Schalke coach Felix Magath knows how important it will be to start 2011 with a win when his side face Hamburg at the weekend.
The Royal Blues lost their first four matches of the season and it took them months to recover ground, eventually ending 2010 in 10th place having spent much of the first half of the season inside the Bundesliga's bottom three.
Therefore, Magath wants his team to hit the ground running this weekend to allow them to still think big this season.
"We want to start with a win because we still have high hopes for this season," he said on his club's website.
"If we want to play a successful second half of the season, then a good start would be important.
"We all know how good we were playing towards the end of the first half of the season."
Indeed, the winter break came at the wrong time for Schalke, who had just started to pick up their rhythm before Christmas.
The break means Magath cannot make any prediction about Saturday' game at the Arena AufSchalke.
"What sticks in our minds is that we had improved a great deal and really ended the year well, but we are entering the unknown because you never can tell how strong you are after a break," added Magath from his club's training camp in Belek, Turkey.
"Despite playing three matches here in Turkey, we are all still lacking match practice."
