Franco di Santo is in danger of being a forgotten man in the Bundesliga after his move to Schalke did not provide him with enough first-team opportunities.
However, this has changed in recent weeks with the player getting substantial amount of action. Incredibly, he is still waiting for his first goals of the season despite having appeared in five games. His contribution primarily has been in other areas of the pitch like bringing others into play. After having played regularly in the last few weeks, Di Santo showed a lot of promise by coming up with two assists in the last game against Mainz.
It was always going to be difficult for the former Chelsea striker to feature ahead of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar when it comes to games. The Dutch international is clearly the first choice when it comes to leading the line-up. However, Di Santo has been appearing in a mixture of roles over the last few weeks. Even though he has been picking up some yellow cards with a fair amount of consistency, his two assists against Mainz very important in achieving the 3-0 win. Schalke are going through a difficult moment after having managed only one win prior to the victory against Mainz.
The recent victory has helped take a lot of pressure away from the team and they are expected to perform much better in the coming weeks. The win has lifted Schalke two places above the relegation zone. The team has been building up for this good run of form for quite a while. They have now stretched their unbeaten run in all competitions to five matches. A game against Nurnberg awaits the team in the DFB Pokal Cup and it will be followed by a very difficult match against Borussia Dortmund away from home in the league.