Schalke coach Rutten slams chairman points target

Schalke coach Fred Rutten has slammed club chairman Clemens Tonnies for putting unnecessary pressure on him and his team.

Tonnies yesterday demanded 10 points from the remaining four Bundesliga matches before the winter break.

Schalke face Borussia Monchengladbach before travelling to Stuttgart, hosting Hertha Berlin and then visiting league leaders Hoffenheim between now and Christmas, and Rutten believes Tonnies was wrong to set such a target.

"I think this comment was not very clever," said the Dutchman today. "That does not help the team at all and is not good for the club either."

General manager Andreas Muller, on the other hand, took Tonnies' statement lightly.

He said at a press conference today: "Clemens is sometimes too much of a fan and, as such, he would prefer to get 15 points from the next four games. Fred and Clemens should sort it out among themselves."

Schalke have lost their last two Bundesliga games to drop to eight in the table, eight points behind joint league leaders Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim.

Muller has already told everybody to stop thinking about winning the title this year and Rutten, who was appointed in the summer, is beginning to feel the weight of expectation at the success-starved Gelsenkirchen club.