die Königsblauen will be fresh for the weekend

It is wasn't so pathetic it might (I stress "it might") funny because Schalke put forth a shockingly bad effort as they lost to Manchester City 2-0 at Veltins-Arena. Die Königsblauen were lacking in virtually any offensive attack and both goals came off poor defending. This is particularly disconcerting as going into the match Man City manager seemed to be more inclined for a defensive approach and were without the services of star Robinho. If ever there was an better chance to beat the Premier League side, I am not aware of it but unfortunately Fred Rutten must now deal with the golden opportunity being missed. With the loss, Schalke must now defeat Eredivisie side, Twente to be guaranteed a spot in the next round.

While Jermaine Jones posed a few scoring attempts towards Man City goalkeeper Joe Hart, their was little to report on the attacking end thereafter. A full thirteen minutes before the break City was gifted the first goal with Benjani being handed an attempted defending clearance and easily driving the ball int. The comedy of errors continued after the break with Stephen Ireland scoring on a miserably played ball that should have easily been dealt with by Schalke's defenders. A sloppily played 1-2 between Benjani and Ireland bounded up in the air. Manuel Neuer rushed to defend and made a early academy error by leaping up early and Ireland drubbed a ball beneath him. With the score now 2-0 and the whistles filling the arena the match was effectively over. While UEFA's press outlet called Man City's performance "classy" I wasn't aware Footy was a formal occasion and I would simply say they out-played a team that played foul. This should have been an easy win and they turned it into a loss.

After the match Fred Rutten said:

"In the first half an hour the game was fairly even. We had one or two opportunities like the one for Jermaine Jones, for example."

"The first goal was a chain reaction of mistakes. Kevin Kuranyi lost possession, but they were still a long way from our goal. What followed was one individual error after another."

"We didn't perform well enough to win the game. In the final half an hour there was no belief that we could draw or even win the game. We had the occasional chance, but not the confidence to score."

"I feel we deserved to lose the game. We're very disappointed, even though we were up against a very good team. It hurts to lose, but we'll have no time to dwell on it because we have another important game in Stuttgart on Sunday."

A good leader delivers the information straight-up and without sugar coating. He's right, it was horrible and the 54,000 plus crowd and all the fans deserved better.