 GL :ok

[YAMAN]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April I dont claim that Im an expert and I ofcourse respect your opinion but on the other hand Schalke won all of their home games in Champions League this season as Mustafa mentioned... Besides lets think about the motivation of being in semi finals as well the motivation of being in front of home crowd against M.United... I believe that chances of Schalke not conceding against M.United is equal to M.United's chances not to concede against Schalke today for this specific game tonight in Germany, so if I convinced you a bit and if you believe that M.United will score, but not as sure as about them to keep a clean sheet you can still bet on your picks and consider BTS option :)

[TheImp]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April Schalke 04 v Man Utd Total Goals - Over 2.5 @ 13/10 (William Hill) This is an excellent price for what is going to be quite an open game. Schalke are good from set pieces and have a tendancy to push a lot of players forward to get goals, leaving them exposed at the back - something which the likes of Nani, Rooney, Hernandez, Giggs, Valencia etc can exploit. I do think the majority of the goals will come from Man Utd. United are just in a different league in terms of quality. Yes, Schalke beat an Inter side - an Inter side who were very poor and didn't get going at all playing very lazily in that second leg. Hernandez will start and he is in cracking form. I predict 1-2 or 1-3 score line, but over 2.5 goals either way.

[Mahno]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April Just mine point of view: Shalke is some sort of sensation here,as nobody predicted them to go that far.Some better quality teams are left out already.They keep winning all home games in Cl and then lose to teams like Kaiserslautern-bizzare really.I know it's their last chance as next year there will be no Euro comp for them.TBH this situation with Shalke reminds me of Spurs and Shakhtar.Both Spurs and Shakhtar won all their home game in CL before met big Sharks like Barca and Real.And even then ppl kept saying they have some chance at home.Both lost 2 legs.So i see where this hype about Shalke is comming from.But imo MU will be class above Shalke atm.I do expect close game but with almost full MU squad available i just don't see how Shalke can win this even at home. GL

[Lodge]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April I've got a feeling this will be a low scoring affair. Tbh i'm not gonna read into Shalke's home CL form, are any of the teams they beat as good as Utd? or as important as this game? probably not. Utd have kept alot of clean sheets this season and i can see them doing so tonight. If i'm honest i think 0-0 or 0-1 are the likeliest scorelines. Shalke wont want to be out of this tie in the first leg, so cant really afford to go attack crazy. And unfortunatly for you Utd backers out there, Sir Alex would happily take a draw back to Old Trafford. I dont think there i any value in the unders @ a mere 8/13 (skybet) But i'm tempted by Utd to win by 1 @ 11/4 (skybet) and might cover myself with a 0-0 CS @ 15/2 (skybet)

[Marek_Hamsik]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

I think a team that reached the semis of the Champions League eliminating Valencia and reigning Champions Inter deserves respect. Schalke also won all their home games in Champions League this season and IMO their performance in Bundesliga is a little bit irrelevant. I don’t know whether you remember when 7 years ago there was a team Monaco that reached the Champions League final eliminating Real Madrid and Chelsea and F.Morientes (on loan from Real Madrid) became the top goalscorer. So, I am with YAMAN on both to score and will take special offer from William Hill with small stakes. Both to Score @ 2.00 William Hill Raul and Rooney both to score @ 9.00 William Hill

we wouldnt want everybody to have the same opinion, would we? :cheers monaco was quite extraordinary at that time... prso+ morientes... i remember... :) but as you mentioned, it was 7 yrs ago and its more an exception to a rule... sorry but i cant see past Manu... they simply impress me

[Bagzi]

[ValueHunter]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

Have you had a look at the lay odds on Betfair? They're usually inbetween the odds of a DNB and DC on Bet365, and sometimes even the same as a DNB. Edit: It works out about 1.70 :)

I don't have a Betfair account and rarely taking a look at the odds there. Useful info for those who have Betfair accounts and decided to follow :ok. At the time I wrote my prediction there was no AH market on Bet365 but now I can see sligtly better price on Schalke+0.5 @1.65 compared to the Schalke or Draw @1.61 that I announced which is practically the same bet.

I know it's their last chance as next year there will be no Euro comp for them.

If Schalke defeats Duisburg in the German Cup final they will participate in Europa League next season.

