Two teams that recorded very important and surprisingly easy victories in the week 1 are about to close down the round 2 of the competition as they’ll square off in one of the two final duels of the week on Sunday. The newcomer in top tier German Bundesliga, Hannover team snatched a road win against Mainz while Schalke 04 faced a bit stronger opponent but also emerged victorious as they defeated last season runners-up, RB Leipzig.
Closing up the round with some valuable predictions is our goal and that’s the reason why we shall try to analyze this duel more thorough in order to get some more green in your pocket before the international break that will take place after this round meaning that we won’t see any action in German Bundesliga for two weeks. Let’s take a closer look.
Hannover 96 vs. Schalke 04
Three-Way: 1: Hannover 96 +245; X: +260 Draw; Schalke 04 +133
Spread +0.5: Hannover 96 -135; Schalke 04 +125
Total +2.5: Over -105; Under +100
HANNOVER 96
The Hannover 96 team finished the last season ranked second in the Zweite (second tier of German soccer competition) collecting 67 points in 34 games with a 19-10-5 record. Their main goal this season is to remain in the competition and secure the survival but the week 1 could be the hint that the Reds can go much better after snatching a road win over Mainz. The matchup against Schalke 04 in front of their own crowd will show us if they are for real or maybe the Mainz team is too poor. Nevertheless, it will be the time of reckoning on Sunday in Hannover and we’re all looking forward to it.
In the opening game of the seas, n Tschauner started as a keeper while Hubner and Felipe took the roles of central defenders. Korb and Ostrzolek operated as right and left backs while Anton and Schwegler controlled the middle of the field. Klaus and Karaman were on the right and on the left side of the midfield, playing as wingers in certain occasions but with a lot of defensive assignments. Harnik and Fullkrug led the team’s attac at centre-forwards positions. It was also a very physical game as three guys on Mainz’s side earned yellow cards and four Hannover’s players also got booked (Korb, Klaus, Schwegler and Ostrzolek). Statistically, it looks like the home team dominated as they held the ball in 63% of the time and recorded 20 total shots towards goal oppose to Hannover’s eight shots. Mainz team also recorded 13 corner kicks but all this initiative looked very brittle because they couldn’t find the way to get the ball inside the goal and the punishment came in the character of Martin Harnik who scored the only goal in the game, giving his team a much needed boost at the beginning of the season. Besides scoring a winning goal, he had two more shots towards the goal and he completed 60% of his total passes. Kenan Karaman topped the team in the passing segment as he recorded 88.2% of his passes completed.
As we mentioned before, Hannover’s roster is almost identical to the last season one with the addition of Julian Korb who signed from Borussia M’Gladbach during the offseason and he proved to be a solid addition on Saturday.
Noah-Joel Sarenren-Bazee’s (thigh) and Miiko Albornoz’s (thigh) status is unknown while Edgar Prib’s (knee) will be out for a long period. Apparently, h was injured during the practice on August 16th tearing his cruciate ligament and he will be out until at least mid February 2018. Uffe Bech (knee) is listed as day to day and he is questionable for Sunday.
SCHALKE 04
I wasn’t really optimistic about the Schalke 04 team before the season beginning but I’m forced to think again after their performance in the week 1 when they outsmarted and outplayed the last season runners-up team, RB Leipzig at the Veltins-Arena on Saturday, 2:0. Being one of the worse teams last year obviously rang some bells in Gelsenkirchen and they are now definitely going to avoid that awful start in 2016 when they recorded five straight losses in first five rounds.
Also, if Schalke 04 wants to regain confidence and earn back the respect of the fans they will have to avoid losing games against far weaker teams, which wasn’t the case last year and a perfect opportunity for that will be on Sunday when they are going to face newly promoted Hannover squad. One of the most ungrateful teams when it comes to prediction the outcomes of their duels has a lot to make up for and I hope they start as soon as possible.
Newly appointed and frankly a bit inexperienced Schalke 04 manager Domenico Tedesco looked like a pro coach last weekend and it seems to me that the board didn’t overlook themselves when they chose him to lead the squad. He set a 3-4-3 formation with Nastasic, Naldo and Kehrer at the centre-back positions while Oczipka, Bentaleb, Goretzka and Caliguri dominated the midfield. Konoplyanka, Di Santa and Harit operated in the attacking roles for the team and it paid off. Nabil Bentaleb, who was the most expensive signing during the offseason, had a dream debut as he scored the opening goal for his new team two minutes before the break and Yehven Konoplyanka who came from Sevilla this summer followed his footsteps and score the second goal after a swift and deadly counter-attack in 73th minute of the match. Team had ball possession in only 36% of the time but they were obviously much more efficient than the guests from Leipzig. They recorded 16 total shots towards the opponent goal while Leipzig recorded 15. Two goal scorers along with Franco Di Santo presented the biggest threats for Peter Gulacsi with two shots towards the goal each. Passing segment belonged to Matija Nastasic and Fabian Reese who had 86.1% and 90.0% passes completed. Thilo Kehrer and Weston McKennie were booked.
So far, the new signings like aforementioned goals scorers from the week 1 and Bastian Ozcipka who came from Eintracht Frankfurt look to be right on the spot and the departures of couple of impactful players that occurred during the offseason doesn’t seem to have a negative effect on the team. We’ll see how it will play out.
Benjamin Stambouli is suspended for the next match while Donis Avdijaj’s (ankle) status is unknown. Alessandro Schopf (cruciate ligament) is expected to be back in training in late August while Guido Burgstaller (ankle) and Luke Hemmerich (foot) are listed as doubtful for Sunday.
Hannover 96 vs. Schalke 04 – Match Prediction
This matchup smells like a 1:1 draw type of game. Both teams recorded victories in the first round but I’ don’t think that any of these squad has enough juice to go two of two after two weeks of play. A draw actually makes a much sense here and that’s where I would put my money on.
My pick: Draw (+260)
