Alex Kral’s nightmare continues just months after West Ham United exit
You would be hard pressed to find many players who endured a more miserable 18 months than Alex Kral.
At the very least, having spent virtually all of his West Ham United loan spell twiddling his thumbs on the substitutes’ bench, the Czech international finds playing time at Schalke a little easier.
The Bundesliga game on Saturday against Borussia Mönchengladbach was his 11thth start since they joined one of the most traditional football institutions in Germany. But if you thought things could only get better for Schalke after their most humiliating descent of 2020/21, think again. Once more, The miners seem to be digging their own graves; Bottom of the Bundesliga table, eight points behind safe team and with just one win in the last 13 games.
Consecutive 0-0 draws against Gladbach and Cologne are at least an improvement on RB Leipzig’s 6-1 win at the Veltins Arena. But it takes more, much more, to fight your way out of the gap between bottom of the table and the ever-improving VFL Bochum in 15thth.
Bundesliga basement residents Schalke seem destined for relegation again
“You have to win two games in a row,” argues former German international and Ballon D’Or winner Lothar Mathaus (Revier Sport). “With a win, they can move up a place in the table. They’ve been around a few times now, but they can’t take anything from it.
“I think they are currently a relegation contender. But they also need luck to make their competitors lose games.”
Kral, it has to be said, caused a slight increase in performance at Schalke. After a break with back problems, the former Spartak Moscow enforcer was arguably the bright spot at Borussia Park. If the rest of Thomas Reis’ team can take a leaf out of Kral’s book, then a Great Escape to rival that of Bryan Robson’s West Brom in 2005 can’t be entirely ruled out.
But if Kral thought things could only get better after West Ham, then he was hugely mistaken.
In other news, Newcastle transfer news: £54m in summer amid agent talks
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/02/06/alex-krals-nightmare-goes-on-just-months-after-west-ham-united-exit/ Alex Kral’s nightmare continues just months after West Ham United exit