[Mustafa]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

we wouldnt want everybody to have the same opinion' date= would we? :cheers monaco was quite extraordinary at that time... prso+ morientes... i remember... :) but as you mentioned, it was 7 yrs ago and its more an exception to a rule... sorry but i cant see past Manu... they simply impress me

True.

[1907zico]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

Just mine point of view: Shalke is some sort of sensation here,as nobody predicted them to go that far.Some better quality teams are left out already.They keep winning all home games in Cl and then lose to teams like Kaiserslautern-bizzare really.I know it's their last chance as next year there will be no Euro comp for them.TBH this situation with Shalke reminds me of Spurs and Shakhtar.Both Spurs and Shakhtar won all their home game in CL before met big Sharks like Barca and Real.And even then ppl kept saying they have some chance at home.Both lost 2 legs.So i see where this hype about Shalke is comming from.But imo MU will be class above Shalke atm.I do expect close game but with almost full MU squad available i just don't see how Shalke can win this even at home. GL

Okay I think I have to clarify a few things here so people understand Schalke much better because some wrong things displayed here. I am struggling to know where I should start but well lets see... Schalke as a club Schalke is a workers club. Many fans dont have high paid jobs and the area around the stadium (Gelsenkirchen) isnt really one of the nicest places you want to visit. However or mostly due to this circumstances Schalke 04 as a club has a high focus in the area and many fans are really close to the club. Schalke aims in the past years Schalke has been always aiming to cope with Bayern München in Bundesliga and due to several investments which contained high risk they found themselve in a critical situation two years ago. The new stadium came along with high debts which they yet have to pay. They were able to bind investors such as Gazprom to the club in order to be able to hold on a level with Bayern as well. However, a few weak years and lots of money spend on transfers, salaries and others ended up in critical financial situation. Financial Situation of Schalke In order to be competitive they always invested and payed a lot to their players. Not everyone was worth it and when success stayed out they have been struggling big time. The situation was critical before Magath took over in Schalke last year. It was debated that they might lose the license for Bundesliga. However with Magath coming they could avoid this and in the same year surprisingly went on the 2nd position of Bundesliga. Current debt size is estimated to be over 200 Million €. Radical personal change on Schalke Magath made a big success to get on 2nd position with this squad, it was really unexpected. As it was unexpected and Magath knew that his team was overperforming at some stage he went for a big change. Defence was almost fully sold with Bordon, Westermann, Rafinha high paid guys left the club. Further guys like Asamoah, Halil, Ze II and others who were simply average during this time but still got high paid contracts got sold or given away finally. This radical change with new transfer like Metzelder, Uchida, Annan, Jurado, Raul, Huntelaar, Edu, Sarpei and others would take some time obviously. Key players will have to work out over time and a hierarchy has to be created. Magath always highlighted, that with the success from last season, they need a new quality to be able to cope with CL - where the club would get further BIG MONEY (remember the debt situation). However, the success from last year - as much as it brought in decent money - was pure poison for Magaths plan of a radical change. The season has been started weak, pressure grow on Magath and his radical change plan. Schalke found himself on midfield after an overperformed 2nd position last year and the fans started to not support Magath anymore. Further transfer in winterbreak were criticized he transferred really a big number of players overall in 2010/2011 season. The league went pretty bad, but for some reason in Cup and CL they performed good. They reached the Cup final under Magath and the CL quarter final. Still they performed weak in the league and the atmosphere with the fans and the team didnt assist Magath anymore. The high number of players transferred also brought some unhappy players with him of course who regularly did moan about their situation in the management. This as we know, lead to Magath leaving Schalke... I would still have a few words on Magath to then have a word about the new coach and the current situation. Felix Magath as a coach Magath is a successful coach. Simple as that. Whereever he went to, he had some decent success. He won the league with Stuttgart, with Bayern (+ Cup) and with Wolfsburg. Although he has been very successfull, every club had to take into account that Magath likes to have full control. He wants to be able to decide transfer on himself, to build the team himself and just basically control everything which could influence his team. Due to this he usually wants to take control over the coach + manager position. His training work is very hard. The players have to invest a lot and will regularly train with medicine balls. This has been always positive in terms of conditional shape of the team. They could usually invest a lot over 90 minutes and be strong in the tackles. Tactically he likes the 4-1-2-1-2 system where the fullbacks are working a lot in offense and his main way to score goals was usually to come over the wings