Schalke suffered their fourth consecutive defeat of the season as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat against Cologne on Wednesday.
It is only the second time in the Royal Blues' history they have failed to register a point after four games.
"I did not expect to start with four defeats," coach Markus Weinzierl, who joined from Augsburg, said after the latest loss. "We have lost a match we should not have lost. You could see today that the team is under pressure."
The bad start is the consequence of a summer of upheaval with a new coach, a new sporting executive, and a squad overhaul with eight players coming in and eight first team players leaving.
On Wednesday, Weinzierl made three changes to the starting formation after the 2-0 defeat at Hertha Berlin last weekend, but the inclusion of Max Meyer, Alessandro Schopf and Johannes Geis did not help the team get more attacking power.
"It couldn't be much worse," Christian Heidel, the club's sporting executive, who was brought in from Mainz in the summer, told reporters. "We have lost the first four games. Nobody wished for a start like that. Nobody's trying to whitewash it. Our job now is to stop the negative run."
Following the defeat, the supporters at Schalke's Veltins Arena voiced their frustration and some whistled at the team.
"I can understand the spectators are disappointed. We are disappointed too," Heidel said, adding: "The most important thing now is that everyone knows we can only get out there with a joint effort. That has to be our task."
Cologne, meanwhile, recorded a third straight win at Schalke and climbed to second in Bundesliga with 10 points after four matches, a run that Lukas Podolski likened to Leicester's in the Premier League last season.
1. FC Leicester City ��
- Lukas-Podolski.com (@Podolski10) September 21, 2016
"Naturally, we are very, very pleased that we've again managed to beat Schalke," the club's Austrian coach Peter Stoger said.