Schalke 04 captain Benedikt Howedes has admitted that his side must improve in the second half of the Bundesliga season to start climbing up the table.

Howedes said that it will not be easy for Schalke to get ahead of the likes of Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach and that they need to start strongly when the league gets back underway.

"We want to climb another few places," he told Bundesliga.com. "In Borussia Monchengladbach and Wolfsburg we have two tough teams as our closest rivals, so it's important we start well and get some good results.

"We have to be tactically disciplined and operate as a compact unit. It's about hard work. We have to work our socks off for each other."

Schalke are currently seventh in the Bundesliga.