with low/high crosses on one of the strong strikers. The reason he finally left Schalke 04 was that he had full control and many people in the Schalke management including fan groups felt like they werent included in decisions at all. This lead to many critiques and finally the board of supervisors (where a few unhappy guys were sitting) decided to sack Magath as coach and manager. As Magath knew this would end dirty and Wolfsburg were struggling + sacking coach mcClaren Magath left the club himself to instantly join Wolfsburg. New coach Ralf Rangnicks past history in Schalke Coach Ralf Rangnick had already some past experiences in Schalke. During his time back on Schalke he was the most successful coach with an average pts of over 2 per match. They did beat Bayern in his first season passing the im the table but losing the title race with four defeats in the next matches. The next season was average in league, cup out pretty early and CL out early as well. Rumours grow that Rangnick should be sacked and in the next match fans were criticizing the management for this as they liked to work with Rangnick. Rangnick after the match went for a personal run through the stadium getting applauded by the fans. The management took this as a sign of provocating and indeed sacked him two days later. Later during his career Rangnick stated that this was obviously a mistake but an event happening just due to his emotions. Rangnick today Rangnick after his station on Schalke he went to Hoffenheim in 2006, an amateur club with a rich investor who then promoted all the way long to Bundesliga. Most will remember the fresh football Hoffenheim did show in their first Bundesliga season. And he tries to show up a similar football in Schalke. The basis was set by Magath in terms of condition and players quality. I mean the following guys started against Inter: Uchida, Sarpei, Jurado, Draxler, Raul, Edu. All guys which were bought by Magath (funny enough he was criticized for his transfer policy but well). Now Rangnick brought a new positive atmosphere to the club. As much success they had with Magath, there were players who had no chance at all with him and as I mentioned earlier the atmosphere was split between PRO and CONTRA Magath. With Rangnick coming this is past and the whole club can concentrate on the performance of the team. Playing wise he also brought some new elements in. The team is pressing earlier in midfield and setting the opponent under pressure, whereas Magath prefers to let the opponent come and then counter (difficult to switch making the game often). This did work very well against Inter Milan as most of us know that they were struggling in defence and in general working their way back after losing the ball. Current squad Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer - Pure class goalkeeper, wont extent his contract and will most likely make the next step by moving to Bayern München. Defender: Uchida right back. Small guy who is hard-running a lot. I just love this guy to be honest, can be a cracking right back in the future. Metzelder has got international experience and is a solid defender overall. Matip (Höwedes most likely injured) is a young guy who just did his A-levels during the season as well but he is tall and has a good read on the game usually. Sarpei - old experienced left back who has been through up and downs lately in terms of career. Had no chance in Leverkusen, brought to Schalke my Magath. Was used few times to then get only playing for Schalke II team and now back in CL :loon Midfield: On Right midfield Farfan is showing superb form lately and does just form a good duo with Uchida behind him. On center midfield we see several variations. Against Inter Rangnick did use Jurado (creative Spanish guy) together with Papadopolous (Greek Worrier) who is a real "stable fly". He is young but proved that he can take out playmakers such as Sneijder. On left midfield Baumjohann (who was banned to Schalke II by Magath as well) or Draxler (young pure Schalke guy) are options to start. Both of them are technical players. Alternatives Jurado could also move on Left midfield so Schalke got some better experience/quality there. In order to do this though Kluge would need to be fit come in on CMID. He has been the most impressive player under Magath but has been injured recently. He is a defensive minded player who still does a lot to help on offense so overall seen this option would be more defensive. Attack: Edu and Raul. Edu has been coming from Asia (before did play in Bochum) and surprisingly could establish in the team. Under Magath he usually did play on the left midfield which he done okay but under Rangnick he could start on ATT and proving his qualities impressive vs Inter by scoring two goals. No words about Raul really... This guy did profit so much from the hard conditional work from Magath (I never did train so hard before in my career) and is in absolutely top shape. Most likely Formation: ---------------------Neuer-------------------- Uchida----Metzelder--------Matip--------Sarpei -----------Jurado -------- Papadopolous------- Farfan----------------------Baumjohann/Draxler ----------------Edu-----Raul------------------- Optionally (if Kluge is fit): ---------------------Neuer-------------------- Uchida----Metzelder--------Matip--------Sarpei -----------Kluge -------- Papadopolous--------- Farfan-----------------------------------Jurado ----------------Edu-----Raul------------------- With orange players being real key players and all others being pretty much on one level so the team doesnt really rely on Raul only. Hope this helps few guys to make the right estimations. :ok

