starts on the bench. although will be interesting to see what happens once Burgstaller, Di Santo and Embolo are fit again. From those 3 Di Santo is the irrelevant one.
Our XI hoping to start 2019 with a W 📋#S04WOB #SchalkeUS🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/FQLFbPxyGc— Schalke 04 USA🇺🇸 (@s04_us) January 20, 2019
Was industrious in his 5 minutes but missed an absolute sitter. Good news is he doesn't look totally out of place at this level.
That was a sitter but he also had to stretch to get that ball. Not the best pass but still should have been finished. Won’t matter. He can shake that off. Hadji was active in his 5 minutes. Encouraging.
He had a lot of opportunities to contribute in his five-minute stint. He's playing almost the polar opposite of how he used to. Formerly was a fluid, slick technician, who was too lackadaisical. But for Schalke's a-team he's looked like a clumsy try-hard. Even before the biffed scoring opportunity, he was tripping over the ball in trying to kill off the game and beat his opponents on the end-line, but he kept fighting to win the ball back after he lost it. How does he find the balance between who he used to be and is now? He's going to have to answer that question if he is to actually make it at this level.
I don't. He has been doing/showing increasingly well at Schalke and was just the first striker off the bench in their latest match. Schalke needs him and things are going pretty well right now.
Besides missing the sitter I thought he had a good 5 minutes. He looked engaged, tried things. He did NOT look out of place.
Check out @TheRealArturK’s Tweet: Haji Wright’s miss today. 😅 https://t.co/Lh8MquMLGp— Arthur Kogan (@artur_kogan) January 20, 2019
When that kinda thing happens you badly need to score soon after. You don't want that sticking in your head. Doesn't matter if he played well the other five if he did that, that is the thing that will stick out. Hoping he manages to find the net in limited minutes in the future. We've seen how horrid misses can reinforce themselves with Altidore and Wood before, gotta finish the next legit chance he has.
I don’t think the miss was as bad as the announcers made it seem. It was a bad one but not an all timer
I loved the way he danced past the defender on the end line. They caught up, but it was classy for a moment. He can play at this level.
I thought he had a positive game, even with the limited minutes he was noticable. It was great to see. He did not look lost, and positioned himself well a few times. The miss, yeah, that was tough. But from the one angle showing from the goal, you could see there was a defender there and the goalie was also there. I don't think he had an "open" goal, like a tap in sitter, but upper 90 would have done it. Hope he can forget it for good and keep working, it will pay off for him. He's got the goods to be a decent striker. Honestly, at times his play reminds me of the American player of yesteryear, trying very hard, maybe too hard and forced at times, to make it in the big leagues. And coming up a little short too often. But, I think potentially he can be better.
I'd agree with you. It was not as bad as they made it sound. He really had to stretch for the ball, and wanted to first time it, but he'll learn from it to take a touch and compose himself next time. You could see it coming though. At least he put himself in good position. He made a really nice turn when 1 v 1 deep near the corner of the box, and looked to be fouled after the turn inside the box. The crowd gave him a nice cheer for that.
Schalke's Haji Wright: "Bundesliga is the best league to grow young talent" https://t.co/Rmcxh2tcm1 via @Bundesliga_EN— Bundesliga FANatic (@Bundesliga4u) January 21, 2019
despite the miss agree as well. even in spite of his miss, it appeared to me that he just belonged. he looked like a bl1 player in the few minutes he played. never looked like that before.
Haji seems to be flying under the US press radar. I was reading some news about Americans in germany. One article mentioned discissing the six players in the Bundesliga. Even though in the sub-title they had 7 players listed, and Haji was listed last. This implies he was added as an afterthought after the title was made (Fox Sports Amerikaner Abroad). Another article was talking about “up and coming” Americans U21. It mentioned Sargent, all the other usual suspects, including Taitague. No mention of Haji at all. Strange. Anyway, I hope he plays with a focus and drive that he has something to prove. .
I have faith in this kid but had he scored that one, he'd have climbed in the pecking order. As is, it's still a long road.
Yeah, he would’ve...but only superficially. You know well there is more to a player’s game than a missed goal and European coaches are pretty comprehensive when evaluating players. Haji’s been doing something right to make full time first team. He needs to forget quickly and move on and we all will too.