Winning Ugly

October was not a happy month for Schalke. The team had crashed out of the both the UEFA Cup and the German Cup, players were feuding, and many were calling for coach Mirko Slomka's head. Schalke's ever-passionate fans were so disgusted that they treated the team to 19 minutes and 4 seconds of the silent treatment at their home match to Bayern.

Then something happened -- Schalke started winning and took over the top of the table.

So what's the key to the club's sudden run of good form? Part of the reason may be something Schalke didn't do.

"For the past four weeks, the players have been forbidden from talking to the press," Lars Gartenschläger, a sports editor for the daily Die Welt newspaper told DW-WORLD.DE. "That seems to have helped."

Lowly opponents help Schalke rack up points

Another reason is Schalke have suddenly discovered ability to grind out tight wins against inferior opponents. Their current four-game winning streak has come against a run of relegation candidates.

"They're now able to concentrate completely on the Bundesliga," explained Wolfgang Kerkhoff, a sports reporter who covers Schalke for the daily Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. "A series of successes against relatively easy opponents has restored their self-confidence."

Schalke's 2-1 victory over lowly Bochum last Friday was nothing to write home about, but it kept them on top. Schalke seem to be applying the adage that championships are won not by beating Bayern, but by picking up the points against teams like Mainz and Cottbus.

The turnaround has even left fans shaking their heads in wonder.

"I can't explain it," Rolf Rojek, chairman of Schalke's association of fan clubs, told DW-WORLD.DE. "We didn't know why things didn't work earlier, and we don't really understand why they've gotten better now. That's just the way soccer is."

Like a marriage

A lot of credit should go to Schalke coach Slomka, who has shown both perseverance and courage this season. His most daring move came in the Bayern match in early November, when he benched long-time goalkeeper Frank Rost in favor of youngster Manuel Neuer. Schalke haven't lost since.

"With hindsight, it was the right move," said Kerkhoff. "After the same number of games, Neuer's statistics are better than Rost's."

An injury to forward Gerald Asamoah has also helped sort out personnel conflicts. Asamoah was at the center of Schalke's early-season squabbling when he demanded more playing time at the expense of twins Halil and Hamit Altintop. But ever since the German national broke his leg in late September, that disagreement has been moot.

"Slomka made a statement with Rost," Gartenschläger said. "Maybe it's not such a bad thing if one or two sources of discontent are put on ice."

And perhaps the fans' visible displays of dissatisfaction provided the bit of extra motivation needed to get the team to the very top, Rojek added.

"We showed that the basic connection between supporters and the club should never be undermined," he said. "It's like a marriage."

The right stuff?

Whatever the reason, Schalke are winning back fans' affection. Much-maligned striker Kevin Kuranyi has started to find the goal again, and workhorses like midfielders Levan Kobiashvili and Gustavo Varela, or defender Rafinha, have come up with big performances in tight matches to help Schalke get the results.

"Our squad has as much quality as Bayern Munich's," Slomka said this week in an interview with the German soccer magazine kicker.

It would be ironic indeed if a season that began so acrimoniously ended with Schalke winning its first league title since 1958. No one's getting over-confident yet, but experts and fans agree that the team should be able to mount a sustained challenge.

"With the other top teams playing like they are, anything is possible," Kerkhoff said. "They have to worry about other competitions, so Schalke should be able to compete for the title."

Gartenschläger concurred: "It's too early to say who'll win, but Schalke are certainly one of the three or four teams with a chance to take the title."

Even Schalke's long-suffering, once-bitten-twice-shy supporters are feeling optimistic.

"We hope and we believe that the team has the stuff to win a championship," Rojek said. "But whether it will be enough in the end…that we don't know."