[DoobleDutch]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

Some info for those who is thinking to bet on both to score: United, unbeaten in their last 11 CL matches, have not conceded a single goal in any of their five CL away games this season. They have kept 13 clean sheets in their last 18 CL away matches. You just Can't argue with stats. End of the day it's a MU we are talking about.Shalke will miss some players at the back again and taking to account Hernandez and Roo's good form i think devils will score here. Don't see many goal tbh. Going for: MU -0.25AH @1.975 MU to keep clean sheet @2.62 CS 0-1 @6.50 CS 0-0 @8.00 bet365 GL :ok

Jesus you got the clean sheet bet @2.62, it's now @2.37 :@ I have picked Under 2 AH @2.05 (b365), for two reasons: - Red Devils like to keep it tight on the road; - Schalke scored many goals so far but they met sides playing more openly than United. Leonardo's Inter was even playing a foolhardy style, to be honest. Today is going to be a whole different story, in my opinion. I expect a good old 0-0, perhaps 0-1 or 1-1. Small to medium stakes.

[Mahno]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

Jesus you got the clean sheet bet @2.62, it's now @2.37 :@ I have picked Under 2 AH @2.05 (b365), for two reasons: - Red Devils like to keep it tight on the road; - Schalke scored many goals so far but they met sides playing more openly than United. Leonardo's Inter was even playing a foolhardy style, to be honest. Today is going to be a whole different story, in my opinion. I expect a good old 0-0, perhaps 0-1 or 1-1. Small to medium stakes.

I know mate,it's droped just few hours later,also odds on 0-0 and 0-1 droped as well to @7.0 and @6.0 i think.MU price is also going down.i don't know why :unsure But you won't find prices that i took anymore :eyes I just hope there will be no early goal,otherwise it will kill all my bets :hope

