By Oliver Trust
BERLIN， March 8 (Xinhua) -- Markus Weinzierl and Christian Heidel must by now be fully aware of how hard it can be to wake a sleeping giant.
Eight months after what was meant to be the dawning of a new era of success at FC Schalke 04， the two newcomers， who took over last summer as coach and manager respectively， find themselves in the middle of a deep crisis having spent up to 70 million euro for new players.
Only four points above the Bundesliga drop zone， qualifying for a European competition next year seems to be out of sight. The club is now facing perhaps their last chance to redeem themselves when facing Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Euro League on Thursday.
This season， Schalke were intent on returning to their rightful place among the country's leading clubs. Weinzierl and Heidel were supposed to start a renaissance at the "Blues" which have consistently secured themselves a place in Europe over the past seven years but are still without a league title in the Bundesliga's 53-year history.
In 1992， Schalke's fans celebrated the first German title for four minutes and 38 seconds and then lost it to Bayern Munich， which pipped Schalke to the title in the dying seconds. From then on the club from the Ruhr were known as the "Champion of the Hearts".
Despite their UEFA Cup victory in 1997， the club was constantly shaken by internal strife， and hired and fired managers with an alarming regularity - almost as if it was their only purpose in life.
Weinzierl appeared to be the man with the ability to change Schalke's destiny along with Heidel. The 42-year-old had worked wonders in his previous role at FC Augsburg taking them to the Euro League on a minimal budget. The 143，000-member club in Gelsenkirchen hoped for a similar transformative effect but are looking to stave off relegation rather than winning titles.
Heidel was the architect of what is known as the Mainz miracle. A small club near Frankfurt climbed up to Germany's top third with the help of a former car dealer who has gained an impressive reputation among his management colleagues.
But instead of enjoying a life in sunshine， Schalke are tottering on the brink of the second division. Half of the team is considering moving to a new club and Schalke are in danger of losing some of their most talented players such as U-21 international Max Meyer or 22-year-old Leon Goretzka.
Instead of talking about a new era they are mentioning a year of consolidation. Up to now， club officials and most fans are keeping their feet on the ground but for how much longer if results don't go their way.
Weinzierl has struggled to implement the tactical nuances and work rate demanded by his preferred 3-5-2 system. As a result， there's incompleteness and a lack of cohesion about his team and the players' cannot compensate for it with their individual talent.
Their squad is too mediocre as it is made up of solid players but no superstar like the Spanish institution Raul (a hero at Schalke from 2010 to 2012) or a younger version of nearly 34-year-old Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
Schalke's formation is designed to counter the pressing game employed by most Bundesliga teams these days. However， their passing out from the back is far from good enough to use the 3-5-2's natural width.
Too often their build-up play thus consists of long， straight balls over the heads of the technically brilliant men in the middle. Weinzierl's team has little control of the game and finds too few promising positions in the final third.
Schalke's coach might need some more time to adjust to the much more pressurized surroundings at S04. It is quite different from his previous sedate surroundings in Augsburg.
However， his well-structured training sessions are a mark of his coaching excellence. The problem is that quite a few of his colleagues have done a lot more this year than he has - and on a shoestring budget.
While it might be too early to contemplate another coaching change， Schalke's lack of progress makes life complicated.
Failure to qualify for European football for the first time in seven years would affect the bottom line and make it harder to keep the sort of players necessary for them to return to the top of the German game.
Currently it is not certain that Weinzierl and Heidel get many more chances to change Schalke's frustration into happiness. The hiring of a mental coach one day ahead of their Euro League game could be seen as an act of desperation.
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