I do like Haji and think he can be a solid player eventually, but if I were to put myself in Tedesco's shoes I'd be an idiot to play him over Kutucu. The kid has shown he has what it takes and might be a spark in the tail end of the season.
Same as with Eggestein and Sargent or Sancho and Puli. Let's hope they don't find someone better than Weston or we're going to be left with no young players getting decent time at all in the BuLi.
I did warn you guys about Kutucu during the Summer when it comes to Schalke U19 and that he could end up blocking American players from making the 1st team for real.
Nailed it, seems like. Kid looks like a real player. Haji's path to the first team always looked a bit fraught after last season's loan stint. I'm glad he got a taste of action with Schalke, but I don't think this is his level. I hope he finds it and quickly, because he has already had far too much wasted time in his career.
don't forget he also had a failed trial to a 2BL team too. might get harder as most teams only play 1 striker uptop during matches. If he can't make it at Schalke who play 2 uptop could be hard to find a team that plays 2 uptop. Which could possibly delay him even more.
Current Kutucu is better at football than current Wright. Still, the BL minutes Haji has so far this year should serve as good experience. Without a change, I'm not sure his next starting lineup is Schalke's starting lineup (for more than spot starts), so we might as well stop looking at that as the right metric - I think this has been a positive year for his development, and that's a good thing. At a club like Schalke, one is never competing only against the other players in practice for time - you're also competing with whomever they will be able to sign in the transfer window.
Kutucu was a total surprise for me, didn't know a thing about the guy until now. He's two years younger than Haji, too.
We don't really want Sargent getting a lot of minutes anyway. Let him sub in steadily to give the starters a rest and to develop at a measured pace. Next year is another story. I think he just turned 19 in Feb. Kutucu is so much more mobile than Wright. Kutucu was on for some minutes before but seemed inconsistent/wasteful. He was crisp and efficient in his last outing which will definitely get him major minutes for Schalke who are so thin forward they were playing McKennie there.
looks like both Burgstaller and Skrzybski are very close to being options again. With Tedesco even teasing that Skrzybski could make the squad on Saturday.
Burgstaller made a substitute appearance today. Haji, unsurprisingly, did not make the 18. The reserves play at home tomorrow against Paderborn II.
he only got a shot due to mass injuries but did not take his chances well. Wonder if that Wolfsburg huge miss will be his last with 1st team?
Starts for U23s: Diese Start-1⃣1⃣ schickt #U23-Trainer Torsten #Fröhling in die Partie gegen die Zweitvertretung des @SCPaderborn07 👇#schmiede #s04 pic.twitter.com/FTFyRGSP1D— Knappenschmiede (@knappenschmiede) February 17, 2019
game ended 1-1, Wright didn't score and only lasted 63 min before being subbed out. That's 3 Schalke II games in a row where he fails to score in OL.
"Anders looks at Wright. "I expect more from Haji," nodded Fröhling. In addition, he has also been able to gain second league experience at SV Sandhausen. "Of course it is, and we will address that internally, that we can expect more from players of such quality." Wright scored seven goals in 13 league appearances, but too often the man with professional ambitions falls short. "We wish him all, as well as others, that they can bring what they can into the game and implement it. That's the art. There are training world champions who can do everything but can not implement it in the game, "criticizes Fröhling. "So I praise Nassim Boujellab, who makes his goal in six, he brings this into the game." The silver lining is that they recognize his quality. He just needs to execute.
but will he ever get that chance? He does have an expiring 2020 contract, the clock is ticking and it's very easy for Schalke to just buy a striker in Summer.
The title of the referenced article actually says "Schalke's U23 Coach Criticizes Forward Haji Wright". Subtitle: "Haji Wriight, who has already played for the full pro-team this season, played for the U23s on Sunday and dissapoints." Opening paragraph "The tie (1:1 against Paderborn) on Sunday was partially to blame on the Schallke II offense. A talented player disappointed the trainer." The article goes on to call out disappointment in Wright. So, yeah, one big "ouch" when you read it. So, yeah, pretty direct criticism, as is the German custom. Silver lining? Possibly...but he needs to get his stuff together soon. It sounds like he's pretty much out of there, if I read between the lines correctly. But, maybe I'm wrong, and they are just tearing him down before building him up. But torn him down they have.
Yeah, the "silver lining" in the version I read was that, it seems, another guy got it even worse. Google translates one of the descriptors used as "training world champion." So, yes, you could choose to read any of this as "We think he's good, so it's sad when he's not" but there's definitely some frustration there. (Of course, the context matters, and I suppose they need him to succeed more than a team higher up the table.) Wright obviously has talent, and apparently Schalke agrees, but ... well, clearly something's gotta change.
Actually, in the article, the coach Fröhling is quoted as saying that Goller didn't play so great either, but that is understandable, because he has only been training and not playing in games with the first team, and only played in one friendly with the first team over break. Coach states that one can't compare Goller's situation with Wright's (implied because Wright has had six first team games). But, maybe there is a small glimmer of a chance left. Haji seems to be lighting it up in practice but doesn't "bring it" in the games, even for the second team.