[Mahno]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

Okay I think I have to clarify a few things here so people understand Schalke much better because some wrong things displayed here. I am struggling to know where I should start but well lets see... Schalke as a club Schalke is a workers club. Many fans dont have high paid jobs and the area around the stadium (Gelsenkirchen) isnt really one of the nicest places you want to visit. However or mostly due to this circumstances Schalke 04 as a club has a high focus in the area and many fans are really close to the club. Schalke aims in the past years Schalke has been always aiming to cope with Bayern München in Bundesliga and due to several investments which contained high risk they found themselve in a critical situation two years ago. The new stadium came along with high debts which they yet have to pay. They were able to bind investors such as Gazprom to the club in order to be able to hold on a level with Bayern as well. However, a few weak years and lots of money spend on transfers, salaries and others ended up in critical financial situation. Financial Situation of Schalke In order to be competitive they always invested and payed a lot to their players. Not everyone was worth it and when success stayed out they have been struggling big time. The situation was critical before Magath took over in Schalke last year. It was debated that they might lose the license for Bundesliga. However with Magath coming they could avoid this and in the same year surprisingly went on the 2nd position of Bundesliga. Current debt size is estimated to be over 200 Million €. Radical personal change on Schalke Magath made a big success to get on 2nd position with this squad, it was really unexpected. As it was unexpected and Magath knew that his team was overperforming at some stage he went for a big change. Defence was almost fully sold with Bordon, Westermann, Rafinha high paid guys left the club. Further guys like Asamoah, Halil, Ze II and others who were simply average during this time but still got high paid contracts got sold or given away finally. This radical change with new transfer like Metzelder, Uchida, Annan, Jurado, Raul, Huntelaar, Edu, Sarpei and others would take some time obviously. Key players will have to work out over time and a hierarchy has to be created. Magath always highlighted, that with the success from last season, they need a new quality to be able to cope with CL - where the club would get further BIG MONEY (remember the debt situation). However, the success from last year - as much as it brought in decent money - was pure poison for Magaths plan of a radical change. The season has been started weak, pressure grow on Magath and his radical change plan. Schalke found himself on midfield after an overperformed 2nd position last year and the fans started to not support Magath anymore. Further transfer in winterbreak were criticized he transferred really a big number of players overall in 2010/2011 season. The league went pretty bad, but for some reason in Cup and CL they performed good. They reached the Cup final under Magath and the CL quarter final. Still they performed weak in the league and the atmosphere with the fans and the team didnt assist Magath anymore. The high number of players transferred also brought some unhappy players with him of course who regularly did moan about their situation in the management. This as we know, lead to Magath leaving Schalke... I would still have a few words on Magath to then have a word about the new coach and the current situation. Felix Magath as a coach Magath is a successful coach. Simple as that. Whereever he went to, he had some decent success. He won the league with Stuttgart, with Bayern (+ Cup) and with Wolfsburg. Although he has been very successfull, every club had to take into account that Magath likes to have full control. He wants to be able to decide transfer on himself, to build the team himself and just basically control everything which could influence his team. Due to this he usually wants to take control over the coach + manager position. His training work is very hard. The players have to invest a lot and will regularly train with medicine balls. This has been always positive in terms of conditional shape of the team. They could usually invest a lot over 90 minutes and be strong in the tackles. Tactically he likes the 4-1-2-1-2 system where the fullbacks are working a lot in offense and his main way to score goals was usually to come over the wings with low/high crosses on one of the strong strikers. The reason he finally left Schalke 04 was that he had full control and many people in the Schalke management including fan groups felt like they werent included in decisions at all. This lead to many critiques and finally the board of supervisors (where a few unhappy guys were sitting) decided to sack Magath as coach and manager. As Magath knew this would end dirty and Wolfsburg were struggling + sacking coach mcClaren Magath left the club himself to instantly join Wolfsburg. New coach Ralf Rangnicks past history in Schalke Coach Ralf Rangnick had already some past experiences in Schalke. During his time back on Schalke he was the most successful coach with an average pts of over 2 per match. They did beat Bayern in his first season passing the im the table but losing the title race with four defeats in the next matches. The next season was average in league, cup out pretty early and CL out early as well. Rumours grow that Rangnick should be sacked and in the next match fans were criticizing the management for this as they liked to work with Rangnick. Rangnick after the match went for a personal run through the stadium getting applauded by the fans. The management took this as a sign of provocating and indeed sacked him two days later. Later during his career Rangnick stated that this was obviously a mistake but an event happening just due to his emotions. Rangnick today Rangnick after his station on Schalke he went to Hoffenheim in 2006, an amateur club with a rich investor who then promoted all the way long to Bundesliga. Most will remember the fresh football Hoffenheim did show in their first Bundesliga season. And he tries to show up a similar football in Schalke. The basis was set by Magath in terms of condition and players quality. I mean the following guys started against Inter: Uchida, Sarpei, Jurado, Draxler, Raul, Edu. All guys which were bought by Magath (funny enough he was criticized for his transfer policy but well). Now Rangnick brought a new positive atmosphere to the club. As much success they had with Magath, there were players who had no chance at all with him and as I mentioned earlier the atmosphere was split between PRO and CONTRA Magath. With Rangnick coming this is past and the whole club can concentrate on the performance of the team. Playing wise he also brought some new elements in. The team is pressing earlier in midfield and setting the opponent under pressure, whereas Magath prefers to let the opponent come and then counter (difficult to switch making the game often). This did work very well against Inter Milan as most of us know that they were struggling in defence and in general working their way back after losing the ball. Current squad Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer - Pure class goalkeeper, wont extent his contract and will most likely make the next step by moving to Bayern München. Defender: Uchida right back. Small guy who is hard-running a lot. I just love this guy to be honest, can be a cracking right back in the future. Metzelder has got international experience and is a solid defender overall. Matip (Höwedes most likely injured) is a young guy who just did his A-levels during the season as well but he is tall and has a good read on the game usually. Sarpei - old experienced left back who has been through up and downs lately in terms of career. Had no chance in Leverkusen, brought to Schalke my Magath. Was used few times to then get only playing for Schalke II team and now back in CL :loon Midfield: On Right midfield Farfan is showing superb form lately and does just form a good duo with Uchida behind him. On center midfield we see several variations. Against Inter Rangnick did use Jurado (creative Spanish guy) together with Papadopolous (Greek Worrier) who is a real "stable fly". He is young but proved that he can take out playmakers such as Sneijder. On left midfield Baumjohann (who was banned to Schalke II by Magath as well) or Draxler (young pure Schalke guy) are options to start. Both of them are technical players. Alternatives Jurado could also move on Left midfield so Schalke got some better experience/quality there. In order to do this though Kluge would need to be fit come in on CMID. He has been the most impressive player under Magath but has been injured recently. He is a defensive minded player who still does a lot to help on offense so overall seen this option would be more defensive. Attack: Edu and Raul. Edu has been coming from Asia (before did play in Bochum) and surprisingly could establish in the team. Under Magath he usually did play on the left midfield which he done okay but under Rangnick he could start on ATT and proving his qualities impressive vs Inter by scoring two goals. No words about Raul really... This guy did profit so much from the hard conditional work from Magath (I never did train so hard before in my career) and is in absolutely top shape. Most likely Formation: ---------------------Neuer-------------------- Uchida----Metzelder--------Matip--------Sarpei -----------Jurado -------- Papadopolous------- Farfan----------------------Baumjohann/Draxler ----------------Edu-----Raul------------------- Optionally (if Kluge is fit): ---------------------Neuer-------------------- Uchida----Metzelder--------Matip--------Sarpei -----------Kluge -------- Papadopolous--------- Farfan-----------------------------------Jurado ----------------Edu-----Raul------------------- With orange players being real key players and all others being pretty much on one level so the team doesnt really rely on Raul only. Hope this helps few guys to make the right estimations. :ok

