Slack Schalke infuriates Huntelaar

16 December 2012 13:31

Klass-Jan Huntelaar has spoken of his frustration as Schalke succumbed to a shock 3-1 defeat at home to Freiburg.

The Royal Blues took the lead through Jefferson Farfan in the 20th minute but soon fell behind as two goals from Jan Rosenthal and another from Jonathan Schmid saw Freiburg claim victory and climb above the hosts to fifth in the Bundesliga table.

Huntelaar himself was controversially sent off after receiving a second yellow for throwing an arm towards an opponent and was clearly unhappy with the way his side performed.

"We have done far too little. If you create so many chances, you shouldn't lose," he said.

"The cup match next Tuesday against Mainz is very important to us. It will not be easy, but we want to win."

In the wake of this result, which means Schalke have picked up just two points in the past six league games, manager Huub Stevens was sacked on Sunday.

Schalke sit in seventh with 25 points from their 17 fixtures, while Huntelaar has scored five times in the Bundesliga this season.

Stevens wants more consistency

14 December 2012 01:32

Schalke coach Huub Stevens has demanded more consistency from his side ahead of their clash against Freiburg on Saturday.

After a promising start to the season, Schalke are winless in their past five outings in all competitions.

The poor run has seen them slip to fifth in the Bundesliga and Stevens said playing well in patches would not be good enough.

"In the last few weeks, I haven't always seen it (our qualities)," Stevens said.

"I've only seen strong performances occasionally. That's not enough, and we know that, but the players also want to turn that around. That is our aim and everybody wants to help achieve that.

"When I see and feel how everybody is training or tries to train, then I can say, yes, they want to improve and that is very important."

They meet a Freiburg side in contrasting form, with just one loss in their previous eight matches.

That defeat came to runaway league leaders Bayern Munich and Stevens is wary of the 'organised' Freiburg side.

"They're a good team. They play in an organised manner, with a lot of movement, perform well with the ball and create quick switches in their play," Stevens said.

"On Saturday, we are going to be up against a very difficult opponent. But we hope that our qualities will shine through."