Tonnies: No pressure on Schalke

The Royal Blues have yet to win the league title and Tonnies feels it would be wrong going into the 50th edition of the Bundesliga with the pressure to break that duck.

"We just want to play good and successful football and start off with the aim of qualifying for the Champions League again," he said.

"I have seen quite clearly in the past how this pressure to finally win the league title has not helped us in the past."

Schalke has been in the running for the title repeatedly in recent years and it was in contention until the latter stages of last season before having to settle for third place behind Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

With those two teams expected to battle it out for the title once again in 2012-2013, Tonnies knows clinching third place is already a tall order.

That is not to say he does not have the ambition to improve, however.

"Of course we will give it a go and we do want to get to the very top eventually, but that is something which will just evolve by itself," he told Sport1.de

"If we play good football and are then better than the rest, at some point we will win the league."