WOW Zico,that's impressive man,good job...as always :ok But i'm sticking with my bets,i think the prices i took are spot on. I will not regret even if Shalke wins ;)

[RedDevil92]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

Schalke Benedikt Höwedes is struggling to be fit after sitting out much of Monday training with a stomach strain, though Rangnick is hopeful Kyriakos Papadopoulos (calf) and Peer Kluge (abdominal muscle strain) will be fit. Mario Gavranovic (ankle) has missed recent games while Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (knee), Christoph Moritz (knee) and Christian Pander (toe, cold) are longer-term absentees. M. United United have confirmed that striker Dimitar Berbatov will not feature on Tuesday having failed to recover from the groin problem that meant the Bulgarian sat out his side's last two Premier League games. Midfielders Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves are also missing, along with Bébé and reserve goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard, prompting a call-up for Sam Johnstone, 18, as third-choice keeper. John O'Shea also made the flight to Germany despite carrying a knock. Taken from uefa.com

Hargeaves and Bebe as well as Lindegaard aren't important. Höwedes is a very important player for Schalke as he is their best defender.Maybe Gavranovic's absent is a blow but the others absents aren't.

[RedDevil92]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April I can't see more than 2 goals in this match.Even 2 goals are much in my eyes for this match.Schalke has beaten Inter with making many goals but inter is not the same as last year.Their defense is playing shit and Cesar made too many mistakes.Schalke cannot go out and play offensive football without looking for thier defense.Nani,Valnecia and Hernandez are excellent counter players.They are very quickly.If they make the first goal,they will defend because they can't effort a 1-1. United will definetely play their usual defense style like they did the whole season in the Champions League. 1-0 in Chelsea 0-0 in Marseille 1-0 in Valencia 1-0 in Glasgow 3-0 in Bursa Can't see many goals in here.I'd love to see an early goal in here to go very big on under 2,5 with nice odds. I will put some money on 0-0 at half time and on under 1,5 goals but small.1 point also on 0-0 ft. GL:hope

[DoobleDutch]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

My selection: Under 2.5 6/4 @ Betfair 14 points.

Under 2.5 at 6/4 ie. @2.5 in decimal odds, you got to be kidding :eek

[Mahno]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

My selection: Under 2.5 6/4 @ Betfair 14 points.

Are you sure about the price :unsure?It's a @1.63 on betfair and everywhere else aroun @[email protected] otherwise i would jump on 6/4 myself :tongue2

[Lodge]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

Under 2.5 at 6/4 ie. @2.5 in decimal odds' date=' you got to be kidding :eek[/quote'] wrong way round i suspect...

[Mahno]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

Under 2.5 at 6/4 ie. @2.5 in decimal odds' date=' you got to be kidding :eek[/quote'] He is kidding :lol

[DoobleDutch]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Schalke v Manchester United > Tuesday 26 April

I know mate,it's droped just few hours later,also odds on 0-0 and 0-1 droped as well to @7.0 and @6.0 i think.MU price is also going down.i don't know why :unsure But you won't find prices that i took anymore :eyes I just hope there will be no early goal,otherwise it will kill all my bets :hope

I'm a huge donkey because I checked a few odds this morning but I wasted my time on that Stoke-Wolverhampton game then I had to go out...