Following the away game in Bremen, this Friday evening VfB trainer Christian Gross and his men await the next tough task, away to FC Schalke 04 at the VELTINS-Arena. Felix Magath's side are currently in second place, just two points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich, in the Bundesliga table and have been having an exceptional season thus far: "Sportingly this is a major challenge for us," explained Christian Gross on Wednesday afternoon.
Georg Niedermeier to replace the suspended captain
For VfB captain Matthieu Delpierre, who serves a suspension having picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in Bremen, Georg Niedermeier will move into the central defensive role alongside Serdar Tasci. The coach went on to state: "My target is always to win! Against Schalke we will need to be cleverer than we were in Bremen. Both in the defence and up front! We need to be highly concentrated going into the game and we must always be present - as we were for long periods of the game in Bremen. We are certainly well prepared and want to put into action exactly what we have been analysing during the week."
