I saw part of the match... Not specially well, but his movement created spaces for the wingers... Bear in mind that he had to go against Ramos and Varane....
#HUEVIL HUE 1 - 0 VIL (43')⚽️ ¡GOOOOL del Huesca! Cucho Hernández anota desde los once metros. 🏆 #LaLiga 🏆 Directo https://t.co/mvQ3KEhcIw pic.twitter.com/wEEOFSXDL5— Diario AS (@diarioas) December 16, 2018
There was a 2nd PK awarded to Huesca yesterday. That penalty was taken by a different Huesca player who failed to score. Go figure why a DT would make that call.
I love seeing him and Borre and Zapata making Penalties the last couple days. Especially since our last 3 official tournaments have been determined by the spot kicks. We need guys who can put the ball in the back of the net consistently.
Cucho got the start and went 80 minutes in a hard fought come from behind win for Huesca over Real Betis, Cucho didn't score but went off to a standing ovation from the crowd. The guy is so mature for his age, he was playing pretty isolated up top and fought and ran the whole game and did a really good job of creating chances for teammates and keeping possession and causing a threat while facing multiple defenders vs a team that dominated possession for most of the game. He was unlucky not to get a goal on that he couldn't react quick enough after the goalie made a save, had the right technique but couldn't get his foot around it quick enough. He also just has such a good attitude, he got fouled, he got some marginal fouls called against him and he never complained or remonstrated, he just kept going about his task and worked his ass off for the team, allowing them an attacking threat and holding the ball in difficult situations keeping his team in the game, and it paid off as Huesca grinded out the win. He's super strong and holds up the ball really well for a guy that isn't that big and is very young against seasoned pro's, this guy can help us right now.
He's owned by Watford, I think no matter what happens at Huesca he will be playing there next season unless someone comes in to buy him. I'm not surprised that Barca asked about him last season, he fits the Suarez prototype perfectly. Granted he's not anywhere near the goal scoring talent that Suarez has been at this age but Barca need a replacement for Suarez and it has to be someone who can defend from the front, who can hold up the ball but who can also beat his man and link up the play. I don't think he should go there at this point by any means but there aren't a lot of players who fit the profile of a #9 that fits in the Barca system alongside Messi.
Does Watford have good strikers? I wonder if he'd start there. Also, I'd prefer him to stay in La Liga or maybe go to Italy
Watford has actually been surprisingly pretty good this season, I think he would start, they don't have a forward that is exactly tearing it up at all. They have Gerard Deolofeu, Troy Deeney, Andre Gray and Isaac Success. I rate Deolofeu and Isaac Success as pretty good, success is young and does a lot of work for the team, Deolofeu is solid on the ball but hasn't been getting enough goals and doesn't work enough defensively. Cucho imo would be the best overall forward because of his wide skillset that can pretty much fit whatever a coach wants to do, so I'd think he would probably start if he continued his development. None of the forwards on their books are going to come close to what Cucho will be, Success maaaaybe could reach a high level but he's still pretty raw and he doesn't look like he's ever going to get a ton of goals, Deolofeu has stalled a lot on his early promise and looks to have been overhyped and is limited. Would prefer Italy or Spain as well for players development especially for attackers, you're getting much more tactical training but I do think Cucho is well suited to the premier league if he did go there.
I just can't say enough about what a prospect Cucho is, even if he doesn't develop a clinical goal scorer he does so much and is so good dribbling and holding off defenders he could easily play any position across the front 3, he's as close to a "can't miss" as we've ever had at forward because of his overall attributes. Can't wait to see him fully integrated with the national team.
I don't know, to me, there's no such thing as a can't miss prospect...not if he's Colombian... The biggest prospects we've had in the past decade were James, Muriel, and Quintero. Similar to Cucho, Juanfer was starting in Europe at 19 and made a successful debut for the National team in the same year. Juanfer was a huge miss and would have went the way of Pino if River didn't come around. Muriel's seasons at 20 and 21, just a year older than Cucho, were stellar. Much better than what Cucho's shown thus far. And his first team, Lecce, was just as bad as Huesca is. You've basically described the same attributes for Cucho that Muriel had. And Muriel has had quite a few seasons of poor futbol either because his finishing has declined rather than improved since he was a kid or because he just fell out of the coach's favor. Earlier this year, even, Huesca's coach benched Cucho several times despite his being the team's most important player in the 2nd division. A lot of things can happen and a lot of these things might be completely out of Cucho's hands. However, if Cucho doesn't become a better finisher, he's in trouble. He's going to be a guy who either plays on a team who'll regularly get demoted or who gets loaned out constantly until he has a 10+ goal season in first division. With his size, every new coach he has is going to underestimate his abilities and he does not have any pedigree yet to get the benefit of the doubt. James, of course, is James. But imagine he was signed by a team like Real before he went to Porto. He easily could have disappeared, too...
Cucho has a lot to improve upon. (Who doesn't at his age????) That said, I very much like what I have seen in the small sample at club and the even smaller sample for his Country. He has attributes and a skill set not too many other options currently have (no matter how old they are or what team they play for). He can put shots on goal, he can pass, he can run along the sidelines, he can play back- to- goal (as almost a holding target man), he can take some tiro libres and penales. He is also not bad at heading the ball for his size either. We saw something different in his debut. The guy comes in and scores a couple goals like he has been doing it for years. Let's calla spade a spade, that kind of debut just does not happen for Colombian players. It usually takes a few games for a youngster to even get a decent shot on goal. Or they shank it or miss a sitter *coucgh-cough-morelos-cough-cough.* This kid seems different. Very different. I have mentioned before that he seems to have an edge and an intensity he plays with that is just not ordinary for a Colombian prospect. We see it more from Uruguayans and Argentines of the continent. The gritty knife- in -teeth sort demeanor that opposing defenders hate to defend. Now "can't miss prospect" can be interpreted in many ways and I can see why some may disagree with it The way I see it though is that he has skills to help the National team be successful immediately and on his current trajectory can be one of the best strikers we have heading into 2022. Just needs to keep working hard and learning from mistakes.
The mental edge, I'll give you. The kid does have fight in him. But, then again, as in basketball, for a kid of that size to be able to make it professionally they either have to be ridiculously talented or ridiculously fierce. Personally, I don't see anything crazy special about his skillset other than his ability to make quick turns and shoot from a back-to-goal position. He's not as good a dribbler as some say... I feel like most of his hype comes precisely from his NT debut. Which makes sense. Like you said, even though those two goals were sitters, it takes ice in your veins to do that as a 19-year-old on his debut. That said, that's 15 minutes in his career. Just like we shouldn't judge a kid for an awful 15 minutes, we shouldn't judge the kid for his amazing 15 minutes. He's definitely earned himself further call ups, but anybody who's followed his career from the start knows and has seen him struggle for large stretches against tougher competition. I don't see him struggling in the future like Juanfer did because, again, Cucho appears to be a serious competitor. His struggles, and I anticipate a few, will come from playing a position that demands constant results on teams that desperately need results.
I don't see anyone judging him based on 15 minutes. People who are judging him have been talking about his potential in this thread and other threads for many months now. Baal who I respect as a poster when it comes to his eye for youth talent even mentioned that he would have tried him along side Falcao in the months prior to the World Cup. BAck then I was skeptical. Not anymore.
Time will talk, cucho is still young. From my perspective the change of competence have been more difficult that i thought........