Schalke 04 coach Huub Stevens has insisted that his players are pulling in the right direction in order to rescue their Bundesliga fortunes.

Die Knappen currently sit fifth in the table, but have wasted what had been a great start to the campaign by failing to win any of their last five league games.

The Dutch coach now finds himself under slight pressure, but said that he sees enough commitment on the training field to suggest that they will break their winless run soon.

"In good times it's always easy, but in bad times you've got to pull closer together, and that's what we're doing," Bundesliga.com quote Stevens as saying.

"The players are their own biggest critics, but in a positive way. All of the players want to help to ensure things start moving upwards again, and I can see and sense that in every day's training - they have the will."

Schalke host Freiburg tomorrow.