Grammozis' Schalke debut reveals stark truth

Schalke 0-0 Mainz, Veltins-Arena

Unsurprisingly the game between the two worst teams in the Bundesliga was high on intensity and low on quality. Both sides desperately spent most of the encounter trying to be better than their current form, but were continually reminded of their shortcomings in key moments.

The longer the game went on, the more Mainz looked like they would win it. But from their 19 shots only two were on target - one of many reasons why they're also in a relegation battle.

For Schalke, this was not a point they could celebrate. This was a game they had to win, but in Dimitrios Grammozis' first game in charge Schalke looked incapable of doing so.

After just two training sessions with the team and faced with a lengthy injury list made worse by Amine Harit pulling up in the warm-up, Grammozis was never going to turn Schalke into a dominant force. Nevertheless, handing 18-year-old midfielder Kerim Calhanoglu his Bundesliga debut, moving Sead Kolasinac into midfield and playing with a back three raised a few eyebrows. But even with time and further tweaks, Schalke's future increasingly looks to be outside of the Bundesliga.

Grammozis' appointment was made with the future in mind - he is set to stay even if the club get relegated - but the present will have revealed an alarming truth to the 42-year-old German born in Wuppertal to Greek parents. The unenviable task of rebuilding one of Germany's great football clubs will take much more than just finding the best way to play.

Who is Grammozis?

Grammozis appears an unspectacular appointment. The former player who played nearly 150 Bundesliga games has just one successful coaching stint at second-division Darmstadt and a host of years coaching youth football at Bochum on his CV. Even if the club needed to ask Grammozis a second time - he nearly got the job after David Wagner, but Schalke opted instead for Manuel Baum - he might be just what Schalke need.

After a handful of failed rebirths and resurrections with head coaches and sporting directors hailed as the next best thing, perhaps the largely unknown albeit obviously capable Grammozis will be the first correct answer in Schalke's step back towards glory. His work in youth football means he has an established connection with the current generation of players and with his Fußball-Lehrer (Germany's highest football coaching qualification) secured in 2018, he has the knowledge to support it. He's also a coach who has emphaszsed the importance of connecting with the person before working on the player.

But there is no denying that Schalke have been here before. Talk of being together and putting in the hard yards is not a new turn of phrase for an incoming head coach, particularly at this club. While the presence of and sounds from Mike Büskens and Gerald Asamoah on the Schalke bench certainly added to the feeling that this time it was going to be different for Schalke, there was no hiding the team's shortcomings on the field.

Eight points off the relegation playoff spot, one win this season and a goal difference of -45, Schalke remain a very sorry team heading in one direction. Even if relegation follows, the path to get this club back to where it wants to be will be a very long one indeed.